Talk Horror The Mouth of Madness
Hush
Mike Flanagan has had a meteoric rise on the horror scene with well acclaimed entries such as Oculus, Ouija: Origin of Evil, Before I Wake, Gerald’s Game, and Doctor Sleep. He also directed the poplular Netflix series’ The Haunting of Hill House and The Haunting of Bly Manor. And now, Flanagan has been entrusted with taking over the upcoming Exorcist film after the poor reception to David Gordon Green‘s The Exorcist: Believer.
But one of his movies you may have missed was his 2016 horror/thriller Hush, a movie which Stephen King himself ranked up there with Halloween and Wait Until Dark.
The comparison with Wait Until Dark seems the most apt as, once again, there is a sensory challenged woman being preyed upon by a psychopath. In this iteration, our protagonist is Maddie, a deaf and mute author (played by Flanagan’s wife and co-writer Kate Siegel) who has fled the big city for a remote life in the country. After a serial killer dispatches her neighbor, he’s determined to make Maddie his next victim.
Most of us never consider what we would (or could) do in this situation, and the film alternates between scenes of grisly violence and a methodical slow burn game of cat and mouse. It’s an engrossing story that forces you to think about the potency of our survival instinct. I would recommend it if for no reason other than that!
Brightburn
Definitely worth talking about with Superman hitting theaters (again), the film Brightburn takes a decidedly darker look at what would happen if the alien with superpowers was led in… another direction.
Written by Brian and Mark Gunn, the brothers of Superman director James Gunn, the film essentially mirrors the origin story of the Kryptonian refugee: An alien ship carrying a baby crash-lands on the property of Tori and Kyle Breyer, a childless couple longing to be parents, in the small town of Brightburn, Kansas.
As the boy grows, he becomes aware of his strength during regular chores, and even though his upbringing has been wholesome, when the ship he crash-landed in calls out to him to “Take The World,” he answers the call.
To characterize the young man, Brandon, as the dark incarnation of Superman is, well, on the nose, but it poses an interesting reference to the paradigm “absolute power corrupts absolutely.” As Brandon masters the use of his powers, he opts to settle scores with the ever-growing list of those he feels have wronged him, all while his adoptive mother (played by Elizabeth Banks) plays down his dark turn until the vary end.
As for the end, that is another matter entirely. It teases a dark version of the DC Universe that we may never end up seeing. Still though, I’d recommend seeing this one, if only to think of what might’ve been…
Delusion
This murder mystery film from 1981, follows the experience of a young nurse who accepts employment on a vast estate, tending to a wealthy old man. When several of the people surrounding the patron begin to die in unusual ways, it becomes apparent that murder is afoot. I don’t want to really say any more, as this feels like a live action version of the board game Clue.
Long criticized as boring, Delusion is for people who appreciate slow burns and plot twists with very little gore. It’s a slasher film with murders involving no actual slashing: the anti-Jason if you will! Still though, I would mildly recommend it, and at only 82 minutes, what have you got to lose?
What Have I Missed?
Have you seen any of these? Are there movies you feel like everyone has missed that you would recommend? Let us know in the comments below!
Until next time…
JK away!
