WARNING: This Review May Contain Spoilers
It’s a common thing for there to be an American remake of a foreign film, Ju-on and The Grudge for example, however it is very rare for this to happen the other way around. I’ve mentioned previously that this article was coming when I wrote my Indian Horror article as before then I didn’t even know Khamoshi existed – let alone the fact that this is the second remake of Hush by the same director. I guess Kolaiyuthir Kaalam didn’t turn out how he expected.
Limited Dialogue
I’ll say this, Hush had more dialogue than I expected for a film where the lead character is deaf and mute but Mike Flanagan felt it may not have worked with no dialogue at all. There are only a few conversations throughout the whole film (because for me, Maddie’s internal monologue doesn’t count). In a weird way, I wish the conversation between Maddie and the killer, as well as the introduction of John, never happen as they slightly kill the tension of the film for me. Khamoshi on the other hand has dialogue throughout, between Dev and his father, the Desais and the estate manager as well as Kurana the cook and Surabhi.
Maddie vs Surabhi
Both of our lead females, and ultimately final girls, are supposed to be deaf as well as mute. However, for me this isn’t clear in Surabhi’s case. Maybe she is a better lip reader than Maddie is, even though in Hush she does insist that her neighbour Sarah doesn’t need to sign, it is clear that she does it to communicate better with Maddie. At no point in Khamoshi do any of the other characters sign their dialogue to Surabhi and there’s even a point when she is painting that Kurana is talking to her and Surabhi isn’t looking at her, so how does she know what she’s saying? Plus would the mix of Tamil and English not be confusing to her? Kurana even calls for her when she’s in trouble like she can hear her! I know this probably a small thing but it bothered me nonetheless.
Too Much Information
This is what makes the bad guy in Hush more terrifying than in Khamoshi, there’s no background – the audience has no idea who this man is, we don’t see him until around 30 minutes in and there’s no hint as to what his motivation is. We’re introduced to him as he kills Maddie’s neighbourh ON HER DOORSTEP! We don’t even know what his name is, whereas in Khamoshi, we know our antagonist as Dev, we see exactly what he looks like from the outset as the mask is added much later but he barely wears it and are even introduced to his father moments into the film. The other benefit to this means we are straight into the action, no messing about getting to know who anyone is, let alone the bad guy. In Khamoshi however, it is alluded to a few times by his father that Dev has a dark past and has a connection to the house Surabhi lives in.
Isolation
I’ve said it before I’m sure, but a cabin in the woods is not a safe place! It’s been used a number of times in horror films to the point that it is almost the pinnacle of isolated settings. Living where she lives automatically isolates Maddie as she lives alone and her neighbour isn’t directly next door. The latter can also be said for Serabhi as she lives on a large estate, however becomes isolated with the deaths of the estate manager and Kurana. What the mansion also provides Serabhi which the cabin does not, is more places to hide.
Hidden Motive
I mentioned this earlier on about the fact that nothing in Hush alludes to the motive of The Man (that’s how he’s credited on IMDb) which leads the viewer to believe this is just a sick man who enjoys hunting women and you know what that could very easily be the case. We have no idea why he kills Sarah in the first place but he seems to enjoy doing it and it is clear that he isn’t going after Maddie because she witnessed Sarah’s death because he knows she never looks in his direction! He’s just a psychopath! With Dev on the other hand, we assume he has one motive from the beginning, that maybe he has been hired by the Desais to kill Surabhi so they can get the house but in fact it’s all purely for revenge.
In Conclusion
For a film released in 2016 and myself being an avid horror fan, I can’t believe it has taken for me to be writing this article to see Hush for the first time. With the smaller cast and air of mystery around our antagonist, Hush is definitely the better film of the two which really makes me wonder what was wrong with the first remake that the director felt he needed to make Khamoshi.
