After completing their separate projects, “Meet the Fockers“ & “Man on Fire,” Robert “Bobby” De Niro and of my all-time favorite actresses, Dakota “DF” Fanning work on their first movie together known as, “Hide and Seek.” After the death of his wife, A psychologist named, David and his daughter, Emily relocate to a house in the upper part of New York. Struggling to move on from the loss of her mother, Emily makes an imaginary friend, Charlie. Suddenly, David becomes suspicious towards Emily’s odd behavior.
Released in 2005, (same year Coldplay’s third album X&Y came out) Hide and Seek earned negative reviews from critics and was a box office success. Despite poor reception, Ms. Fanning won an MTV Movie Award for “Best Frightening Performance.” Dakota’s recent Horror movie, “Vicious” is streaming on Paramount Plus. Mr. De Niro will reprise his role as Jack Byrnes in the fourth entry of the “Meet the Parents” series, “Focker-In-Law.”
It’s Halloween Month. Meaning, I’ll watch and review Horror movies throughout October. By the way, Dakota intends to work with Elle in an overdue project, “The Nightingale.” I have no desire to see an unnecessary fourth Meet the Parents movie with Ariana Grande joining the cast. I’d rather see movies and shows produced by the Fanning Sisters courtesy of their production company, Lewellen Pictures.
This review contains SPOILERS. If you’re somewhat interested in this dud, read at your own risk.
Found & Missing Aspects
Found: Pre-hate boner Donald Trump fanatic, Robert “Bobby” De Niro & Dakota “DF” Fanning both did a decent job for their respective performances.
Other Cast Members such as Famke Janssen, Elizabeth Shue & Melissa Leo all did a solid job for their respective performances.
Fun Facts
- Prior to Hide and Seek, Bobby’s first horror movie is “Angel Heart.”
- DF also worked with Ms. Shue in “Dreamer.”
- DF plays Emily. Two leading characters also share the same name as her in “The Exorcism of Emily Rose” & “Corpse Bride.” I can already picture them pointing at each other like that Spider-Man meme.
Dylan Baker (Curt Connors from Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man) appears as a local sheriff. .23 Electron Volts!
Cinematography’s shot in stable condition.
When Emily counts, to ten thousand, she said nine thousand and one. Perhaps a reference to Vegeta’s over-the-top line from “Dragon Ball Z.” “IT’S OVER 9000!” Somebody’s been watching DBZ.
While playing the titular game, Emily utters out, “Come out come out wherever you are.” Bobby also said it in “Cape Fear.” This ain’t the first time his movie was referenced in other one. As George Lucas once said, “Like poetry, it rhymes.”
- Taxi Driver – “You talkin’ to me?” Played Fearless Leader said it in “Rocky and Bullwinkle.”
- The Godfather Part II – Young Don Corleone. Played Don Lino in DreamWorks animated mob comedy, “SharkTale.”
- Frankenstein 1994 – One of Emily’s drawings of Charlie resembles The Monster. Bobby played The Monster in Kenneth Branagh’s remake.
- Meet the Parents series – David has a pet cat.
- Little Fockers – Jack calls Greg “The Godfocker.”
Missing: Scare Factor lacks actual terror. There’s awkward moments like Emily mutilating a doll Elizabeth’s daughter gave her. It’s not scary. That’s Larry David cutting the hair of a little girl’s doll awkward. As if nobody’s seen “Toy Story” with Sid butchering toys. Hide and Seek’s an unintentional Comedy.
Nothing creepy happens until the 48 minute mark.
David discovers he’s Charlie all along. The main character realizes he’s the villain? Gee, I’ve never seen that before. *cough* “Fight Club” *cough* “Memento.” “Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit” had a better plot twist! A family movie with better blend of Horror and Comedy!
Turns out David has a split personality. Wait a tic? A character named, David who has a second personality. That’s “The Incredible Hulk” with Bill Bixby Lou Ferrigno.
Charlie isn’t unique. He’s a rip-off of other characters with a split personality besides Bruce Banner & Hulk. Some of ‘em weren’t a blatant copy of Jekyll & Hyde.
- Gollum/Smegol
- Norman Bates
- Tyler Durden
- Green Goblin/Norman Osborn
- Two-Face/Harvey Dent
The Third Act is a hybrid rip-off of Cape Fear & Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining.” Why? Because Charlie channels Max Cady’s voice from the former. The latter’s a carbon copy of the bathroom scene with blood written. Then, Charlie chases Emily as in Jack Torrence chasing his son, Danny. I’ve seen better What can I say? I’ve seen better Horror movies than this piece of crud.
David’s colleague, Katherine delivers a pre-kill one liner before she shoots Charlie. What does she say? “Hide and Seek.” You know who said a better pre-kill one-liner? Danny Glover’s character, Roger Murtaugh in “Lethal Weapon 2.” “Just been revoked!”
The Final Verdict: D-
Hide and Seek isn’t a top-tier Horror movie. It belongs in the garbage disposal. Skip this piece of crud in favor of actual good ones like Martin Scorsese’s Cape Fear remake, Angel Heart and most Ryan Coogler’s recent hit, “Sinners.”
Nickthemoviecritic.com 