Hush

Having been one of the lucky ones to have spent considerable time on UK motorways at night (and specifically the M1) I was immediately intrigued by the locale for this debut horror from Mark Tonderai. For me the originality of setting alone sets this horror apart from the countless tired horror locations: the haunted house, the woods, the abandoned hospital, etc, etc.

Overall the film is a fairly nuts-and-bolts by-the-numbers horror, which deserves credit for the originality of locale, decent performances, slick direction, with a few genuinely tense set-pieces (particularly the final showdown set-piece, which stands clearly above the rest). However, it is fairly unambitious with character detail (after the opening argument), and there are a few of the usual (and easily avoidable) horror clichés - we even get the hiding in the toilet cubicle sequence (albeit with a slight variation).

You get the sense that Tonderai had his set-up and finale worked out fairly early on but didn't know what to do with the story in between. The central third, while featuring a few decent scenes with the police, takes a couple of left turns into co-conspirator territory, alluding to a networked operation. The scenes with the security guards and the 'escaped' girl feel like they were put in to fill time and up the body count rather than deepen the story as a whole. Personally I felt that a more stripped-down lone bad-guy approach would have been strong enough.

The film owes something to Spielberg's 'Duel' in theme and narrative drive (no pun intended), and there are similarities in tone to the marginally superior Australian horror 'Wolf Creek'

I watched this not expecting much, and yeah some of the acting was a bit dubious but overall I was very impressed. When I started watching it I sat there with my finger on the stop button, but that button was never pressed as I was truly hooked. I really felt for the lead character and thought he played the part well. I was also surprised by a few twists here and there which would give Hollywood a run for its money.

For a movie that was obviously on a budget (made with help from the lottery) I think it can stand proud with the multi-million pound big boys from the USA.

A good thriller worth watching

Hush is written and directed by Mark Tonderai and stars William Ash, Christine Bottomley, Claire Keelan and Stuart McQuarrie. Music is by Theo Green and cinematography by Philipp Blaubach.

Warring young couple Zakes (Ash) and Beth (Bottomley) are driving up a dark and rain-soaked M1, when all of a sudden a grime covered truck swerves in front of them and the tail-gate lifts briefly to reveal a caged woman in the back. It signals the start of a fight for survival for the pair of them......

The setting is suitably bleak, anyone who has had cause to be on a rainy British motorway at night knows how mind-numbing it can be. Even the stops at the service stations serve as mundane experiences, where the staff are on auto-pilot and other patrons are zombie like in the banality of their routines. Into the fray are a young couple who are on the cusp of breaking up (though Zakes in that macho way is ignorant to this fact), this is where Hush manages to rise above merely being a horror picture cobbled together from bits of other genre pictures. It examines how a fractured relationship reacts to a terrifying reality thrust into their lives, and with barely half a dozen principal characters in the story, this clearly isn't going to be a psycho truck driver movie that sees the antagonist offing a number of dim-wits with gory care-free abandon.

Director Tonderai has done an impressive job with such limited resources, there's a realistic tense atmosphere brought out by the low budget. His staging of certain scenes really grab the attention, with a container base set cat and mouse sequence of events truly breath holding stuff. He doesn't compromise the pace of the movie with pointless filler, it's a standard three tiered horror structure (meet the principals/put them in peril/do or die finale), but the film always remains honest to its core ideas, with Zakes reacting to his various predicaments in a way that is not beyond the realms of reality. There's also some nice camera touches (under carriage tracking shot) and smart use of appliances (light sensors), so why is Hush not more loved and lauded?

Fact is, is that hardened horror fans from the last twenty years will not be able to get away from that old familiar feeling of deja vu. From the cat and mouse on asphalt core story, to scenes such as a toilet hide out, there's territory that has been well trodden in better movies. There's a couple of twists, one that genuinely surprises, but one which is so telegraphed it annoys greatly. Then there is the use of the hand-held camera, which has become a staple requirement, it seems, of fledgling horror directors. Here it is used to dizzying great lengths, so much so it grows tiresome entering the last third and had this particular viewer wondering if the contents of his stomach was about to unload! There's also, perhaps inevitably, some implausibilities that are likely to test the patience of some.

Undeniably it has flaws and struggles to shake them off at times, but the good far outweighs the bad here. And given the small budget and fresh ideas the writer/director puts into what is becoming a stagnated formula, Hush is actually something of a small triumph and well worth seeking out if you are stuck for a tension pumped thriller. 7/10

this film is a gem, i found it by accident,its about a man who is having problems with his relationship, and one night whilst doing his job or posting posters in motorway service stations , he sees a crime and wonders what to do, then gets drawn into it all. I thought it was gripping, towards the end i was shouting at the telly ''don't go in there'' haha, there were no really daft decisions made by the main character 'zakes' .lots of twists that i didn't see coming. All the negative reviews seem to be by people who think all thrillers have to be like 'frantic'. One even complained about the accents of the actors, they were speaking 'english' lol if you like excitement, suspense, thrills and twists, then this is the film for you

better than expected British thriller about a mad man in a truck abducting girls. Zakes Abbot discovers this one night when he drive behind the Psycho's truck. is it better to leave it be? or get involved? hell soon find out the consequences of his decision. the last 20 minutes of the film , i found myself yelling at the screen saying "be quiet", "stupid woman" and "moronic dog". decent acting by the lead and superbly directing for first timer Mark Tonderai. the film could have easily be 30 minutes longer, especially since there was a few questions i wanted answered. the lack of these answers is the only reason i gave "Hush" a 7 in stead of an 8.