Home invasion? Spooky. Cat in peril during home invasion? Heart-attack city!
The other night, Lu and I watched a scary movie. Now, I like scary movies. I enjoy the adrenaline rush of scares and spookies. Lucy however, does not. She is a nervous girl to begin with, so it didn’t help her that I kept jumping a gasping at every tense moment. But she still sat through most of it, only leaving the room a few times, so I’m very proud of her for being so brave.
Synopsis:
‘Hush’ is a 2016 thriller produced by none other than the prolific Blumhouse Productions, a favorite of mine. It runs for 1 hour and 21 minutes, filled with quality tension and good scares. The story follows that of an entirely deaf writer named Maddie, who has moved to a secluded area in the woods to finish up her novel. The only other people in this secluded area are Maddie’s neighbors who live down the road, and Maddie’s munchkin cat named Bitch (played by two cat actors named Prince and Cinderella.)
Things take a turn for the worst when a masked killer murders Maddie’s neighbors. When he realizes that Maddie is deaf, he uses it to his advantage in his twisted game of tormenting her. He tries to get into her house, she tries to hide. She cries to call for help, he cuts the power. She tries to escape, he shoots her in the leg with a crossbow. So many tense twists and turns. It’s very much a roller coaster.
Spoiler alert:
In the end, Maddie is on the verge of bleeding out, but she uses what remains of her strength to kill the intruder. The movie ends with her sitting on her porch with Bitch as the police arrive.
Impressions:
I very much loved this movie. Considering how hit/miss it is with horror movies, this one was surprisingly well done. Though Maddie named her cat ‘bitch’ it is obvious that their relationship is a positive one. This is obvious in the moment where Bitch is found by the killer. The killer is about to stab Bitch with a knife when Maddie, who had stolen his crossbow, shoots him, allowing Bitch to run to safety.
If anything had happened to Bitch, I was prepared to leap out a window, so I was very relieved when Maddie saved her cats’ life. After this movie, I promised Lucy that if she was ever threatened, I would take a bullet for her.
Cat Ratio: I was so tense during this film that I forgot to use my stopwatch. However, Bitch does not appear in the film very much, I would guess she has under 5 minutes of screen time out of 81 total. This puts ‘Hush’ at a 6ish% of cat screen time. This is an unfortunate percentage, but then again, this film wasn’t about a cat.
Final Scoring:
I thought this movie was a quality thriller/horror flick, however, we here at LLKC care about kitty cat representation first and foremost. The cat actors were adorable, the character of Bitch was treated in a fun and loving way despite her name, the main character saved Bitch from a murderer, and the cat survived the entire movie. However, Bitch only appeared in a few scenes.
All in all, I would put ‘Hush’ at a solid D+ for cat representation
