Hideaway (film)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Hideaway | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Directed by | Brett Leonard |
| Produced by | Jerry A. Baerwitz Gimel Everett Agatha Hanczakowski |
| Written by | Screenplay by Andrew Kevin Walker and Neal Jimenez Based on the novel by Dean Koontz |
| Starring | Jeff Goldblum Christine Lahti Alicia Silverstone Jeremy Sisto |
| Music by | Trevor Jones |
| Cinematography | Gale Tattersall |
| Editing by | B.J. Sears |
| Distributed by | TriStar Pictures |
| Release date(s) | 1995 |
| Running time | 106 min |
| Country | USA |
Hideaway is a 1995 horror film directed by Brett Leonard and based on the novel of the same name by Dean Koontz. It stars Jeff Goldblum, Alicia Silverstone, Christine Lahti and Jeremy Sisto. In the movie Goldblum plays a man who dies in a car accident, only to be revived two hours later. He then experiences either hallucinations or psychic premonitions.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
The movie opens with a Satanic worshipper (played by Sisto) chanting in a room filled with candles and Satanic imagery. The as-of-yet unnamed character then commits suicide in a ritualistic way by falling forward onto a knife. After the screen credits roll, Goldblum's character Hatch Harrison is introduced. On a drive with his family Harrison gets into a car accident and is pronounced dead—only to be revived two hours later by specialist Dr. Jonas Nyebern (played by Alfred Molina). His wife Lindsay (played by Lahti), and daughter Regina (played by Silverstone), were also involved in the car accident but escaped without serious injuries. After the accident and subsequent revival, Harrison begins to experience premonitions. These involve him seeing murders through the eyes of a killer. Harrison realizes that the the murders are actually happening when the women he sees being murdered are announced as missing in news reports. The character Harrison sees committing the murders is later shown to be the same character who committed suicide in the opening sequence. The character, who is identified as Vassago, talks to Harrison's daughter at a night club, which Harrison sees in his visions. Harrison attempts to stop Vassago from murdering only to be told that he is experiencing mental problems by his family, his psychiatrist, and the police. Harrison visits a psychic (played by Rae Dawn Chong) who confirms his beliefs and tells him that Vassago is also having visions in which he can see through Harrison's eyes. It is then revealed that Vassago is the son of Dr. Nyebern and that Vassago killed his mother and two sisters. After his suicide (shown in the opening sequence), he was also revived from the dead by Dr. Nyebern. Vassago then kidnaps Regina and goes to an abandoned amusement park, where he kills his father after being confronted by him. Harrison and his wife save Regina, and Harrison kills Vassago. The movie ends in a supernatural special effects sequence, in which the souls of Vassago and Harrison collide in battle. Harrison lives and exits the park with his family.
[edit] Reception
The film received negative reviews from critics, with the review tallying website rottentomatoes.com reporting that 9 out of the 11 reviews they tallied were negative for a score of 18% and a certification of "rotten".[1] Roger Ebert, one of the few critics who liked the film, characterized it as a standard fare horror film that accomplishes the film's modest goals.[2] Ebert summarized his review by saying, "Look, I'm not saying this is a great movie, or even a distinguished one. I'm saying: You want horror, you want psychic abandon, you want Rae Dawn Chong reading Jeff Goldblum's Tarot cards and not liking what she sees, you see this movie, you get your money's worth."[2] Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle gave the film a poor review, but stated that Goldblum's performance "makes a tedious film intermittently tolerable."[3] The film received mixed reviews among the general population, with the Internet Movie Database reporting that their users have given the film a 5.1 out of 10 based on over 1,800 reviews tallied thus far.[4]
Hideaway made $11,677,123 in the US box office.[5]
[edit] Dean Koontz
Koontz was reportedly unsatisfied with the film. According to Wahington Post's Rita Kempley, "Koontz hates the movie so much he tried to force TriStar to remove his name from the credits."[6] In addition, according to the San Franccisco Chronicle's Walter Addiego, Koontz was so dissatisfied with Hideaway that he would only allow a film adaptation of his novel Phantoms to be made if he was allowed to approve of the final version of the film.[7]
[edit] References
- ^ Hideaway entry, rottentomatoes.com, accessed March 21, 2007.
- ^ a b Ebert, Roger. Hideaway review, Chicago Sun-Times, March 3, 1995, accessed March 21, 2007.
- ^ LaSalle, Mick. FILM REVIEW -- Goldblum Hidden Away in Predictable Movie, San Francisco Chronicle, September 1, 1995, accessed March 21, 2007.
- ^ Hideaway (1995), Internet Movie Database, accessed March 21, 2007.
- ^ Hideaway, movies.yahoo.com, accessed March 21, 2007.
- ^ Kempley, Rita. Hideaway, The Washington Post, March 4, 1995, accessed March 21, 2007.
- ^ Addiego, Walter. How it was made more interesting than the film Author Koontz got his say on "Phantoms", San Francisco Chronicle, January 28, 1998, accessed March 21, 2007.
[edit] External links
- Hideaway at the Internet Movie Database
