User Reviews

This episode, based on a short story by Zenna Henderson, is not about people being afraid of a vacuum cleaner. The story involves a baby sitter and her young charge, who suddenly find the child's fantasy creation of a "sound eater" come to life. The sound eater approaches and sucks the sound, and the life, from anything it senses making noise--and in silence, even a heartbeat is a noise. The monster may be crude, but it is faithful to the description in the story, which was, after all, the creation of a child. We are so inured to violence these days that more subtle forms of suspense are overlooked. Maybe it's time to remember that suspense isn't always about mutilation and gore.

While a lot of the "Tales from the Darkside" series come off as cheesy or over-acted, this episode is probably my favorite. There's something genuinely horrifying about a machine with no remorse or feeling going on a rampage. . .only doing what it was programmed to do, but in ways its inventor would have never imagined! This episode isn't gory, doesn't have flashy special effects, but has a slow subtle horror found in the details - the strange sad squeal as sound is sucked out of the machine's victims; a dead body blocking the front door, rolling and thudding against it as the babysitter struggles to find escape; and most of all, the terrifying idea that unless you can stop the sound of the beating of your own heart, you can't hide from the deadly machine. I loved the special extra touch of the demented look of Buddy's other inventions - baby limbs attached to wheels, spider-like legs winding and ticking, giant eyeballs and forks.

While watching this episode, I became aware of the soft sound of my own breathing. . . . . .and if drawing me in like that doesn't make a good show, I don't know what does :-)

Why this episode is so good is beyond me, but I really like it. It could be because of the suspense. Suspense does not have to be defined by monsters and blood. Just the plot of a machine programmed to steal the noise from everything that, due to a mistake, can't be turned off seems to be enough. The thought of a vacuum-looking, noise-stealing robot doesn't seem very scary at first, but when it comes down to trying to kill it without making a noise, it's suspenseful. The acting was very good and the slow, rhythmically-paced music tends to give one a feel that something bad will happen. Like I said, why this episode of "Tales From the Darkside" is one of my favorites is beyond me, but it could be because the foundation of suspense is different, but effective at the same time.

Tales from the Darkside: Hush starts as a young teenager named Jennifer (Nile Lanning) arrives at the Warren household to babysit young Buddy (Eric Jason) for his mum Beth (Bonnie Gallup). Buddy has been messing around in his father's workshop & show's Jennifer his latest invention the Noise Eater, a sinister device which looks like a mutant vacuum cleaner that eats the noise from any object that dares make one. In an accident the Noise Eater is switched on & it's remote control is destroyed, unable to turn it off Buddy & Jennifer must stay silent & find a way to disable the Noise Eater or become one of it's victims as it's appetite for noise is never satisfied...

Episode 18 from season 4 this Tales from the Darkside story originally aired in the US during July 1988, directed by Allen Coulter one has to say I quite liked this quirky little tale. The script by John Sutherland has a pretty bizarre premise but it's so off the wall I found it rather likable & it just about works too. The majority of the episode is like a condensed teen slasher as Buddy & Jennifer hide & run from the sinister Noise Eater machine, eventually Jennifer gets the upper hand & manages to make it commit suicide! I am sure that there are many people out there who wish the Noise Eater was real & would love one. At only twenty odd minutes at least it's short, it moves along at a decent pace, the story is easy to follow if a little odd & it doesn't try to waste time on any sort of moral issue which Tales from the Darkside has never been that good at doing anyway.

I must admit Hush as a somewhat sinister atmosphere, it's rather bizarre to see this machine with a vacuum cleaner pipe as a neck & a mouth like opening at the end stalking Jennifer & Buddy, every time something makes a noise it the pipe quickly reacts & moves in that direction & it has a memorably odd feel to it. The Noise Eater ends up killing the family Budgie, the Dog & Buddy's mum so the body count is quite high in this one! The acting is alright from no-one I personally recognise from anything else.

Hush is one of the better Tales from the Darkside episodes, it's another odd one but it has a sort of creepy & bizarre atmosphere that I liked. This one is worth a watch if you can catch it on telly for free.

for many yrs i couldn't member anything other than the plot and wasn't sure if i had seen a movie or not. i was in 6th grade when i saw this episode 1st air late nite on Sunday. when i asked friends about it none of them had any clue what i was talking about. then i recently found this episode and instantly realized this was it. what was awesome about this episode is how it felt very much like a slasher movie, somethin like Friday the 13th or elm street. they managed to successfully put together many aspects of a teen slasher movie into a 20+min TV show. you have death scenes, hot teen babysitter in the "final girl" role, a monster chasing the 2 thru the house and forcing them to rly be clever about how they can kill it while desperately trying to avoid being discovered.

there were some suspenseful and tense moments where the 2 realized they had to fight this beast alone. the biggest element that made Hush feel like a teen slash flick is the violence. initially the machine was killing other household appliances but then it kills the pet bird, its there u see that its capable of killing living things. ultimately it even kills the mother who comes home and while the death isn't bloody its still relatively gruesome and it doesn't happen off camera either, just like our fave slasher flix.

Babysitter Jennifer (an perky and appealing portrayal by the fetching Nile Lanning) and sickly little boy inventor Buddy (a solid and likable performance by Eric Jason) are terrorized by Buddy's latest creation: A vacuum cleaner-like "noise eater" which has the frightening ability to suck the life out of its victims.

Director Allen Coulter, working from a clever script by John Harrison, keeps the gripping story moving along at a brisk pace and does an ace job of generating a good deal of nerve-wracking tension. Buddy's various other funky inventions are a hoot while the squealing yell the noise eater's victims make is genuinely unnerving. Both leads do fine work in their roles, with sturdy support from Bonnie Gallup as Buddy's chipper mother Beth. The fluid and dynamic cinematography by Lloyd Freidus provides as extra invigorating buzz. A worthy show.

I think "Hush" is proof that you can take a simple premise (let's face it, this is your basic survival plot with the monster being a machine) and, in execution, leave a definite impression. Nile Lanning, delectable in her short dress, with nice legs, is a good lead as the babysitter having to use her brains to outsmart a runaway machine, seemingly built from a vacuum cleaner, with a heart attached to "give it life" (its beating I found rather unsettling; I actually thought it favored an aardvark). Operated by a remote control device, the "noise eater" is accidentally turned on, and soon the machine is sucking the life out of any device or object (or dog, bird, or mother), making a noise or sound. Again, the way the direction makes the machine such a scary menace, "Hush" is far more suspenseful that perhaps it has any right being. The "mouth" at the end of the tube and how the tube emerges like this hungry tentacle looking to suck whatever is available add to the machine's creep factor. With Nile (who reminded me of Amanda Peet) having to rely on her wits in a game of cat and mouse (the machine is attracted to sound but doesn't have "eyes"), using noise to gain the upper hand, the machine has a worthy opponent. The little boy inventor (Eric Jason), with a nagging cough that can get worse when excited (or frightened), increases the tension as his unintentional (and unwanted) noise is a magnet to the machine. A key scene of horror: Jason's mother returns from a night out and is a victim of the machine! Her body dead near the front door, not allowing Nile to escape, is a harrowing moment. Good late episode at the end of the series run. Jason's little monster robot creations are quite nifty.