Hide

I became a fan of Christian Kane's through watching the series 'Leverage'. I can't stand Horror movies, but I tentatively gave this a try just because he's in it. Being from Texas and knowing lots of people who have strong Southern accents (as well as lots of uneducated 'hicks'), I did find that both actors (Kane and Minor) overdid it. (Minor more than Kane.) Both actors had a tendency to slur their words and talk in the back of their throats, as though uneducated people can't even speak properly. However, despite that, I was very impressed with Kane's performance. Despite the violence and the constant cursing, he did an excellent job of portraying a real, complete character - a man who started out as a sociopath and, after seven years in prison, comes to regret the life he led. Or so it seems.

If you're looking for action, this is not the movie for you. 'Hide' is a lot of talking, a lot of introspection, and a lot of thinking and soul-searching. And it's not about what you think it's about. But Kane does an excellent job of making the character 3-dimensional and not merely a caricature as so easily could have happened. (I'm reminded of Vin Diesel's work in 'Pitch Black' where he took what could have been a mere villian and made the character complex and fascinating.) Kane took long speeches and made them interesting. I found myself nodding as I followed the character's thought processes and actually believing that someone would think that way. Not agreeing with him, you understand. Just believing in the character.

The movie is confusing and you have to pay attention to figure out what's actually going on as there are is a lot of jumping around in time. There are flashbacks and flash forwards and the entire film is very oddly put together. But it works, somehow, and the interesting twist at the end not only saved the movie, but it turned it into something other than a mere slasher/horror film. Now that I know what the movie was actually about, I find I want to go back and watch it again. Once you understand what's happening (and the ending is a very "OMG, that's what it's about!" experience; think 'Revolver' or 'Fight Club'), then everything falls into place and you feel you can go back and ignore the violence and just pay attention to the character.

If you like to watch someone really work a character, if you enjoy a well-drawn character who is despicable but fascinating, if you enjoy a movie that will suck you in even as it repulses you, if you enjoy having to think about your entertainment, and if you can get past the violence and the cursing, then this is actually a pretty good movie and I recommend giving it a try. I give the overall movie 3 stars because I don't like horror and violence, but I give the plot surprise 4 stars. I give Kane's performance 5 stars. He really surprised and impressed me and I look forward to seeing more of his work. Hopefully in a less bloody and violent movie, though.

Before I bought this I, like I suspect most of you will do, read the reviews and I have to say none of them helped me or even prepared me. Infact they all gave me a false idea of what this movie ultimately turned out to be, for me anyway. now this review may help you and it may not but I will give me opinion and you can read it or ignore it as you please.
First of all this is a straight to DVD movie so if you have high hopes of quality lay them aside this instant, however, having said that they did the best they could with what they had. I went into this expecting a really poor quality B-grade horror movie and what I go was actually an interesting, slightly interllectual and definately conveluted story. I can't say I was very dissatisfied with the story as I was expecting it to be crap from the beginning but I was left wanting something a bit...more.
It is not an action movie as such so if you are hoping for lots of guns and explosions then don't bother, they've gone for cerebal over action.
If you are a big Rachel Miner fan or Christian kane fan (which I am) then you can do a lot worse that this. It's not bad for what it is but keep in mind that what it is is a straight to DVD movie. That in itself should lower expectations.
I liked it for what it was and was pleasently suprised for the most part.
If you are happy to not take it too seriously then I recomened it but if you are looking for something with greater quality and better story telling I'd look for something else.

I'm not sure I understand Hollywood's obsession with tattooed, foul-mouthed White Trash scumbags. Or is this just how the latte-slurping, hip California wealthy execs see the rest of America? I'm not sure.

But plenty of criminal posturing and redneck grunting is on display in HIDE, along with disturbing unexplained shots of torture and mutilation that will leave you turning your head and then scratching your head until the very end.

I think I know what happens. But I don't want to spoil anything for anyone so I may put my interpretation in the Comments section. So, if you click on my Comments (unless you're making one), you'll find the SPOILER about the ending. Or at least what I think it was.

Otherwise, I really hated all of these characters. I don't blame the actors. They were actually very good, although I was a little thrown by Rachel Miner's accent. Good or bad, I couldn't tell...but I do know that I hated her character. [...] No actress is hot enough to overcome what an annoying, obnoxious presence this skank can be.

It was also impossible to be sympathetic for the male lead. Christian Kane, right? He does a good job...but he's playing a sociopathic, a hateful bully.

I actually thought the ending was interesting but you really have to pay attention to it. It's a real JACOB'S LADDER kind of jump to make but the characters are so shallow and revolting that you don't care about them. Even if the viewer made the jump to its logic, you're left with: so what, they're worthless.

So, as much as I'd like to give points for its imaginative ending, I still couldn't justify watching these horrible people for everything leading up to it.

The cast tries hard. The movie doesn't.