Talk about "Hide and Seek" here:
Review by: Breanne Derby
Plot Summary
After her mother's suicide, nine-year-old Emily Callaway (Dakota Fanning) is having a hard time adjusting and going back to her normal life. Deciding that in their home in New York City Emily is "flooded with memories" Her father, David Callaway (Robert DeNiro) decides to take a break from his job as a psychologist and moves to upstate
New York with Emily so that he can be a full-time Dad. Though David tries to be a fun father, taking his daughter fishing and setting up play-dates, Emily only finds happiness when playing with "Charlie," her imaginary friend. However, "Charlie" quickly becomes a bit more ominous than the average imaginary friend when Emily blames him for gruesome wrongdoings that begin occurring in the night, and discourages her father from saying things because Charlie might get mad.
Review
This film is meant to fall into the category of Thriller or Horror, but this is definitely not a Thriller or Horror film that sticks with you after the credits have rolled. In my opinion, the best Thrillers are the ones that give the viewer the eerie feeling that they could somehow wind up in a similar situation. Though "Hide and Seek" does not fall short of possible, it's not particularly terrifying.
The music is really what makes the film. Without the eerie music playing, and the crescendos to the climax of what was supposed to be scary, this film would not have been particularly frightening. I'd like to see a good horror film that could make you afraid and build suspense without the help of the music. Only the end of this film kept you on the edge of your seat, because that's the only time when anything happened. The middle was actually kind-of boring and if it weren't for the fact that I can't sleep during movies, I might have fallen asleep. It was almost more like a drama than a thriller.
The acting is altogether good, as can be expected from DeNiro and Fanning but the story seemed to be missing something. Perhaps if it had delved deeper into Emily's distress over losing her mother, or even into David's. The main characters were exceptionally shallow, and the secondary characters were lucky to have names. The entire film was building up to the big climax at the end, and the ending wasn't even all that great. Though this film could have been much better what with the acting talent that was collected to create it, unfortunately it didn't end up being frightened, and I barely felt any attachment to the characters at all. What little attachment I did feel was purely because I knew the ending before hand.
The biggest disappointment of this film was the ending. It reverted back to the old ways and tricks that have been used in so many thriller flicks before it. Even the "surprise" plot twist that was supposed to keep you wondering about whether or not Charlie really existed and if he did who he could be throughout the film ended quickly, and the motives were ridiculous. I didn't really like the story, but the talent wasn't bad, and it didn't seem like they spent millions on special effects (because I don't think there were any). All in all it was probably budgeted well, though it wasn't really a very good film.
Conclusion
Personally, I did not find this film frightening, and as it was advertised as being fear-provoking, I almost felt I had been mislead. The vast majority of this film is the relationship between Emily and her father, and the inability to cope with the death of a loved one. "Hide and Seek" is almost more of a drama than a thriller, and that would have been okay if it had just assumed the title of a drama and not tried to make it seem like five or six scenes of "horror" made all the viewers quake in their seats. Granted, there were scenes that made me jump, but that was mostly the work of the music in the background.
Unfortunately, I knew the ending of this film before I saw it, and perhaps if I hadn't I might have enjoyed it more. Knowing how things are going to turn out undoubtedly decreases the level of fear put into me. The conclusion of the film itself, was meant to be creepy as well, but I didn't find it creepy at all. This film had incredible potential with the acting talent they raked in for the roles, but in the end it was disappointing.
