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Hide And Seek [2005]
![Hide And Seek [2005]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51DQC0RB0SL._SL160_.jpg)
RRP: £19.99
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Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review
Dakota Fanning--the elfin star of Uptown Girls, The Cat in the Hat, and Man on Fire--trades in her blond locks for a semi-gothic brunette do in Hide and Seek. Fanning plays Emily, a young girl whose mother commits suicide. To help Emily through the trauma, her father David (Robert DeNiro), a psychologist, takes her to an isolated house in upstate New York. But instead of healing, Emily gets dark circles under her eyes, mutilates her favorite doll, and develops an imaginary friend named Charlie. In no time at all, things get spooky and David suspects this imaginary friend isn't so friendly. Hide and Seek owes a lot to The Shining, but whether the creepiness is borrowed or not, there's a decent dose of it (though the twist at the end is unlikely to surprise many viewers). DeNiro does his job with professional gloss, but Fanning carries the movie; she's got the kind of charisma that goes beyond acting ability--that ineffable glow that makes an audience want to watch her. --Bret Fetzer, Amazon.com
WOODLAND???
Review date: 2008-01-03 Rating: 2 out of 10
What if they would have thrown out the forced split personality ending? What if they would have made De Niro an artist/stepfather instead of a psychiatrist/father? What if the Upstate New York house would once have been an art summer school, a place with a terrible past involving pedophilia and child murder? What if the stepfather (Balthus-type artist) would have felt the irresistible urge to paint his stepdaughter once they settled into the house (fleeing the bustle of New York City after a terrible accident (?) in which the mother died)? And what if the house would have taken gradual control of the father's mind and desires, making him fear for his sanity as he delved deeper into its past and felt that ever growing love for his newly acquired daughter? A house called WOODLAND, which, amazingly, also happens to be the title of a psychological thriller published in Belgium and the Netherlands in 2001. Coincidence??? As I watched HIDE & SEEK, it felt as though they had taken WOODLAND and given it a (terrible) face-lift. That novel was LOLITA meets THE SHINING, without a forced ending, leaving hundreds of questions. HIDE & SEEK was awfully predictable and totally lacking atmosphere, just a `let's make some bucks movie'. WOODLAND was deeply sinister and disturbing and could've been a great David Lynch or Neil Jordan film. A shame the novel was never published in English...
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Reviews
A YOUNG STAR IN THE MAKING NO DOUBT!!!!!
Review date: 2007-12-15 Rating: 8 out of 10
Let's start off by saying I wasn't expecting to much from this because it has been done so many times before it's getting silly. I have to say this film surprised me in that it was very good it was a little slow to start but once it got going it kept you on the edge of your seat. Robert De Niro as always played the part brillant as the dad of his little girl called Emily who was played by Dakota Fanning. Most people if they are honest would never of heard of Dakota Fanning but let me tell you if you want to see a masterclass in a young child acting look no further than this film her acting was top draw and very creepy totally amazing. This little girl I'm sure will go places in these sort of films watch it and you will see what I mean.
Starts slowly, even dull, then gets REALLY scary!
Review date: 2007-10-22 Rating: 8 out of 10
I must confess I was almost tempted to stop watching this movie after about 40 minutes, because it was slow and rather dull and also the story looked pretty stupid to me. Robert De Niro plays a psychologist whose wife suicided and he was left with a 10y old daughter Emily (great role of Dakota Fanning). The poor kid was totally traumatised by the suicide of her mother and her father didn't find anything better that to quit New York and buy a big, old, creepy house in a very small town, mostly empty, except in the summer (and it is a windy, cold automn when he moves there). That is really smart for a psychologist... Finally I decided to watch it a little bit more and I was rewarded with a second half of the movie which was MUCH much better... in fact, because of a totally unsuspected twist, the first half of the movie immediately appeared in a very different light... And just for once, I started to be really concerned about the little girl safety, and I was right to be concerned... This movie uses some really pretty decoys to confuse us about what exactly is going on in this creepy house... and when the blow lands, I actually gasped with shock. No hints except this one - it is clear, that this movie was made AFTER "The sixth sense"....
