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‘Hush’ Director Mike Flanagan Talks Slasher Violence, Silence and…Sound

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HUSH via Netflix

We’re continuing the celebrate the Netflix release of Mike Flanagan‘s slasher, Hush, which stars co-writer Kate Siegel as a deaf woman who is stalked by a psychotic killer (10 Cloverfield Lane‘s John Gallagher Jr.) in her secluded home.

Last week we shared an in-depth piece in which Flanagan revealed the secret to creating authentic scares in a horror film.

Now, we talked to the filmmaker about Hush‘s inspirations, working with silence, as well as sound, and his thoughts on gore/violence in a slasher film.

They say movies are about “showing” a story, not “telling” one. With Hush, Flanagan wanted to challenge himself into making a film with little to no dialogue.

“I’d long wanted to do a film without dialog,” Flanagan explained in our exclusive interview. “It’s such a challenge. It forces you to tell a story strictly visually, and that’s a real blast. Kate [Siegel] and I were talking about how much suspense can be generated when the audience is aware of something that a protagonist is not, and how that played so well in movies like ‘Wait Until Dark.’ When we talked about having a deaf protagonist, we both thought it would provide some fantastic narrative opportunities for suspense.?

Sound is extremely important, especially in a movie about a blind woman. Hush had some of the best horror sound design I have ever heard, which was intricate in the impact of the slasher.

“Sound is crucial to the genre in general, but never more so for me than with this movie,” adds Flanagan. “We knew going in that sound would become its own character in this film. Typically, you want good sound design to help tell the story without calling attention to itself – in our case, it needed to call almost ALL of the attention to itself. It would be front and center for long stretches of the movie.

“It’s an incredibly complicated sound design,” he continues. “During production, the camera was almost always steadicam, which means that during takes you’d hear footsteps of the whole crew moving with Kate. You’d also hear me shouting out cues the whole time, because that was the only way to choreograph Kate, John, and the camera during takes. So all of our “ambient” sound had to be built again in post production.

“Then, our ‘silence’ also had to be built… you can’t actually just ‘pull sound out’ of a movie like this, even though that’s how I’ve heard it described. When we’re in Maddie’s perspective, we’re actually hearing a lot of complicated sounds that give us the IMPRESSION of silence. Otherwise, people wouldn’t actually be hearing silence… if we really pulled the sound out, they’d be hearing popcorn being munched, or phones vibrating, or their own shuffling in their seats. Or their house settling. We needed a soundscape that would cover all of those noises, but make you feel like “all the sound went away.

“It’s extraordinarily complex.”

Hush is a slasher, though, and while visuals and sound are key, it’s got to deliver the horror goods. Flanagan speaks to balancing violence and gore in a way that’s not exploitative, and focuses more on character than death and mayhem.

“I do not,” exclaimed Flanagan when we asked if he thinks gore and violence are a necessity in a slasher. “These are movies about the threat of violence, so the idea of it is present even before a drop of blood is spilled. There is only one act of violence in ‘The Strangers’ and it comes at the very, very end… the movie could have worked just as well if we didn’t see it, in my opinion.

“What you don’t want is for violence and gore to become more important than character and structure. A lot of slasher movies from the eighties were only focused on violence and gore, which robs the human beings in the story of any empathetic reaction from the audience, and instead makes them cheer for the gore. I’m not really into that kind of storytelling. I don’t think it appeals to our better natures, and I don’t think it makes filmmakers better storytellers.

“On the flip side, sometimes violence and gore can be used to make profound statements about human nature… I am still haunted by ‘Martyrs,’ which uses both to a degree that is truly art. So they can be used brilliantly, but are not necessary by any means.

Hush, now streaming on Netflix is a stunning and gorgeous piece of cinema that’s as thrilling and tense as they come. Kalyn reviewed the film, stating that “Silence is the most frightening tool of all,” while Trace explained that it’s “a fist-pumping female empowerment film while at the same time an incredibly suspenseful home invasion thriller.”

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Horror movie fanatic who co-founded Bloody Disgusting in 2001. Producer on Southbound, V/H/S/2/3/94, SiREN, Under the Bed, and A Horrible Way to Die. Chicago-based. Horror, pizza and basketball connoisseur. Taco Bell daily. Franchise favs: Hellraiser, Child's Play, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween, Scream and Friday the 13th. Horror 365 days a year.

Editorials

‘Leprechaun Returns’ – The Charm of the Franchise’s Legacy Sequel

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leprechaun returns

The erratic Leprechaun franchise is not known for sticking with a single concept for too long. The namesake (originally played by Warwick Davis) has gone to L.A., Las Vegas, space, and the ‘hood (not once but twice). And after an eleven-year holiday since the Davis era ended, the character received a drastic makeover in a now-unmentionable reboot. The critical failure of said film would have implied it was time to pack away the green top hat and shillelagh, and say goodbye to the nefarious imp. Instead, the Leprechaun series tried its luck again.

