Review of Hide And Seek

Introduction

When Robert De Niro is good, he`s bloody good. Even in brief cameos or sub-roles his brilliant ability to underplay can steal the show. (See him in Tarantino`s Jackie Brown for example, a personal favourite example of the almost non-vocal De Niro stealing the show).

But it`s a thin line between `underplaying` and `coasting` and, sadly, he does plenty of the later in this less than perfect horror flick.

As horror movies go. It`s pretty standard fare with all the usual ingredients - death, mysterious occurrences, visitations, spooky houses and forests and, of course, the de rigueur spooky kid. Plenty of opportunity then to ease out of the `coasting` mode and into some perfectly acceptable OTT moments. The disappointment here is that, as far as De Niro goes, it just never happens.

Of course, the miniscule Dakota Fanning is another matter entirely. Perhaps too young to be wearied by the endless horror clichés being offered up here, she`s genuinely impressive as the spooky child.

So what`s the movie about? Well, I don`t want to take what small pleasure you may glean from viewing the movie away by revealing some of the narrative`s twists and turns but I think I can reveal a little. (Look away now if you want to avoid narrative description…).

De Niro plays the part of emotionally clammed up Psychologist David Calloway. He`s the father of little Emily, and husband to a depressed wife who takes her own life within the first part of the first reel. In an attempt to help Emily recover from the trauma of her Mother`s suicide, David does the right thing - and takes his daughter away from her home, friends and family to a remote and sprawling horror house, situated on the edge of a spooky forest. Nice.

Perhaps as a way of coping with her recent trauma, as well as her newly acquired isolation, it comes as no surprise when she starts playing with an imaginary friend - Charlie. And that`s when things start to get weird.

There are a some nasty twists and turns before the final twist and turn, mostly involving spooky happenings that seem to suggest that Charlie might not be imaginary after all.

De Niro does raise the acting temperature a little (for obvious reasons when you watch the movie) and as the tale unfolds it seems a pretty tasteless affair. Just plain unpleasant - and it`s difficult to understand how Fanning`s real mom and pop would be happy about her appearing in this relatively thankless and irredeemable movie.

What does work well and is worthy of mention here is the score, penned and conducted by John Ottman, which is used sparingly (there`s no music leading up to the mother`s suicide for example) but to great effect.

Video

This is a great transfer which, despite the very high levels of contrast and darkness, holds up remarkably well.

Audio

A very impressive audio track here making good but sparing use of the rear speakers, often introducing spot effects in them when least expected. The wash of the score gently feeds in from all sides to create an all-pervading spookiness when required. Possibly the films finest attribute…

Features

This film comes well bundled with extra bits and pieces. Firstly, you can select no less than five versions of the movie - effectively with five alternate endings. Whilst this sounds like good-fun and good value, it betrays a lack of singular confidence on the part of the Producers who undoubtedly opted for the theatrical option as a result of test screenings. Movies never used to get made that way. Still - you can also access the alternate endings from the special features too and they are quite diverting, though all variations on a theme.

There`s also a feature commentary of all five versions of the movie by Director John Polson (who has a curious Aussie / American accent), Editor Jerry Ford and the screenwriter Art Schloseberg. If, like me, you found the movie a little slow going, this revisit will probably do little to light your fire.

There are also 7 deleted scenes, with or without commentary which, as usual, neither add nor detract from the whole.

There`s a serviceable enough `making of` featurette which mainly comprises of sycophantic accolades by the actors for the Director. Most scary are Dakota Fanning`s contributions which sound like the words of a seasoned actress three times her age.

Finally there are three `Previs` sequences which do a good job of comparing original storyboards with final cuts.

Conclusion

This by-numbers horror thriller gets the job done though is a little lack-lustre considering the potential quality of its fine cast. De Niro merely coasts through the majority of the film whilst Dakota Fanning does an impressive job as the archetypal spooky kid.

The film adopts every cliché in the book without embarrassment or apology and those looking for a guaranteed but predictable thrill may find it very satisfying. However, it`s not easy to figure out if the movie has any morally redeemable aspect. In terms of the way it plays with paternal relationships it`s just plain unpleasant - and if you`ve seen it you`ll get a sense of what I mean.

If, on the other hand, you saw this at the movie and enjoyed it, then this is a very fine DVD release - packed to the gunnels with extras.