Hush

Plot synopsis:
On a stormy night, a coupleZakes (William Ash - NICHOLAS NICKELBY, MAD ABOUT MAMBO) and Beth (Christine Bottomly THE WAITING ROOM, VENUS) are making their way up the M1 when they are cut off by a maniacal truck driver. For a fleeting moment, the roll door on the back of the truck opens and Zakes glimpses what looks like a half-dressed woman shackled and caged within. Not entirely convinced about what he has seen, Zakes informs the police and tries to forget about the incident. Beth becomes extremely agitated by her boyfriend's indifference and storms off after the couple stop at a motorway service station. Zakes desperately searches the surrounding area but there's no sign of Beth, but he sees a familiar truck leaving the services. Assuming the truck driver has kidnapped his girlfriend Zakes give chase, and so begins a heightened game of cat-and-mouse at full speed along the rain-soaked motorway. [D-Man2010]British thriller. Would-be writer Zakes (William Ash) is driving home along the rain-drenched M1 motorway with his girlfriend Beth (Christine Bottomley) asleep in the passenger seat beside him. When a near-accident causes him to catch a fleeting glimpse into the back of a white lorry just in front of him, he sees to his horror that it contains a woman tied up and covered in blood. The couple stop at the next service station, where Zakes, tired and shaken, carries out his job of posting flyers in the toilets. When he comes out he is horrified to discover that Beth has gone missing. Could she be the next victim of the owner of the white lorry? [D-Man2010]

Tags: suspenseful

Review:
It had suspense and some good moments, i thought it was better than i was lead to believe and wouldn't recommend it but if you do hire it then you wont be too disappointed and just enjoy it for what it is a low budget film with some good moments..
However, it is fairly unambitious with character detail (after the opening argument), and there are a few of the usual (and easily avoidable) horror clichés - we even get the hiding in the toilet cubicle sequence (albeit with a slight variation).You get the sense that Tonderai had his set-up and finale worked out fairly early on but didn't know what to do with the story in between.
Personally I felt that a more stripped-down lone bad-guy approach would have been strong enough.The film owes something to Spielberg's 'Duel' in theme and narrative drive (no pun intended), and there are similarities in tone to the marginally superior Australian horror 'Wolf Creek'.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
That is until his girlfriend goes missing and he realises he has a more personal stake in pursuing the captor.What follows is a fairly straight-forward cat & mouse chase as Zakes tails and evades the villain simultaneously, bringing to mind the 2003 French thriller High Tension (AKA Switchblade Romance) which as you might expect with that title is essentially one long suspense sequence.
The real shining light of this film, however, is the main performance of William Ash who not only looks just like a young Robert De Niro but is not too far behind him on the acting front either.
So to sum up, it is a solid film that is made better because, apart from he general concept of the plot, it is largely cliché free (except for a scene in a toilet involving a lot of opening of cubicles, which I have seen in hundreds of films.) William Ash in many scenes makes the film spring to life and Tonderai probably has a bright future ahead of him if he's given more cash and brings more twists to genres.
When the end credits to Hush have finished rolling and people give it a good while before concluding where it is they stand on the film, the easier; more cynical conclusion to reach would be that of arriving at the point which sees the onlooker merely dismiss the project as 1971's Duel with a little bit of 1986's The Hitcher.
Where Duel was a rather intense and really quite frightening exercise in style-driven shocks and scares, with The Hitcher somewhat of a droll, mean-spirited romp through not-much-at-all territory chopping and tailing the realism out of the premise in its manoeuvring of Rutger Hauer's killer around so as to spawn further bloodshed, the two films fed off of that same notion of cat-and-mouse; the chaser and the chased; the victimised and the victimiser, thus eventually leading to a few decent set pieces and a lot of the lead questioning his predicament.
The best scene from either of said examples, perhaps ironically, was probably that instance in Duel in which the film takes a break from the predominant locale of the open road and allows our terrified lead a good look at several truckers in a diner stop.
