Hide and Seek

Cast:

Robert De Niro......David Callaway

Dakota Fanning......Emily Callaway

Famke Janssen......Katherine

Elisabeth Shue......Elizabeth

Amy Irving......Allison Callaway

Melissa Leo......Laura

Written by:

Ari Schlossberg

Directed by:

John Polson

Release Date:

January 28, 2005

Running Time:

101 mins

The film begins with a creepy-ass Dakota Fanning sitting in bed, as her father discovers his wife's body in a bathtub full of her blood. Before we go any further, to emphasize Dakota's creepy nature in the film, her hair has been dyed from its cutesy blonde to dark brown, and her eyes are bigger than ever. Anyway.

The film proceeds, Emily and David, Robert De Niro's character, living together only a few weeks after Allison's gruesome death. David is not sure who to blame it on, but Dakota has an idea or two: her "imaginary friend", Charlie. David thinks she's just being naive, but no... there really is a Charlie. And he wants to kill off every character in the film... except for Dakota, of course. This leads you to your suspicions, which will probably be correct, as the film's ending is pretty damn easy to figure out about half-way through. I won't spoil it, though, just in case a few of my readers (I doubt I have any) are a little slow.

This isn't a typical horror movie... while towards the end, there are quite a few "jump!" sequences, this film relies heavily on playing with your mind, a more psychological aspect rather than buckets of blood and gore.

Even if you're unsatisfied with the ending in the theatrical version, there are four alternate endings located in the "Special Features" on the disc. My personal favorite was the third.

So there. I would recommend this film if you're a fan of either of the two leading actors, De Niro and/or Fanning, or if you like an entertaining, but not necessarily scary, horror flick.

How I watched: DVD