In an effort to change her surroundings they move to a small holiday community in the woods where the permanent residents all seem to have a side to their personalities.
Disturbing events start to happen in the house, as if De
Niro''s dead wife is acting out
psychological revenge attacks on her long suffering husband. Emily''s behaviour also starts to deteriorate, as she begins to blame the events on Charlie – an unseen malevolent personality.
David''s psychological training leads him to believe that Charlie is a hidden side of his daughter blaming him for her mothers'' death, but as the attacks become more vicious and physical another truth becomes more apparent.
Many questions arise as to whether Charlie is Emily''s
dark side, or if the strange happenings are the actions of one of the creepy inhabitants of the community or if there is something much more bizarre going on.
Hide and Seek is a very good film from the actor-turned-director, and although the story doesn''t barrel along at any great pace it has a strong atmospheric creepiness. After the release of a
number of direct remakes of films - such as Ring, the Dark Water, and Flight of the Phoenix - Hide and Seek is more of a homage to a number of
classic supernatural and psychological
thrillers stretching back as far as Hitchcock''s classic Psycho.
Robert de Niro
plays his part well and Dakota Fanning plays the role of the daughter wonderfully well.
All in all, Hide and Seek isn''t exactly original but it sure does add to the list of psychological thrillers.
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