Hush's trick, its U.S.P., appears to be that of the fact the roles of the above are reversed: the sadistic; truck driving; serial killing; open road dwelling madman is effectively himself on the run from the young-gun out to thwart him, and beside this as well as several other things, Hush as a stand-alone piece works better than it might have.The film will begin with a young couple from the north of England driving along a rainy motorway at night; the intriguingly named Zakes Abbot (Ash) is driving and beside him in the front sits Beth (Bottomley), his girlfriend.
Together, they formulate a couple whom were once close enough to have gone on holiday to Egypt; but are presently suffering on through more testing times in the relationship - the writer/director Mark Tonderai establishing a good ear for the sorts of dialogue couples in this scenario provide, a sense of authenticity about proceedings which will later come as the key word in relation as to whether or not numerous exchanges later on work as examples of terrific drama.
The rain is hard; looking outwards of the windscreen at the open road is tough to do because of it and Beth sits beside him attempting to fall asleep with the help of a blindfold she sports, so there is this overall sense of diminished visibility about proceedings – a sense of diminished visibility which embeds itself into proceedings precisely when a large, nondescript lorry charges past and Zakes catches what he believes to have been a glance at a desperate looking woman in a kind of cage situated in the back following the rearing up of its rear door.
Thus the film begins in earnest when, at a stoppage, Beth herself goes missing and the chase is on.Then there is the issue of the driver of that lorry, the man here played by a certain Andreas Wisniewski who himself is an actor with the rather idiosyncratic honour of being the first man to have been killed on screen by Bruce Willis' Die Hard regular John McLane; a strong, silent character whom is rarely shot from above the waist and skulks around like some kind of hooded reaper spreading his death and gloom up and down the motorways of Britain: think the killer from those I Know What You Did Last Summer movies minus the hook.
Tonderai toys with the character's nature, the man remaining anonymous but relatively human-like for as long as possible for the predominant exchanges before the introducing, through certain means, a golden retriever dog to aid Zakes in his quest as the film pushes on into the final act.
Another example featuring this idea of a character driven framework of standardised convention at work might include 2007 film I am Legend, a piece which suffered considerably when the non-human entity was removed from its text thus fragmenting the threesome.The film is essentially a test for Zakes to prove his worth, born out of his flagging relationship with Beth, by bailing her out of trouble and saving the day.
Hush works on the very specific level upon which it operates with engaging proficiency: a chase thriller with a spin on who's victimising and who's chasing; a concept movie which gets on with proceedings and an overlying character driven process of putting one's flair and ingenuity, key components for Zakes' dream job as a writer, into practise.
Once at the stopping place on the M1 one of the guards do actually believes Zakes (William Ash) and things go wrong but again, suddenly we are back on the M1 and nothing happens further in the story with the guards.
Better then mediocre I should recommend it to horror buffs who like suspense or people who are looking for a good thriller.
However, this film takes all the bad things from American thrillers and gives them a British nuance.
Phil's Quick Capsule Review: Hush is an average British thriller with average shocks and a pretty average cast with it's average 90 mins running time and a pretty average ending overall then?
Didn't expect much on this cat-and-mouse/thriller "Hush".A movie that takes many inspirations in the likes of "Duel", "The Hitcher", and especially that AWESOME movie of Paul Walker and Steve Zhan's in "Joy Ride".
As usual in a horror/thriller films kind of pick up quickly, but fall flat in their story and characters.
Although, in "Hush" you get a good story, great thrills, and enough character development within a short film.
I gave the film an 7/10 because like it did have moments where it was gut-wrenching, but they are certain scenes that make you cringe at the dumb acts that the characters try to get out of the situation.
This couple bravely pursues the truck and it's villainous driver across many miles of road, trying to rescue the girl inside, avoid getting killed themselves and put an end to whatever is going on.
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.
Soon enough the couple find themselves thrown into the middle of a nightmare as they follow the lorry and try to find out what's going on.So far so good – this premise is serviceable if familiar, another in the sub-genre of 'road thrillers' following in the footsteps of Spielberg's DUEL, ROAD KILL and BREAKDOWN.