The general consensus for the Leprechaun films was never positive, and the darker yet blander Leprechaun: Origins certainly did not sway opinions. Just because the 2014 installment took itself seriously did not mean viewers would. After all, creator Mark Jones conceived a gruesome horror-comedy back in the early nineties, and that format is what was expected of any future ventures. So as horror legacy sequels (“legacyquels”) became more common in the 2010s, Leprechaun Returns followed suit while also going back to what made the ‘93 film work. This eighth entry echoed Halloween (2018) by ignoring all the previous sequels as well as being a direct continuation of the original. Even ardent fans can surely understand the decision to wipe the slate clean, so to speak.

Leprechaun Returns “continued the [franchise’s] trend of not being consistent by deciding to be consistent.” The retconning of Steven Kostanski and Suzanne Keilly’s film was met with little to no pushback from the fandom, who had already become accustomed to seeing something new and different with every chapter. Only now the “new and different” was familiar. With the severe route of Origins a mere speck in the rearview mirror, director Kotanski implemented a “back to basics” approach that garnered better reception than Zach Lipovsky’s own undertaking. The one-two punch of preposterous humor and grisly horror was in full force again.

LEPRECHAUN

Pictured: Linden Porco as The Leprechaun in Leprechaun Returns.

With Warwick Davis sitting this film out — his own choice — there was the foremost challenge of finding his replacement. Returns found Davis’ successor in Linden Porco, who admirably filled those blood-stained, buckled shoes. And what would a legacy sequel be without a returning character? Jennifer Aniston obviously did not reprise her final girl role of Tory Redding. So, the film did the next best thing and fetched another of Lubdan’s past victims: Ozzie, the likable oaf played by Mark Holton. Returns also created an extension of Tory’s character by giving her a teenage daughter, Lila (Taylor Spreitler).

It has been twenty-five years since the events of the ‘93 film. The incident is unknown to all but its survivors. Interested in her late mother’s history there in Devil’s Lake, North Dakota, Lila transferred to the local university and pledged a sorority — really the only one on campus — whose few members now reside in Tory Redding’s old home. The farmhouse-turned-sorority-house is still a work in progress; Lila’s fellow Alpha Epsilon sisters were in the midst of renovating the place when a ghost of the past found its way into the present.

The Psycho Goreman and The Void director’s penchant for visceral special effects is noted early on as the Leprechaun tears not only into the modern age, but also through poor Ozzie’s abdomen. The portal from 1993 to 2018 is soaked with blood and guts as the Leprechaun forces his way into the story. Davis’ iconic depiction of the wee antagonist is missed, however, Linden Porco is not simply keeping the seat warm in case his predecessor ever resumes the part. His enthusiastic performance is accentuated by a rotten-looking mug that adds to his innate menace.

LEPRECHAUN RETURNS sequel

Pictured: Taylor Spreitler, Pepi Sonuga, and Sai Bennett as Lila, Katie and Rose in Leprechaun Returns.

The obligatory fodder is mostly young this time around. Apart from one luckless postman and Ozzie — the premature passing of the latter character removed the chance of caring about anyone in the film — the Leprechaun’s potential prey are all college aged. Lila is this story’s token trauma kid with caregiver baggage; her mother thought “monsters were always trying to get her.” Lila’s habit of mentioning Tory’s mental health problem does not make a good first impression with the resident mean girl and apparent alcoholic of the sorority, Meredith (Emily Reid). Then there are the nicer but no less cursorily written of the Alpha Epsilon gals: eco-conscious and ex-obsessive Katie (Pepi Sonuga), and uptight overachiever Rose (Sai Bennett). Rounding out the main cast are a pair of destined-to-die bros (Oliver Llewellyn Jenkins, Ben McGregor). Lila and her peers range from disposable to plain irritating, so rooting for any one of them is next to impossible. Even so, their overstated personalities make their inevitable fates more satisfying.

Where Returns excels is its death sequences. Unlike Jones’ film, this one is not afraid of killing off members of the main cast. Lila, admittedly, wears too much plot armor, yet with her mother’s spirit looming over her and the whole story — comedian Heather McDonald put her bang-on Aniston impersonation to good use as well as provided a surprisingly emotional moment in the film — her immunity can be overlooked. Still, the other characters’ brutal demises make up for Lila’s imperviousness. The Leprechaun’s killer set-pieces also happen to demonstrate the time period, seeing as he uses solar panels and a drone in several supporting characters’ executions. A premortem selfie and the antagonist’s snarky mention of global warming additionally add to this film’s particular timestamp.

Critics were quick to say Leprechaun Returns did not break new ground. Sure, there is no one jetting off to space, or the wacky notion of Lubdan becoming a record producer. This reset, however, is still quite charming and entertaining despite its lack of risk-taking. And with yet another reboot in the works, who knows where the most wicked Leprechaun ever to exist will end up next.


Horror contemplates in great detail how young people handle inordinate situations and all of life’s unexpected challenges. While the genre forces characters of every age to face their fears, it is especially interested in how youths might fare in life-or-death scenarios.

The column Young Blood is dedicated to horror stories for and about teenagers, as well as other young folks on the brink of terror.

Leprechaun Returns movie

Pictured: Linden Porco as The Leprechaun in Leprechaun Returns.

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