Hideaway

Jeff...Goldblum...speaks like..this...in much of his movies which is as fascinating as it is irritating. Jeff's quirky speech patterns have been the saviour of many a dull movie over the years - here, it almost takes second place to Brett Leonard's jaw dropping visual effects. By now, you know the story. Hatch (Goldblum) brought back from the dead by nice doctor Alfred Molina; except he has brought back a part of a creepy serial killer. Both men can see each other's visions and can feel one another's pain. Naturally, both are drawn toward an inexorable conclusion. An okay script, partly by Andrew Kevin Walker of Se7en fame and solid direction by Leonard make this a stylish diversion that should keep first time viewers hooked to the end. Good photography by Gale Tattersall and the Trevor Jones soundtrack punctuates all the right, familiar scenes with bags of style. Not as bad as Neil Jordan's similar offering, In Dreams, but a rather obvious thriller which offers few revelations.

I rented "Hideaway" solely because Jeremy Sisto was in it, and I have to say I was only somewhat disappointed. The movie's weakest points, and they are WEAK, are the completely gratuitous, TV-show quality special effects. I have never seen effects that were as utterly ridiculous to end a movie with.This is the sort of movie that reminded me,"Oh, yeah,THIS is why I hate special effects." However, aside from the mind-blowingly bad effects and the predictable plot, there is one very, diamond-bright spot in the movie, and that is Jeremy Sisto as the killer Vassago. Spookily sexy in trenchcoat and leather, he resembles a seriously psychotic "Lost Boy". Projecting an enchantingly evil sensuality, he is magnetic in his too-few scenes of dialogue. Truth to tell, if Vassago had cast the spell of his eyes and voice on me, I would have gone with him to a terrible fate. I found enjoyable also the heavy, death-metal soundtrack. (Although I am beginning to tire of the stereotype that killers in movies always listen to metal. What about all the drive-by shooters who listen to rap? But I digress) To sum up, unless you're a big Sisto fan I wouldn't bother. But if you are, Bon Appetit!

It's true, Hideaway was absolutely slaughtered on release and is still systematically torn apart in the listings every time it's on TV, but - hey! - it's not that bad. Jeff Goldblum is always, er, 'interesting' to watch, and the same goes for Brett Leonard films (try as he might to cripple them with whatever bottom-of-the-barrel SFX company he keeps hiring - the effects here are practically carbon copies of those in The Lawnmower Man, and seeing as they're supposed to represent ethereal spiritual journeys rather than clunky virtual reality environments, it doesn't exactly work wonders). So yeah, for what it was, I enjoyed it. But of course I haven't read the book, so I don't have any outraged fanboy zeal to contend with...

Seriously...why can't they make one of Dean Koontz's book into a DECENT movie? I mean they dont even get the characters right...Regina (Silverstone) is supposed to be a nine year old "crippled" (as she defines herself in the book). Changing her character takes away from the plot of the story! It's a shame that they waste Koontz's amazing talent on movie's like these.

HIDEAWAY opens with a double murder committed by a young, leering man named Jeremy (Jeremy Sisto), who immediately commits suicide in an occult / ritualistic fashion. We get to see Jeremy's apparent, cartoon afterlife, and it's not pretty!

The scene switches to the Harrison family- Hatch (Jeff Goldblum), Lindsey (Christine Lahti), and daughter Regina (Alicia Silverstone). Heading home after a vacation, they are involved in a terrible accident. Lindsey and Regina suffer minor injuries, but Hatch is critically wounded.

Brought back from death by Dr. Jonas (Alfred Molina), Hatch starts having nightmares about a series of murders. Not a believer in the supernatural, he looks for a logical explanation, especially when one of his dreams comes true! Things get even weirder from this point, with more murders and spooky goings on.

Goldblum spends the remainder of the movie running around wild-eyed, while Ms. Lahti weeps and screams a lot. As usual, Ms. Silverstone spends most of her screen time being pouty, but she's not in it much. As for Sisto, he tries hard to be eeevil, but can't quite shake his mop-headed, male model persona. Not even in sunglasses!

HIDEAWAY is barrels of fun to watch. Although the CGI sequences are less than spectacular, they were probably "state of the art" for a film such as this back in 1995...