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Ervell E. Menezes on Hide and Seek, which stays stuck in the mould of horror for the sake of horror. Take
a psychologist doing good business in the Big Apple till he is overcome
by a tragedy. His wife kills herself and his precocious daughter goes
into her shell. So they move to the countryside as a change in the
environment. But the rustic setting is even more congenial to horror.
The child imagines there is a third person, and hence the title. But the killings continue. Who is the killer? That is the premise of Hide and Seek. Psychology and whodunit merge and after a fair beginning the story becomes quite predictable with its red herrings and related incidents. There are a few blanks. Nothing can be said of the oncoming sequel. When Alison Callaway (Amy Irving) slits her wrist and bleeds to death in a bathtub it is gory enough for the husband, David (Robert De Niro). As for little Emily (Dakota Fanning), she is quite inconsolable. She is in a daze and this gives way to fantasising, or so it seems. There’s Charlie that she seems to communicate with. But is doesn’t help. But why would the psychologist dad allow this trend to grow? Probably, because it is part of the plot. David tries to pick the pieces of his life and move on. He meets other women, which is, of course, resented by the girl, who does not want anyone to take her mother’s place. In a few days, a dead cat is found in the bathtub. The neighbouring family has also had a bereavement, their daughter. Could the dad be having designs on Emily? Suspicion is sprinkled liberally like mustard and suspense goes had in hand but with dad and daughter hogging the limelight the action tends to become monotonous. An overweight Robert De Niro struggles through the part. Though Dakota Fanning has more scope, the film is never really absorbing. It is more in the horror-for-horror’s-sake mould. When, like the ten little nigger boys, the elimination process is on, it is easy to pick the killer. Director John Polson is handicapped by a poor screenplay and the psychological overtones are hardly convincing. Neither are some of the shock happenings. Credibility is the biggest casualty and a film which loses its zing well before the halfway mark eventually falls flat, being more worried about the sequel than a fitting climax. Robert De Niro struggles right through the film with little conviction and Dakota Fanning does her thing, which amounts to alternately looking aghast and near-normal. Elizabeth Shue’s role is merely academic in a film that is at best quite ordinary. May be recommended for De
Niro fans so that they see how the mighty have fallen. |
