Hide and Seek (2005, VHS)

I recently purchased Hide and Seek (2005) at my local video store for pennies on the dollar. The film starts off with the following words, "First day of the New Year", "New York City", in white set in a black background. The movie finally begins with a tranquil and happy setting immediately introducing the viewer to the main characters. Emily Callaway (Dakota Fanning) is being spun around in circles on a carousel by her mother Alison Callaway (Amy Irving) who is eventually joined by her husband Dr. David Callaway (Robert De Niro). Jumping right into the movies plot Emily s mother engages in a quick game of hide and seek when they return home tucking her daughter Emily into bed. Alison is extremely depressed drinking a bottle of wine and taking a pill for comfort. David asked his wife Alison if everything was okay. Alison responds that some things cannot be fixed by therapy then goes to the bathroom and fills the tub with water. David falls asleep and is mysteriously awakened only to find his wife dead in the bath tube full of blood and water as she committed suicide. Sadly, little Amy standing in the backgrounds at the bathroom door watching her dad hold his wife crying is traumatized.


The scene ends and like the films introduction, movie breaks and goes back to white letters with a black back drop stating, New York City Children s Hospital where we find Emily sitting in a daze. David has been encouraged by Emily therapist Katherine to start over and stay in New York, however David s plans for starting over involve leaving the city with his daughter Emily. Katherine attempts to talk David out of leaving, however David has made up his mind. As they drive out of the city, it is at this point the opening credits begin to role and we finally get the movies title in cryptic and reddish letters, "Hide and Seek". The sad introduction shows Emily in the back seat of the car being driven by her dad David who settles in the Woodland Estates, a small town in New York that considered a summer community with a population of only 2,2006 people.


From the outside their new house looks like the clean version of the Amityville home. David is greeted by the friendly Sheriff Hafferty (Dylan Baker) and somewhat odd Mr. Haskins (David Chandler) who found the house for them. As they get ready to move into the new home, Emily disappears, and is found by her father staring aimlessly into the woods. Latter that even David and his daughter Emily are having an extremely quite dinner, David makes a face and attempts to engage Emily into a conversation, however she states she would like to go to bed now. Emily goes up stairs to her room and washes up before going to bed. David thinks Emily is playfully hiding and starts looking for her, as he opens the closet door her cat surprisingly jumps out. Emily calmly and sadly walks out of the bathroom looking as though she is annoyed with her fathers attempt to go on in life.


The next day Emily walks through the woods around her house chasing a butterfly that leads her into a dark cave. David, who appears to be diagnosing his daughter writing therapeutic notes on his pad about her, suddenly realizes that she is gone and begins calling for Emily. Emily quietly appears only this time her feet are muddy from the cave. David is then greeted by his next-door neighbor Laura (Melissa Leo) with a basket of peach and apricot preserves. After riding into town David meets Elizabeth Yum (Elisabeth Shue) who watching her niece Amy who is the same age as Emily. Still sitting in the car with the windows fogged Emily looks at her dad talking to Elizabeth with anger. When Emily arrives home and is tucked into bed she tells her dad about her new friend, a person named Charlie. David is concerned that things are not getting better for Emily since they left New York. He is concerned about her imaginary friend Charlie and calls his colleague Katherine to discuss Emily s lack of therapeutic progress. Now that David has found Emily s doll in the trash can mutilated and things continue to get spooky. While Emily s friend Charlie seems scary and unfriendly, David is having his own issues with reality as he continues to wake up at 2:05 in the morning, with his faced being caressed by what appears to be his wife s hand. This reoccurring dream is the same dream he had the night his wife allegedly committed suicide at the same exact time. Ultimately like the Academy Award winning, A Beautiful Mind the viewer must determine what is going on in the film. Without a doubt, Director Polson Smith's cast is exceptional especially child actress Dakota Fanning. Robert Niro delivered a quality performance as a father, and psychologist lending the right amount of on screen fatherly chemistry needed for his role.


The music for this film is excellent as the Hide and Seek theme song resonates in my head long after the movie has ended. The music starts off sweet and serene climaxing when needed matching every stride of the film pace. The cinematography is rich with clarity, which makes for a wonderful viewing experience. The main problem with this film is its lethargic pacing, as it seems to almost crawl from scene to scene. The straightforward plot needs to be deeper with various sequences of the film feeling out of place. The foreshadowing was good at some points in the film but seemed confusing in others as if Director Polson was focused with every minor detail instead of really using his cast to it s full potential. This film is rated R and is not suitable for children due to its overall scary theme, violence and suicide.


There are several viewing choices for this DVD, which include the theatrical version, and four different alternative versions, which include the Happy Drawing , "Life with Katherine", "One Final Game" and "Emily s Fate". The DVD version unlike the VHS has a plethora of choices including play movie, scene selection, language selection, special features and the disc menu. I enjoyed watching the commentary by Director John Polson, as it explained some of the supernatural events that took place in the movie. I don t think I would have enjoyed this film at the theaters primarily because the movies don t provide the opportunity for you to pause or review a scene. In addition you don t get all the extra's that you get when you have a feature rich DVD. If I had gone to the theaters I would have given this film only 2 stars, but the DVD is worth a solid 3 stars.


If you plan on watching this film, clear your calendar. "Hide and Seek s" disclosures may pull you into the movie, but the pacing is way to long. This psychological thriller, is pretty predictable until you get to the end, and at that you it is up to you to decided if you think the ending is worth 1 hour and 45 minutes. In the end, it is definitely worth a DVD rental if not a purchase, that way you can watch it in parts.