Hush

Hush, which comes from ex British radio DJ Mark Tonderai (who has also done some small time writing and acting gigs in the past) is an example of the kind of film that excels in areas whilst disappointing and aggravating in others. Taking on the project as both writer and director, Tonderai succumbs to too many short-cut decisions during both tasks which results in an uneven, sometimes overly derivative and cumbersome picture, but also one that is very good at playing to its strengths. The resulting experience when watching Hush then is one of subtle engagement—there are times when you'll be annoyed at decisions made by characters fictional and non, yet this too often works in favour of the film. When taken as a simple thriller, Tonderai's directorial debut succeeds; it may not be the biggest most progressive outing for the genre but it's still got a certain conviction that allows it to hurtle on regardless; careless and somewhat bold.

The same can equally be said for the movie's protagonist who comes in the form of young adult Zakes Abbot (William Ash); an obnoxious, moaning git, basically. Doing his rounds along the M1 with his disgruntled girlfriend as he posts posters on service station bathrooms for some cash while he "works on his book", Zakes inevitably winds up on the wrong side of the road after he stumbles across a truck with a hostage in the back. After having a fight with girlfriend Beth (Christine Bottomley), both eventually go in separate direction whereupon Beth, predictably, goes bye-bye when the same truck stops in for a breather. From here on in, Zakes does the movie a large portion of justice by limiting his vocal contributions to mere screams as he strives to find his girlfriend and stop the maniac who has taken her captive.

Sound familiar? Well, yes, because it is. Countless movies deal with the same basic premise—some which work, some which don't. For all intents and purposes, Hush's story doesn't really work, unfortunately, but that doesn't exactly kill the feature. To director Tonderai's credit, the amount of suspense that is delivered over the course of the movie's ninety minute runtime is palpable. Particularly impressive as a result is the movie's final act which essentially acts as one extremely long sequence of chase between Zakes and his girlfriend's captor. There are some clever devices here and there that do help flesh the whole thing out, yet the basic enjoyment factor here is that pulse-pounding threat that Tonderai builds and builds throughout; it can be exciting, and therein lies one of only two highlights to Hush's palette.

The other highlight lies in the performance of William Ash who—although a little dubious when delivering some lines at the beginning of the feature—sells his fear amicably. For a movie such as this where the viewer's only real link into the psyche of this horror of sorts is through the central character that it's all happening against, Ash does a nice job of keeping that boat alive and breathing above water. This, in tow with Philipp Blaubach and Theo Green's contributions in the form of photography and music respectfully ensures that Hush is punctuated by a realist tone throughout which works well to its advantage.

Despite these areas where Tonderai manages to squeeze moments of suspense and engagement out of his otherwise tepid script however, Hush can be a flat and banal experience—most prominently during the movie's first act. Built upon a mountain of derivative clichés, ridiculous plot twists and dead-end sequences that go nowhere, the narrative that exists to propel the character of Zakes is unfocused and a little short on fresh ideas to the point where the guy's name is the only real original element inherent to it's existence. To this end, Hush irrevocably wastes the above strengths on such short-sighted laziness. Not only is it disappointing, but it's frustrating too. Somewhere within the murky excess of Tonderai's script lies a genuinely seamless experience where suspense is king and plot moves, but not erratically and without clear direction. Unfortunately however, such a movie never quite surfaces and instead, Hush concedes to being an interesting but irksomely forgettable mash of thrill with nil.

• A review by Jamie Robert Ward (http://www.invocus.net)

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

From a pure enjoyment standpoint, the movie is fairly entertaining. From a technical standpoint, it's got a lot of issues. I had a hard time not focusing on them.

This movie is plagued with bad production. Right off the bat, after the opening title sequence, the opening scene with a car speeding down a highway is frozen and then starts. This is obviously an editing blunder.

There were some scenes which looked to be horribly edited in post. For instance, a scene in which the two main characters are speaking across a table. Normally in film or video, the focus shifts from one to the other as they are speaking. This is done in-camera during the filming process. Not here. The effect in this movie was obviously done in post and horribly at that. One half (almost exactly) is so blurred it's distracting. This causes the opposite affect it was used for in the first place; to place the viewers attention on the important subject at the time. A decent production would not have tried to fix this in post, it would have been re-shot. It seems like the footage was not viewed until the whole movie was shot.

Here's a suggestion, get a tripod! There are times when a scene calls for the hand held shaky look, but not during a seated conversation! I was getting a headache. Terrible.

Someone else commented on the lack of sound during a point in the movie. This was definitely not the time or place to try an effect like that. I seriously doubt it was on purpose.

The movie also suffered from doing a very poor job at explaining why or how things were happening, for instance the guard scene. Did I miss something? This reminds me of a decent school type project. Beyond that, it doesn't hold production value for a serious movie.

By the way, this movie's description makes it sound an awful lot like Steven Spielbergs DUEL. Is it a coincidence that HUSH has four letters in its title? I think not. Duel is much, much better.

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

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