Film Guide

Zakes Abbott is driving from service station to service station late at night along the motorway, replacing the advertising posters – it’s his job, it pays the bills. His girlfriend Beth is asleep beside him, and feeling a little tired himself, Zakes accidently ciuts off a white truck. Slowing to let the truck back into the lane, Zakes catches a glimpse of the truck’s cargo as the rear door lifts suddenly, before slamming back down.
Uncertain of the reality of what he just witness Zakes wakes Beth to tell her what he saw; a bloodied naked woman chained up in a cage. 
Zakes calls the police to let them know what he’s seen, but before he can make sure the police catch the truck he spots his next off ramp and takes it so he can finish his nights work.
Beth is less than impressed with his lack of civil duty and storms off. After finishing his work, Zakes sets about reconciling with Beth, but then he realises that the white truck driver has struck again and taken his girls friend.
What follows is an intense cat and mouse game down the motorway and onto deserted back roads as Zakes tries desperately to make sure his girlfriend doesn’t pay the ultimate price for his cavalier attitude.
This tightly run British thriller is a gem of a find. With a slow start, some deliberate clues are laid down, and the journey is mapped out in what looks like a predictable High Tension or Hostel mixed in with a little Duel, storyline. But unlike most torture-porn, Hush gets it’s thrills through its masterful control of the plot, taking you from one heart attacking inducing moment to the next, forcing you to cry out in despair as Zakes stumbles blindly from one stupid act to another, without having to resort to gratuitous nudity or over the top gore.
With just the right amount of blood and guts, and a couple of scenes where you really feel the characters physical pain, Hush keeps pounding along to it’s brilliant climax that you should have seen coming.
Another fine example of British filmmaking at its best.





Reviewed by: Jonathan Read
Rating: [R16] Violence, offensive language and horror.
Released on: August 13th, 2009
Length (Minutes): 98
Languages: English
Supported Audio: Dolby Digital Surround 2.0
Studio: Madman
Stars: Stuart McQuarrie, William Ash
Director: Tonderai, Mark

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Going Deeper: (may contain spoilers)
Zakes reluctance to go out of his way to help a stranger in mortal peril sets the scene for the main event in Hush. It also throws a huge question about moral choices and consequences. For the sake of having to double back to finish his job, Zakes could have ended the madman’s reign of terror before Beth was taken. He could have saved the lives of numerous people, and would have been a hero not only in Beth’s eyes, but a hero the whole country would have applauded.