Hide and Seek (2005)

As a widower tries to piece together his life in the wake of his wife's suicide, his daughter finds solace -- at first -- in her imaginary friend.

Director:

John Polson

Writer:

Ari Schlossberg

Stars:

Robert De Niro, Dakota Fanning, Famke Janssen

1 win & 4 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Robert De Niro	...	David Callaway
Dakota Fanning	...	Emily Callaway
Famke Janssen	...	Katherine
Elisabeth Shue	...	Elizabeth
Amy Irving	...	Alison Callaway
Dylan Baker	...	Sheriff Hafferty
Melissa Leo	...	Laura
Robert John Burke	...	Steven
Molly Grant Kallins	...	Amy
David Chandler	...	Mr. Haskins
Jake Dylan Baumer	...	Disturbed Boy

Storyline

Hide and Seek revolves around a widower and his daughter. They move to upstate and Emily soon creates an imaginary friend named Charlie... but this act takes an unexpected and terrifying turn, where her father and doctor start to worry about Emily's gruesome habits.

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Plot Keywords:

suicide | doctor | imaginary friend | widower | moving in | 

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Taglines:

If you want to know the secret, you have to play the game.

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Genres:

Horror | Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for frightening sequences and violence

Details

Country:

USA Germany

Language:

English

Release Date:

28 January 2005 (USA)

Also Known As:

Mente siniestra

Filming Locations:

257 Central Park West, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$25,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$502,631 (Japan) (22 April 2005)

Gross:

$3,082,877 (Japan) (13 May 2005)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, Fox 2000 Pictures, Josephson Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

101 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Famke Janssen said she wouldn't have done this movie had Robert De Niro not been attached.

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Goofs

Elizabeth's scarf changes position when she enters Emily's room.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Alison: Faster.
Emily: No, no, no.

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Connections

References The Shining (1980)

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Soundtracks

"Sax Kitten"
Written by Carlos Diernhammer
Courtesy of Extreme Production Music

User Reviews

Fair

This horror/thriller/(maybe)supernatural movie is nothing really remarkable, or anything that you haven't seen before, but it's quite watchable. After the suicide of his wife, Robert de Niro's psychologist character withdraws to an isolated rural location as therapy for his traumatised daughter. Things start to get creepy when she develops an imaginary friend who has a decidedly vicious streak.

I've been complaining for some years now that de Niro really needs to pay a bit more attention to the sort of parts he accepts: he's been in far too many stupid comedies. Here we finally see him in a dramatic role, and whereas he pulls it off professionally, it's not really an inspired performance, and you have to wonder where his next classic role is going to come from.

That aside, 'Hide and Seek' is a suitably creepy and dark movie. Its major fault, at least as far as I was concerned, is that its crucial 'secret' was obvious by about half an hour from the end. I still held out hopes that I was wrong, but I think anyone who's seen enough films of this sort would work it out by a process of elimination, and besides, the movie blows its own cover completely a good 10 or 15 minutes from the end, which leaves you with a rather disappointing and predictable run home.

The DVD includes four alternate endings, three of which the directors eventually decided were too 'dark', and that the audience deserved some kind of positive 'reward' after having sat through so much traumatic stuff. I disagree. At least two of the three 'dark alternate endings would have improved the film by giving it a sting in the tail. Good god, go through a mental list of great horror movies, and you won't find many that shy away from endings that are 'too dark'.