(credit: www.impawards.com)
Director:
John Polson
Starring:
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
Running time: 1:45. MPAA rating: Rated R for frightening sequences and violence.
It might be a bit much, in the first month of the year, which is known to suck for movie fans, to say that some of the worst films of 2005 are upon us already. With 11 more months of cinema ahead, it is a bit premature to label films as “One of the worst of the year” when there have been a handful released so far (Unless that film is Alone in the Dark). On the other hand, it’s not quite as bad to say ‘one of the most disappointing films in recent memory.’ This is the best description to use about Hide and Seek, and the film is just another letdown for horror fans and movie-goers alike.
The film begins inncoently enough. Young Emily Callaway (Dakota Fanning) gets tucked into bed by her loving mother Alison (Amy Irving) and told how much she is loved. Before taking a bath, Alison barely kisses her psychologist husband David (Robert De Niro) and takes a bath. David realizes something is wrong but goes to sleep; he awakens to find his wife dead in the bathtub, a victim of suicide.
Unfortunately, Emily is with her father when he finds her mother, and the whole experience sends her into a catatonic state, to the point where she has staring contests with the walls. Desperate to help his daughter, David insists on moving to the country side, against the wishes of fellow psychologist and former student of David’s, Katherine (Famke Janssen).
So, off they go to a huge country house in an area that is ‘pretty quiet in the offseason’. Unfortunately for David, Emily talks to her friend Charlie about things instead of her father. Imaginary friends are okay from the perspective of a psychologist, however, and he thinks little of it.
Life goes on with David becoming interested in a local woman named Elizabeth (Elisabeth Shue) and Emily becoming closer with Charlie, to the point of ignoring real life friends. David soon begins to realize that something strange may be going on with his daughter. Soon, he discovers her dolls with their faces crushed in and disturbing messages above the bathtub. The horrors get far worse from there. Is Emily responsible for these actions, or could someone be manipulating the girl? Or, could there is something far more sinister, and far more deadly going on?
Let’s get the good of this film out of the way. The beginning is fantastic. A child witnessing her father holding a blood-soaked mother in a bath tub is quite the mind-melt and a perfect set up for a catatonic child. The woods surrounding the house they move into are a slightly cliched situation, but it still provides an excellent backdrop and atmosphere.
The atmosphere in the beginning of the film is also great. It’s weird, tense, somber, and potentially frightening all at the same time.
Finally, praise will be given to Fanning for her acting skills, and while some of her facial expressions become repititious and dull to watch, overall, her work is incredibly solid and is, on some occasions, pretty amazing for an actor her age.
Unfortunately, the good ends there, and the bad once again outweighs the good. First, the pacing of this film is terrible. The first two-thirds of the film feel incredibly drawn out and just become boring. The director (of Swimfan fame, mind you) makes this feel like a project that is just going through the motions, but the motions are terrible. He had the potential to make a genuinely scary movie, and instead the scares are not often, and when they do come, they feel cheap. Instead of relying on tension and atmosphere (which, by the way, is destroyed by said pacing problems) and bring the audience into the film, he relies on the music of the moment (generic to the core) to scare the audience, and very little else. Some could argue that there are legit thriller moments, but they would be hard pressed to name more than one or two. Personally, when one comes to mind, it is a reminder of the laughter in the theater, not screams of surprise and terror.
De Niro is considered one of the best actors of his time and ours. Which makes an acting job like this one totally inexcusable. This is, without a shadow of a doubt, his worst acting job in recent memory. With a man who is taking a dive in the eyes of the mainstream movie public, taking a role like this and giving such an uninspired performance is madness. He looks like he is sleepwalking through the entire film – there is nothing here that is shades of De Niro in any of his previous memorable roles. Also, it makes one wonder just what he must have felt like, realizing that he was completely and utterly out-acted by the young Fanning. If the studio is banking on De Niro’s name in lights bringing in the viewers for this film, they’ll be happy for a weekend or two, but not in the long term. His presence actually brings this entire film down.
And speaking of the studio, Fox cut the final reel off the finished versions of this film shipped to theaters this week, so as to keep the major twist ending a surprise. They sent the final reel on Friday with armed escorts to be attached to the films. This action makes one wonder if Fox actually read their script – the twist ending is a joke. It is not the intelligent type of twist that ties everything together in a nice little package – it is instead a twist that makes a mockery of it’s audience.
While not being allowed to reveal anything in this review, it can be easily said that if one pays at least a little attention to the film – meaning watching with at least one eye open is all that’s necessary – they will see the ending coming a mile away. It is a rip-off, a disappointing marketing ploy right up there with that of The Village. And the fact it is a joke is not a play on words – the theater was literally laughing – LAUGHING – when the twist was ‘revealed’.
Nevermind the fact the film provoked people to sit and joke with one another thoughout its run on the screen (Seemingly forever), but this twist, and the final moments afterward, actually had a theater, comprised of mostly senior citizens, laughing in their seats.
Absolutely inexcusable.
