Hide & Seek

Looking for all the world like the beloved goth character Emily Strange, ten-year-old Dakota Fanning hides her bright blonde hair under a brunet wig, and her usually laughing blue eyes are subdued by dark circles and a haunted look for her role in Hide and Seek.

Fanning plays a character named, appropriately enough, Emily. Young Emily finds her world turned inside out after her mother commits suicide and her father (David, played by Robert De Niro) moves her from their familiar Manhattan apartment to a big, spooky house out in an isolated, woodsy area of upstate New York. While the place is lonely, Emily soon finds a companion in Charlie. Charlie likes to play games, especially hide and seek.

But who is Charlie? Is he an imaginary friend, as David believes? Or is he real, as Emily insists? As the unseen Charlie’s games become more and more menacing, Emily withdraws and her once-sunny personality turns dark and hostile. At first, David sees Charlie as a positive way for Emily to express the grief over her mother’s death, but as a series of terrifying incidents unfold, David is lead to imagine the unimaginable: That Charlie may actually be real, and he could have deadly intentions.

Borrowing elements from creepy classics such as Psycho, The Shining and The Amityville Horror, Hide and Seek rises above its derivative subject matter because of its stellar cast. It’s a treat to see Robert De Niro take on a serious role in a spooky movie (he did have a small part in last year’s creepy-kid thriller, Godsend… but his horror tour de force still remains 1987’s Angel Heart). It’s also nice to see a change of pace and a bit of a stretch for uber-talented cutie-pie, Dakota Fanning. These two able actors are nicely supported by Elisabeth Shue and Famke Janssen in not too challenging, but good and enjoyable, roles.

Hide and Seek crumbles towards the end, and it’s just too easy to figure out. Look for a giggle-inducing homage to Rosey Greer and Ray Milland (you schlock buffs will know what I’m referring to) and take that with you as some consolation.

Up until it loses its momentum, the movie is a taut and tense suspense-thriller with some truly hair-raising, eerie elements. If you like psychological horror and you enjoy the talents of De Niro and Fanning, then by all means: Seek out Hide and Seek. (However, if bad endings spoil the whole movie for you, wait for the DVD release.)

Reviewed by Staci Layne Wilson for Horror.com