![]() ![]() However good the movie itself may be (or may not, depending on your point of view), Jeff Goldblum's performance completely redeems the horrid rewrite and inept direction of this production. There are a couple of really well done "scare you!" moments and many moments where you catch yourself holding your breath. wasn't SCARY!Īs a movie, it is highly entertaining, fun, scary and has you literally on the edge of your seat several times during its viewing. Someone should have told him the red sun. Unfortunately, Brett Leonard displays neither in this attempt. This leaves his earlier works easily adapted to film by any director with a capable imagination and even just a little talent. The only thing that remains the same is Hatch (Goldblum) and the circumstances which surround his amazing new "gift." Koontz's earlier works, as was the work upon which this movie was based, had little detail, although his characters are very well developed and his story lines/plots move along with little or no distraction at all. The "adaptation" isn't an adaptation, it's a complete rewriting of the story, dialog, setting and characters. Koontz, in my opinion, should also have sued. His acting is intensely deep and highly professional in this Brett Leonard (director of the notoriously horrible adaptation of Stephen King's "Lawnmower Man," so bad it was, King SUED and WON, to have his name removed from the title and marketing!) adaptation of Dean Koontz's literary effort. Jeff Goldblum pulls the veritable rabbit out of the proverbial hat in this one. "Hideaway" is rated R for considerable violence, some gore, a sex scene and a fair amount of profanity.Reviewed by FiendishDramaturgy 7 / 10 Suspenseful and chilling.ĭean Koontz chiller, starring Jeff Goldblum. (We know the movie is in New Age Land when Lahti picks up a copy of Betty Eadie's "Embracing the Light" for a closeup.)īut why does it have to be wrapped up with a serial killer plot?įavorite dumb line: "Even as a child he was psychotic," says a key character, making a case for why Sisto was brought back to life. (The film is also surprisingly sluggish in places, with a climactic showdown that goes on forever.)īut let's face it, given the amount of current interest in afterlife discussions, it's not a bad idea for a movie. There are overtones of other, better respected horror yarns here, from "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" to "The Silence of the Lambs," though the massive "sculpture" that includes the killer's victims and is built under an aging rollercoaster seems a bit much. And that, of course, eventually leads to Goldblum's family being endangered. ![]() Yes, he has become "psychically linked" with Sisto and both are seeing things through each other's eyes. ![]() It doesn't take long, however, before Goldblum begins having "nightmares," during which he sees young women murdered - and feels as if he is doing the killing. Fortunately for him, however, he is taken to an emergency room that just happens to have access to a doctor (Alfred Molina) who has developed "a special resuscitative program." Molina brings Goldblum back from the dead. The ensuing accident leaves Goldblum dead, and from his viewpoint we see another trip down the afterlife highway. Meanwhile, a trucker is heading up that same road and falls asleep. They are on vacation at their mountain cabin and feeling melancholy, so they decide to head home early, traveling down a mountain road at night. Just as suddenly, he is pulled back to rejoin the living.Īfter this sequence, we meet a loving but sad couple (Jeff Goldblum, Christine Lahti) that has lost a young daughter and is now having trouble communicating with another teenage daughter (Alicia Silverstone). Then we see from his viewpoint a trip down Afterlife Lane, as his spiritual self travels through a colorful tunnel at warp speed and then confronts a bunch of red-devil spirits crying in the night. He climbs upstairs to his bedroom, which is filled with lighted candles and satanic knicknacks, and commits suicide with a dagger. The film begins with our friendly neighborhood murderer (Jeremy Sisto) at home after a ritual killing (with religious overtones, of course), leaving his mother and sister dead. Using razzle-dazzle computer imagery to evoke a sense of what it might be like to have a near-death - or an actual death - experience, director Brett Leonard brings some of the same imagination that he used with "The Lawnmower Man" to "Hideaway."īut that imagination extends only to the afterlife visuals - the rest of the film is ho-hum serial-killer stuff of the kind we see all too often in the movies, punctuated by disgusting scenes of necks being sliced open (and at one point, an eye being poked out). Despite its technical and visual ingenuity, "Hideaway" is such an unpleasant ride that by the end it's easy to feel you've been cinematically violated. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |