HUSH (2016) Movie Review

Philippians 2:3 says, "Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves."

Maddie (Kate Siegel) is an author and a brilliant strategist. She is a beginning cook. She is a devoted friend and sister despite her desire for solitude. In her secluded home, she struggles with her feelings over a recently dissolved relationship, and her only living companion is her cat. She finds herself utterly alone.

She is also deaf and mute. Her ability to communicate is very limited. Her ability to heed her surroundings is very limited. She spends much of her time on her phone, on her computer, and in her head. She bears all the appearance of easy prey. At least that is what the sadistic hunter thinks when he happens on her secluded cottage. He thinks she would be fun, easy prey due her her handicap, one limitation in spite of all her other qualities.

This is a lesson he learns the hard way after he embarks on a reign of psychological and physical terror. He does not expect her to fight back, but fight back she does. In spite of her handicap, she has two advantages over him. First, she is familiar with her surroundings. She knows her home, its tools, its hideaways, and its escapes. Second, she has the ability to stategize her defense and escape. She can look at a situation and determine the outcome. In the end, her ability saves her life.

It is never revealed who this hunter is, from where he comes, or the reason he kills innocent women. He never even reveals his name. What is clear is how skilled a hunter he is. He is obsessive, he hunter controlling, and truly disturbed. This is an adversary few could defeat, and he knows it. He is too proud to properly estimate Maddie's intelligence. There inlies his fatal flaw, which leads to his downfall.

The moral of this story is so fundamental, but sadly underrated. NEVER JUDGE. NEVER ASSUME. NEVER UNDERESTIMATE. NEVER treat another human being with any less regard than you would wish upon yourself. It is a mistake from which you many never recover.