Like most people, I would expect the pairing of actor Robert DeNiro with a script for a scary movie would deliver a movie full of chills. After all, DeNiro is ‘THE actor’s actor’ and can (most of the time) deliver a strong performance in just about any role. Added to this would be the casting of Dakota Fanning, who has made a huge mark in the cinema world for her amazingly powerful performances, considering her young age. Unfortunately, “Hide and Seek”, missed the bull’s eye and is instead merely a passable thriller. In “Hide and Seek”, DeNiro plays Dr. David Callaway, a New York psychologist whose wife (Amy Irving) recently committed suicide. As bad as this has affected his life, the greater impact appears to be on his daughter Emily (Fanning), who begins a steady mental withdrawal from the world. Dr. Callaway decides that a change of scenery might help, so he moves what’s left of his family from the big city to a huge house in a small town.

Instead of the steady drone of traffic, the Callaways can now look forward to an idyllic lifestyle where the loudest noise might be that of birds in the woods.

Sadly, their lives become anything but idyllic. Instead of working her way out of her shell, Emily appears to be getting steadily worse. Father and daughter grow farther apart, and Emily begins to exhibit signs of anger and violence. Of course, she claims that these actions are not her fault, and are instead the work of her imaginary friend Charlie. As things go from bad to worse, and the bodies begin to pile up, the question of who… or what… Charlie really is takes center stage. But, as in the case of any thriller, good or otherwise, things are not always what they seem.

As a rule, I don’t like to give out spoilers beyond what is already presented in trailers and ads, and as the resolution in “Hide and Seek” is extremely unexpected, I won’t do it here either. I will say that I didn’t see the answer to the question coming, and when it did, it was quite chilling… for a while. And here is where the problem lies with “Hide and Seek.” Once the ‘secret’ is revealed, the film should have worked its way into a quicker ending. Instead, the film went on for what seemed like an eternity as the resolution played out. I can only fault the director, John Olson, for his editing decisions and not the performances of the actors involved.

The DVD is coming out this week from Fox, and while I enjoyed the extra features as a whole, they were as mixed a bag as the film. The best of the features were the deleted scenes. Normally, these are my least favorite, but the scenes here were actually quite interesting and there were several I would have left in the finished film. There is also a commentary by he director, along with the screenwriters Ari Schlossberg and Editor Jeffrey Ford. This commentary was also a little better than average, as it took on the conversational tone I usually prefer when you have multiple speakers. You’ll also find a “Making of…” featurette, but it is more promotional than revealing.

The extra feature I could have done without were the four alternate endings. I’ve long had a problem with alternate endings, mostly for the fact that they take away from the overall integrity of the film. This is especially bad when the film is a really good one. I prefer for a film to stand on its own merit and deliver its own brand of reality. By offering alternate endings, it reduces the film and the characters to pawns, which can be moved about at the director’s whim. And while this is exactly what characters in a film are to a director, to an audience they exist as real people that you have invested your time and emotions into for the running time of the film. Plus, alternate endings tend to weaken the strength of a director when they are exposed. By that I mean that a lot of films shoot alternate endings, but once a director makes the decision on a ending, the others generally don’t see the light of day. Allowing audiences to see them makes the director seem wishy-washy.

Aside from this little nit-pick, the DVD “Hide and Seek” is a fairly strong release, if not for the film as a whole, but for the strong performances DeNiro and Fanning.

Directed by: John Olson
Starring: Robert DeNiro, Dakota Fanning, Famke Janssen, Elisabeth Shue, Amy Irving, Dylan Baker
Extras: 4 Alternate Endings, Audio Commentary by Director John Polson, Screenwriter Ari Schlossberg and Editor Jeffrey Ford, 14 Deleted/Extended Scenes with Optional Commentary, Rough Conceptual Sequences, “Making of…” Featurette.
Specifications: Widescreen, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, DTS 5.1 Digital Surround Sound
Studio: Fox
Release Date: 7/5/2005
Region 1
MPAA Rating: R (For Frightening Sequences and Violence)
Website

We'll give Hide and Seek a C.