Hush (2016)
- Eagle-eyed viewers have noticed a hidden easter egg referencing Mike Flanagan's previous film in the background of the opening scene.
- The original script for Hush was written over a decade before production finally began in 2016.
- Mike Flanagan originally wanted a completely different ending for the film, but test audiences preferred the one we see today.
Hush is a 2016 American home invasion horror thriller directed by Mike Flanagan. Kate Siegel, who co-wrote the screenplay with Flanagan, stars as Maddie Young, a deaf-mute author living alone in an isolated house in the woods who must survive when a masked killer appears at her windows and begins systematically testing her home's defenses while she remains unable to hear him. The film's central conceit โ stripping the protagonist of hearing while placing her in a scenario where every sound could mean life or death โ created a uniquely immersive horror experience.
Mike Flanagan designed the sound design to alternate between Maddie's perspective (near silence) and the objective perspective (ambient noise, the killer's movements), forcing the audience to share her vulnerability. At only 82 minutes, Hush was lean, tense, and brutally efficient. Kate Siegel's performance, conveying complex tactical thinking and primal fear almost entirely through expression and body language with minimal dialogue, was extraordinary.
Hush debuted on Netflix and became one of the platform's most-recommended horror films.
