Hush (2016)

How appropriate to end my Shocktober with yet another overrated entry from Netflix. Again, there are admirable qualities to Mike Flanagan’s Hush, released exclusively to Netflix last March, but its still just your run of the mill slasher. Don’t let the low body count fool you, this is another by the numbers stab-a-thon.

Maddie Young (Kate Siegel) is an author living alone in the deep woods. She lives a relatively happy life with one inconvenience… she’s deaf. Which means she isn’t going to hear the strange man in an expressionless mask creeping around her home. She can’t even hear her own screams!

It’s not a bad setup and they do have fun with it in the beginning. Maddie doesn’t hear her neighbors being horribly murdererd, nor is she ever aware a killer is creeping up on her, but she has advantages too. Maddie can set ear-shattering alarms to distract and abuse the killer and has the potential to outsmart him. The film without a doubt has inspired moments.

The problem with Hush is it reaches a certain point where it feels like many other forgettable slasher films before it. There’s only so much you can do with the premise, eventually, it will just boil down to a primal struggle between the two. The slasher genre is becoming harder and harder to reignite. If it was ever that good to begin with.

The idea for Hush barely has the legs for a feature, even an 81-minute feature. I’m not sure what so many others are seeing that I’m not… or hearing? See what I did there? Anyways, it’s still good fo a laugh. Check it out if you want and have a Happy Halloween!

We Are Still Here (2015)

This may be the most mildly pleasing month in Mildly Pleased’s history. Out of the 28 movies we’ve reviewed for this Shocktober, only a few have received more than three out of five stars, and only one has received a four-star review. Maybe that says something about Netflix. It has a lot of movies but can’t afford the best, just the average. We Are Still Here is the definition of average.

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They Look Like People (2015)

They Look Like People is like a well made student film. It looks good, the acting is good, but you can’t help but feel like every aspect of the story was made to reduce costs. They Look Like People deals with big ideas in small places; apartments, basements, rooftops, but never builds to anything to satisfy those ideas. It’s cheap. Now don’t take that as meaning They Look Like People looks cheap, it has striking images. My problem is those images are never weaved into a satisfying viewing experience.

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Late Phases (2014)

This was a last minute addition to this year’s Shocktober. For awhile now Late Phases had been floating around in my “Recommended for You” section on Netflix. Usually, I ignore those– but who knows, maybe I’d really like The Bernie Mac Show–but Late Phases always grabbed my attention with its striking image of a howling red werewolf. So I looked into it and I’m glad I did. Late Phases is my favorite movie I’ve watched this October.

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The Taking of Deborah Logan (2014)

Last Saturday night, I spent over 160 minutes watching short horror films at Bleedingham V. Many of the films (my film included) were found footage/mockumentaries. If this taught me anything, it’s how many different ways a filmmaker can approach any given style. I enjoyed these films for their willingness to go against convention. The Taking of Deborah Logan is the exact opposite.

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