If the ridiculous title and the cheap emotional blackmail of putting a little girl in peril aren't enough to tip you off that Hide and Seek is a rotten horror movie, then describing its myriad other deficiencies may be a waste of time. But here goes: Robert De Niro, slumming for an easy paycheck, plays an unconvincing and apparently inept psychologist who moves to a cavernous, remote house in a dark, foreboding wood in order to help his traumatized daughter (Dakota Fanning) recover from his wife's sudden, terrible death. De Niro's character then proceeds to make every conceivable wrong choice in regards to her healing (locking her in a room when she begs not to be left alone, for example), so the kid resorts to a spooky friendship with an imaginary pal who--it becomes clear after a few horrible accidents--may not be as imaginary as Daddy believes. Easily upstaged by Fanning's perfectly frightened performance, De Niro seems to be phoning it in, which is only one problem among many, including transparently manufactured scares (cats jumping out of closets, etc.), red herrings of varying credibility (vaguely creepy neighbors, etc.), and (after one pretty good twist) a laughable finale. Not recommended. [Note: Available in either a widescreen or full screen version, DVD extras include audio commentary by director John Polson, screenwriter Ari Schlossberg, and editor Jeffrey Ford, 14 deleted scenes with optional commentary (19 min.), an 11-minute “making-of” featurette, four alternate endings with optional commentary (8 min.), four minutes of rough conceptual storyboard sequences, and trailers. Bottom line: a fine extras package for a disappointingly shallow thriller.] (R. Blackwelder)
Hide and Seek
Fox, 110 min., R, VHS: $52.99, DVD: $29.99, July 5 Volume 20, Issue 4
Hide and Seek
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As of March 2022, Video Librarian has changed from a four-star rating system to a five-star one. This change allows our reviewers to have a wider range of critical viewpoints, as well as to synchronize with Google’s rating structure. This change affects all reviews from March 2022 onwards. All reviews from before this period will still retain their original rating. Future film submissions will be considered our new 1-5 star criteria.
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