Hide and Seek

***
Release Date: January 28th 2005

As a widower tries to piece together his life in the wake of his wife's suicide, his daughter finds solace, in her imaginary friend.

Director: John Polson (The Mentalist, Flashforward)

Starring: Robert De Niro, Dakota Fanning, Famke Janssen

Hide and Seek, at points is hard to get to grips with. Firstly, because Robert De Niro is out of his comfort zone with this genre of film, and secondly because it has no originality whatsoever.

It's premise is great, a devoted father trying his best to squander what's left of his relationship with his daughter (who's played by Dakota Fanning) as a result of the death of their mother/wife. The loss has left them broken, so David Callaway (De Niro) decides to move to the rural countryside to start again. 

The joint effort of De Niro and Fanning manage to make this piece of work watchable. De Niro shocked me by starring in a thriller, but still manages to live up to his abilities. David struggles to keep cool with his daughter, Emily and her 'imaginary friend' Charlie. Some of the acts that Emily commits (which is blamed on Charlie), David is stern towards her but he never blows his top due to the nature of the loss of her mother.

Fanning's acting is impeccable for someone so young. Her chilling facade is unbeatable in the horror/thriller genre. We're fixated by her character's split personality.

Hide and Seek is let down by it's cliches and stereotypes. Creepy neighbours and townsfolk, there's a cat briefly wondering about the house (do they even own a cat???) and a jewellery box when opened has a jingle. There's nothing new. The shocking 'twist' at the end of the film is predictable, leaving viewers wondering why it wasn't done differently. According to the DVD's audio commentary, the ending that was finalised (out of a possible 5 including the extra features) was chosen because 'it gave the audience a relief at the end'. When does this ever happen in a horror film? Very rarely.  

Overview: Fanning is one to look out for in future years. Not bad to watch, just don't expect anything surprising.