Hush (2008)

Hush is a pulverizing little exercise in extreme suspense. I'm not talking about this year's Hush, a sleek little home invasion shocker that's worth your time too. No, this Hush is a little seen British flick from back in 2008, and it's a proper nerve jangler. In the tradition of Duel, The Hitcher, Joyride and others, it takes place on a bustling motorway somewhere in great Britain. A young couple trundle through the night on a highway, and find themselves behind a great big creepy semi truck. In one split second, the doors of it's trailer come unstuck and open just a crack, allowing the to see what's inside. It's only a glimpse, but it's unmistakable: a girl, badly hurt and tied up, screams for help before the motion of the vehicle causes the doors to slam shut again. What would you do? This couple bravely pursues the truck and it's villainous driver across many miles of road, trying to rescue the girl inside, avoid getting killed themselves and put an end to whatever is going on. It's one merciless ride into gut churning suspense, and I marvelled at the film's ability to keep such high tension up for a streamlined ninety minutes of pure horror nirvana. It's not too lengthy, never sags or drags and always keeps the vibe as taut as the ominous chain holding those truck doors in place. Swift and sensible in resolution, stylish as all hell and scary in spades. Any horror fan owes it to themselves to take a look.

MAYBE some minor spoilers, but nothing too substantial. I had this movie sitting around for a bit, and I finally decided to watch it this afternoon. With so many movies, I end up watching in chunks, getting up to do other things that pop into my head as I'm watching, but this was one of those movies I started and couldn't pull myself away. The premise sounded interesting to me, a couple stuck on various British motorways, a menacing fella in a semi truck after them, the scares that come along with all of that. Tho they used many clichéd horror movie elements, they all seem to work here because the plotting is so well paced, the storyline makes so much sense. Some examples: The bad guy is always brooding around, his face just out of reach of the light, so you never see his face- this tactic is old, but it works as you use your imagination to paint the scariest face ever on this guy, even if it turns out he probably looks fairly normal. Definitely reminded me of the baddie from I Know What You Did Last Summer (Gordon's Fisherman rain coat and all). The cell phone signal that drops out at the worst moment. The cell phone that rings at the worst possible second. These are used here, but it seems to just make sense, and it's not overly done, so it doesn't get in the way of a good scare. Dumb characters making dumb decisions. This was the one that lowered the rating to an 8.5 or an 8 for me. Zakes' decisions in the start of the film were too much to overlook. You understand why they added them, because the story had to progress somewhere, but this was an area to work on. I won't spoil anything, but you kinda wanted to smack the guy a few times in the start of the film. They did a nice job of making you dislike him a bit in the beginning, that way later on you liked him all that much more. Direction was nice, with some really cool special effects shots on the rainy road, the acting was pretty spot on, and the photography was eerie throughout- nice scenery and locations here...the massive gas station complex/truck stop reminded me of the scenes from High Tension, especially the bathroom stuff. Always fun to see a game of cat and mouse in a horror film like this. Not a perfect film, but darned near it with a fulfilling ending, some really good scares, a lot of nail biting tension, and atmosphere to boot. A definite gem, and a high point of the 'stuck on the road with crazy guy after me' sub-genre. Highly recommended.

"Only you saw it. Only you can save them" the tagline reads. This is more or less the theme of this British thriller. Zakes Abbot (William Ash) spots something rather disturbing on the road, a woman caged in the back of a van, and has a dilemma of whether to follow and help or shrug it off as someone else's problem. After a small effort of calling the police and attempting (and failing) to read the dirty number plate, Zakes chooses the latter. That is until his girlfriend goes missing and he realises he has a more personal stake in pursuing the captor.What follows is a fairly straight-forward cat & mouse chase as Zakes tails and evades the villain simultaneously, bringing to mind the 2003 French thriller High Tension (AKA Switchblade Romance) which as you might expect with that title is essentially one long suspense sequence. The tension in Hush doesn't quite allow it such a cocky title as the French film, but it is a good attempt nonetheless and it provides a few "No don't go there!" or "He's behind you!" moments. The film does however contain almost all the horror clichés, and although it tries to subvert one or two, this is nothing new and horror fans will see everything a mile off. As far as the plot goes, it would have been acceptable as a simple chase-thriller if it weren't for one scene (involving the security guards) which just seemed unnecessary and too contrived even for this already improbable story. Still, at 90mins it's an easy, enjoyable thriller that's worth a watch.

This is pretty solid movie, the way that modern horror should look like. Yes, it is a low budget film but followed by very good acting and involving plot of the high pace and tense rhythm. OK, the movie exploits some film work that we have already seen but performs it pretty successfully. The movie has several flows and some details that are not developed carefully enough, but all in all it is a chilly wind that kept me entertained all the time. Must say I did not like the beginning of the movie as it has some screamy dialogs that somehow over-strength the justified screaming in the other part of the movie. I recommend Hush to all horror and thriller lovers giving it higher rate than deserved just because I believe it is underrated.