Like so many films I've seen on Film4's The British Connection this week HUSH seems to be a film of two halves . Some of the films such as LAYER CAKE get off to a great start then fail to keep up the momentum for the second half . Others such as KILL LIST seem to be two different films stuck together and Mark Tonderai's HUSH belongs firmly alongside KILL LIST in this respect
The first half introduces the protagonist Zakes who is driving his girlfriend Beth on a British motorway late at night where he thinks he spots something disturbing in the lorry in front of them . Tonderai mixes the mundane with the indiscernible . We know something nasty is going to happen and this takes place amongst a background of drunken yobs and disinterested motorway service station staff . Something indeed nasty does happen because Beth disappears and the only place she could have disappeared to is inside the sinister lorry . If that's not bad enough Zakes finds himself facing a couple of jobsworth security menwho catch him in the ladies toilet
It's at this crossroads of the narrative that Tonderai could have driven the story to several directions . I was hoping for a low budget British version of the underrated Kurt Russell star vehicle BREAKDOWN but this doesn't really materalise . What we get is a rather confused film that doesn't know what type of horror/thriller it's meant to be . A couple of times I was expecting to be watching some serious torture porn but again HUSH isn't really that type of film . It certainly contains very graphic violence which is somewhat alienating for someone hoping for a straight forward thriller. There's no real explanation as to why people are being kidnapped either which means the audience will be left shaking there heads saying " Is that it ? "
In short this is yet another British film that had potential only to lose it in the home straits . It's a film uncertain as to who the target audience might be . I certainly hoped it was going to be a straight forward intelligent thriller while an out and out fan of graphic horror will probably be left similarally disappointed . It's probably summed up the song at the end which sounds like it'd be at home in another film such as a romantic comedy
The first half introduces the protagonist Zakes who is driving his girlfriend Beth on a British motorway late at night where he thinks he spots something disturbing in the lorry in front of them . Tonderai mixes the mundane with the indiscernible . We know something nasty is going to happen and this takes place amongst a background of drunken yobs and disinterested motorway service station staff . Something indeed nasty does happen because Beth disappears and the only place she could have disappeared to is inside the sinister lorry . If that's not bad enough Zakes finds himself facing a couple of jobsworth security menwho catch him in the ladies toilet
It's at this crossroads of the narrative that Tonderai could have driven the story to several directions . I was hoping for a low budget British version of the underrated Kurt Russell star vehicle BREAKDOWN but this doesn't really materalise . What we get is a rather confused film that doesn't know what type of horror/thriller it's meant to be . A couple of times I was expecting to be watching some serious torture porn but again HUSH isn't really that type of film . It certainly contains very graphic violence which is somewhat alienating for someone hoping for a straight forward thriller. There's no real explanation as to why people are being kidnapped either which means the audience will be left shaking there heads saying " Is that it ? "
In short this is yet another British film that had potential only to lose it in the home straits . It's a film uncertain as to who the target audience might be . I certainly hoped it was going to be a straight forward intelligent thriller while an out and out fan of graphic horror will probably be left similarally disappointed . It's probably summed up the song at the end which sounds like it'd be at home in another film such as a romantic comedy