Hush

Jonathan Darby made his directorial debut with this thriller, set in Kentucky (but filmed in Orange County, VA). Jackson Baring (Johnathon Schaech) wants his girlfriend, Helen (Gwyneth Paltrow), to meet his mother, Martha (Jessica Lange), so he brings her home for Christmas to Kilronan, their ...more

Jessica Lange has earned enough accolades, including a Best Actress Oscar for Blue Sky, that a person tends to forget she's also capable of scenery-chewing histrionics that are rife with self-parody. In Hush, she submits just such a performance, due in no small part to the inexperience of director Jonathan Darby. Her Kentucky-fried mother-in-law from hell (with Oedipal tendencies) is actually toned down a bit -- they reshot the original ending almost two years later, excising footage of Lange ...more