Now, I am not saying this is a masterpiece or a great movie - but still it is very watchable, and Robert de Niro and Dakota Fanning give a great show. She is especially impressive, after all she was only about 11 when playing in this movie and her role was really not easy. It is worth watching. And prepare yourself to some nasty surprises.
Why why why?
Review date: 2007-09-18 Rating: 4 out of 10
Why does Robert De Niro put his name to such rubbish. This film does nothing that hundreds of films before have already done but worse.
As I watched it I felt like i had already seen it before but it was just the terrible plot which was pretty much a clone of another Robert De Niro film - Godsend. The ending is so cheesy. I felt like I needed a sick bucket!
A GOOD SCARY FILM IF WATCHED WITH AN OPEN MIND
Review date: 2007-08-30 Rating: 8 out of 10
All's not well at the home of the Callaways. David (Robert De Niro) and Alison (Amy Irving) have obvious tension in their relationship. When it leads to suicide shortly after the film begins, David, a psychologist, packs up his young daughter Emily (Dakota Fanning) and heads from New York City to bucolic upstate New York to try to start over. Unfortunately, the suicide was just the start of their problems. It seems that something evil may have followed them into the woods.
Hide and Seek is not your typical thriller. For much of its length, it is a much quieter, slower-paced drama, resting almost entirely on meaty, complex performances from two actors, one of whom--Fanning--was only 10 years old while making the film! It also is veers back and forth from thriller to horror territory (which have a notoriously gray border anyway) depending partially on one's interpretation of the film. The ending is marked by a clever twist that most viewers may not see coming, and which will pleasantly broach more questions than it answers long after you have seen the film. Those facts might turn some potential viewers off, but anyone able to slow down and appreciate fine acting housed in a dense, creepy environment will be rewarded. The film was a 10 out of 10 for me.
Newcomer screenwriter Ari Schlossberg has said that he grew up in the city, so just the idea of the woods, as well as children in general, frighten him. Those may be unusual sentiments, but director John Polson has translated them with remarkable ease into Hide and Seek. The country setting feels eerie from the moment David and Emily arrive, and Fanning's outstanding performance has her gradually changing from a cute kid to a scary little pseudo-Goth monster more slyly than native New Yorker slipping into the subway car before you to grab the last seat. Of course De Niro is good, too, but that goes without saying. Hide and Seek gives both performers a chance to show their range, but the biggest surprise is perhaps that Fanning can match De Niro step for step. The rest of the cast doesn't slouch, either, but they're not the focus. Their role is more to provide the necessary little nudges to justify our stars' next dazzling feats.
While I cannot talk at length about various subtexts and interpretations without giving spoilers, they range from the purely psychological to the supernatural. It is worth noting before watching that little of what you see playing out on the screen may be actually happening, and there may be something more sinister at work that is never fully stated in the film.
Schlossberg has said that among his many influences for this script were The Shining (1980), and in fact, that masterpiece is directly referenced a few times. Those are big shoes to try to fill. While the style and content of Hide and Seek are very different than The Shining--Hide and Seek is even more understated--that's also a slower-paced film that finds much of its effectiveness from its thick atmosphere and commendable performances, and fans of Kubrick's great horror film should find enough to enjoy here as well.
Product Details/Specifications
Actor(s):
Stewart Summers
Dakota Fanning
Jack Dylan Baumer
Famke Janssen
Robert De Niro
Creators:
Robert De Niro (Primary Contributor)
Stewart Summers (Primary Contributor)
Director(s):
Recording label: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
EAN: 5039036020350
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: PAL, Widescreen,
Release date: 2005-07-25
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Audience rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
Region code: 2
Running time: 97 minutes
Theatrical release date: 2005
Language: English (Subtitles For The Hearing Impaired)
Language: English (Original Language)