Hide and Seek

"Ever heard of Caesarean? I think I can do that"

So, one night beautiful Anne (Daryl Hannah) gets kidnapped from her apartment, gets drugged, and wakes up in someone's cellar chained to a bed.

Her abductors are Frank and Helen (Jennifer Tilly), an odd couple living in the middle of nowhere (Canada) with one wish one their mind: to have a baby.
Problem is, Helen can't have kids anymore ever since her first pregnancy went wrong while giving birth to a deformed child.
This traumatic experience made her loose all her marbles: They impregnate Anne and plan to keep her locked up in the cellar for the next 9 months ...

Ever had your doubts if Jennifer Tilly is a good actress? Sure, she was nominated for the Oscar once but damn, after watching her act in this crude Misery ripoff they oughta consider taking back that nomination

Sidney J. Furie who once embraced the world with his creepy The Entity gives us a blatant little shoddy thriller that, despite playing at a few Film Festivals, was bound to go direct-to-video.
The first hour of Hide and Seek is hard to sit through - it took me awhile to figure out that Jennifer Tilly was not playing a retard, rather an insane woman heh - just watching her annoying acting, screaming and singing (watch out for her "October song") will most likely make ya duck for cover.
If you haven't turned off your TV by then I'll bet the overused cliches seen a million times before will do the trick ... or the non stop assault of unintentional humor ... or Daryl Hannah's numerous and tiresome attempts trying to outsmart and escape from Helen & Frank ... or the lack of tension/suspense and that made-for-TV feel.

If you make it to the end you'll be rewarded though. Yep. Once Jennifer Tilly gets rid of her sadistic but boring husband (by chopping him up into little pieces) Hide and Seek delivers sort of, and turns into a halfway decent over-the-top campy slasher flick.
As bad as she was in the first hour, J.Ti also kinda redeems herself - her final 30 minutes are watchable (she has one hell of a funny oneliner near the end).

Not a great slasher, but "ok" because of the ending.
Rent/buy/watch at own risk.



This is the R2 Kinowelt version. Video (16:9/1.85:1) is ok, audio (2.0 surround/english) does the job. Not much extras besides the (english) Theatrical Trailer, bio's, gallery and trailers for other flicks (Deep In The Woods, The Pointmen and The Invisible Circus).

Also available the R1 US Version (Lions Gate):

 

Hm, not a slasher though. I have this (an earlier DVD release). Can't say it left much of an impression on me I'm afraid. Actually, I remember it dragging on and on......

 

I actually liked it.

 

Yeah, me too. My copy is just a freebie screener DVD, but I thought this was a pretty good movie, despite the fact that I don't have much regard for Daryl Hannah.

I thought Jennifer Tilly played the psycho bitch quite well!

 

Saw it on cable a couple years ago under the alternate title: Cord. I remember liking it, but I am a big Tilly fan Anyone else think that Vincent Gallo is a total freak? :eek2:

 

I also remember kinda liking this when i first saw it a couple of years ago. I may have to re-watch it to see if it's purchese worthy.

 

Sounds like one to avoid to me.

 

I might check it out possibly.

 

Quick question:

When They impregnate Anne ... does it show the sex scene?

Asking b/c if so,, the the 1st hour I might stay around for the end ,,, if I end up grabbin this movie

 

Nope :cry:
They do it "Michael Jackson Style"

 

I saw this a few times on the USA network way back when they used to air it constantly, but recently picked up the DVD for a revisit.

On paper, this is probably a pretty standard Lifetime-style thriller, with a crazy childless couple (Vincent Gallo and Jennifer Tilly) abducting a well-to-do pregnant women (Daryl Hannah) with the intention of stealing her baby, while meanwhile her husband (Bruce Greenwood) walks around shirtless and cries a lot.

On screen, this is kind of a camp masterpiece. Jennifer Tilly's performance in this is INCREDIBLE! She makes Susan Tyrrell in Night Warning look like the voice of sanity. They need to cancel the Oscars this year and just give the belated Oscar to Tilly, because she deserves it. We are not worthy of her!

It is pretty standard thriller fare, with a nice winter atmosphere, but anytime Tilly is on screen I was RIVETED! She IS the movie! Thoroughly enjoyed revisiting this one, and I'm happy to have added it to the collection. Apparently Germany released a blu-ray of this, because they know what's up.