Saturday Night Premiere: Hide and Seek

Saturday, February 11, 2006

Tonight's Saturday night premiere is Hide and Seek from HBO. This movie stars Robert de Niro and young Dakota Fanning, who I think is one of the best younger actresses I've seen in quite some time. Also she didn't screech so much in this movie, so it was a definite plus. This film is a horror flick from 2005, and I've truly been bored with most horror movies the last few years. The films are either predictable, cheesy, full of blood and guts or just plain boring. I wasn't sure what I would find here, but I'd heard this movie was good.

I went into viewing it with an open mind, and I can say I was pleasantly surprised by this movie. This movie tells the story of a man and his daughter when they move to the country after the mother's suicide. Things begin to happen almost immediately, and the daughter blames all the events on her new imaginary friend. People begin to die, and the father blames the deaths on his daughter. However, it is quite clear a child couldn't have committed the murders in this film. However, there is a shocking twist to this film that I really didn't even see coming. I don't want to give it away, but I think I enjoyed this twist as much as the twist in The Skeleton Key.

I do have one problem with this film, and that is more of a casting decision. Even though Robert de Niro is a wonderful actor, and he has been for many years, I am not sure he was the right person to cast to play the father of Dakota Fanning's character, Emily. She is so young, and he is years older than her. I'd see him playing her grandfather more than her father. I also wished they had shown more of Famke Janssen's character as well. A twist might have been to have her and Emily's father end up together, instead the love interest of David is Elizabeth played by Jennifer Jason Leigh.

The thing with horror films today is that everything has been done before. The trick is to try to make something new out of the old standard plots. Did Hide and Seek succeed in doing that? Most will say it didn't. From what I've read of fan reaction to the film, it wasn't all that well recieved from everyone. Reviews seem to be mixed. In my opinion though, this is one of the better of the new modern horror films, and it is definitely worth a look. Dakota Fanning turns in another wonderful performance here, and Robert de Niro did as well. I'm also curious about the alternate endings mentioned to be on the DVD. Maybe I'll have to to try and check those out. This film would be one to watch with the lights on.