Review: Mr Hush (2010)

“Fear what evil lurks in the shadows.”

Director: David Lee Madison

Starring: Brad Loree, Edward X. Young and Stephen Geoffreys

Writer: David Lee Madison

So I found out about this movie because it ripped off Trick r Treats poster. If you compare the two you will see how blatant a rip off it is. Even down to the same title font being used. Intrigued I wanted to know why. Was it one of these Asylum style rip offs? Delving into this movie I got more than I could have ever bargained for.

Within the first two seconds I could tell that this was going to be an experience rivalling that of The Room. The acting is atrocious, with half of the actors sounding like they are reading directly from the script. Those that don’t, think that to emote means to yell, and for that I’m looking mainly at Brad Loree. Half the time he was just yelling at the loudest possible volume to get a point across. Then there’s Edward X Young who plays the titular Mr Hush. Bad accents, acting so hammy that he could open a delicatessen, and random tonal shifts that go from dead serious to over the top, Mr Young was an avatar of some of the worst acting imaginable.

Story wise we have a man called Holland (Loree) who has his family killed by Mr Hush. Slowly Holland rebuilds his life, but Mr Hush comes back to bring pain and suffering. There is a kernel of an interesting idea but the movie mishandles it on every conceivable level. First off there are large portions of the movie that are just boring, no story progression. When things pick up the villains play it so over the top that any horror established is wrecked. If the intention was making this a comedy I could have almost believed it.

David Lee Madison uses a nauseating camcorder style that shakes and jostles through even the quietest of scenes. Simple continuity mistakes are present at some of the more important scenes, and there are some visual choices that make me scratch my head, there just seems to be a lack of caring that runs throughout this movie.

If you’ve found this movie thanks to the poster connection with Trick r Treat then run away as quickly as possible. If you happen to have stumbled upon this at the shop or rental place then just avoid it. There is nothing about this movie that can be called good.