"Hush"

The good news is that "Hush" delivers 83 minutes of nail-biting, edge-of-your-seat excitement and tension, building a plot that keeps you guessing the whole time. The bad news is that this movie is 88 minutes long and, you guessed it, the last five minutes were the worst. Watching this flick was like eating a nice, giant piece of fudge and then washing it down with a turd--it's mostly enjoyable, but the ending leaves a really bad taste in your mouth!

It starts out with a man and his girlfriend, whose relationship is already on the outs, driving down the highway so the man can stop at every gas station and rest stop to put up poster advertisements (that job in itself would be horrifying enough). A white semi truck in front of their car swerves and the back of the truck rolls up ever so briefly, but just long enough for our protagonist to catch a glimpse of a woman chained in a cage. As his girlfriend was asleep at the time, he has to relay the incident to her. While he calls the police to report what he has seen, the man cannot read the truck's license plate and gives up on helping after making the call. This infuriates his girlfriend who promptly leaves his ass at the next rest stop. The problem is that she soon becomes the next victim in our villain's cage. From here on out, our hero is hell-bent on saving his girl and his relationship.

I know, it sounds like a decent enough plot, and it is. It quickly devolves, however, when it becomes clear that there are people involved other than the truck driver. Just when all signs point to a clear-cut, full-blown conspiracy, the movie abruptly ends without answering any questions. While some fans may appreciate being left to draw their own conclusions, I am not one of them. This movie screamed for a well-written and thoughtful ending. It's like the team of writers got to that part and were so pleased with what they had done, they just said, "Fuck it." It's not avante-garde and it's not "mysterious." When you're making a movie like this, it's downright irresponsible.

A few points about this gem:

1) Who was the security guard that seemed to know everything about the girlfriend's disappearance and was willing to kill the other security guard to cover it up??

2) Who was the chick that was seemingly a victim, then switched to an accomplice with no warning?

3) Who was the truck driver and what was his motivation? And if you can't tell us who he is, at least let us know what he wants.

4) Why did the man want his girlfriend back after he found out another guy fingered her the night before?? (okay, that's forgivable because her life is on the line).

Bottom Line: A rather solid flick until the last five to ten minutes. Short enough to take in if you're curious, just don't expect too much in terms of plot substance. There's really not much gore, either.

Rating: 2 out of 5 rusty nails.