Unfortunately, as the story progresses, it falls apart completely, with plot hole after plot hole and silly coincidence after silly coincidence, until the film loses all grasp of reality and ends up as nothing more than a Hollywood-style B-movie.HUSH has more ridiculous moments than most and these drag the plot down, leaving the viewer with too many unanswered questions.
Ash, a familiar face for British TV viewers thanks to his role in WATERLOO ROAD, has a single expression throughout the movie and is the second worst thing about the film – next to the script.
Yes, it is a low budget film but followed by very good acting and involving plot of the high pace and tense rhythm.
The couple then argues what to do, phones the police, bla bla bla.At this point the movie still had me interested, but the second 'Zeke' (or whatever the hell his name was) loses his girlfriend to the same kidnapper and then goes on a mission to save her and presumably the other captive woman, I lost interest.Everything that made 'High Tension' suspenseful and terrifying is lacking in Hush, which is a below-average run of the mill thriller that I turned off with only 20 minutes to go, because in the end, who cares?
The British social phenomenon known as "white van man" - usually a middle-aged Caucasian with a clean-shaven head and a white van he uses to deliver goods and services around the country - gets the cinematic treatment in this decent thriller from writer-director Mark Tonderai.
William Ash and Christine Bottomley play Zakes and Beth, a young couple who, whilst driving along Britain's main arterial road, the M1, espy a woman apparently being held against her will in the back of a truck.
However, not bad for his first feature film, proudly sponsored by lottery money - the guy made it for 1 million GBP (british pounds) and did really well with the threat.Unlike some other horror films, such as Wolf Creek, where they could have easily avoided the guy and run away several times or killed him instead of getting killed, Hush really is tough because he is on the highway, constantly pursuing this killer that he can't even see.The film quality is obviously lower than usual films, but it simply adds to the grittiness of Northern UK.
Zakes is just an average guy surviving on a average job when something happens, like many of us he is willing to tell someone and attempt to do something, but after the pass of responsibility is given to someone else he believes it's not his problem any more.This film shows how small things we do to people, like letting someone's tyres down because of a reason such as supporting another team it can have drastic affects in the long run.Zakes has lost his girlfriend in more ways than one, and the white truck becomes more of his problem than it did before, not once does he state he is trying to save the other girl he saw just his girlfriend, he's not trying to be a hero he's just doing what someone would actually do.Some area's of the film could be criticized such as the car running out of fuel, but we all know how quick fuel runs out when we're on the motorway and when the car stutters and starts to slow, old car's like that do struggle to keep up pace.
The fact Zakes 'talks' to himself and swears is a key part, as in so many films of this type they do not swear or say anything, the fear in his voice and eyes is apparent and William Ash does a brilliant job in bringing you into his feelings, of being terrified of something your chasing.Zakes goes through a hard time in this, especially after he finds out his girlfriend has cheated on him he still wants to save her.
I was expecting a scary movie with a masked killer stalking a deaf woman, but that is another film with exactly the same title, but I went along with it anyway, directed by Mark Tonderai (House at the End of the Street).
Basically Zakes Abbot (Waterloo Road's William Ash) and his girlfriend Beth (In the Club's Christine Bottomley) are driving on a rainy night on the M1 motorway, both are tired, irritable, and bickering continuously about their fragile relationship.
You can tell this film is low-budget, it is a fairly simple format, a "curiosity killed the cat" situation, with a sulky but likable lead trying to save his girlfriend from a nasty unseen truck driver, similar in ways to the Spielberg movie Duel, it is pretty slow the majority of the time, but it does get tense just enough to keep it interesting, a reasonable thriller.
One thing very peculiar about this film is how the chasing is made; in this case, the innocent man (Zakes) is who follows the lunatic, in order to save his (ex?)-girlfriend.
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 .
A couple of times I was expecting to be watching some serious torture porn but again HUSH isn't really that type of film .