A Brilliant Conflict

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

Hatch, his wife Lindsey and their daughter Regina are in a car accident one night, which sees Hatch supposedly die to only be brought back to life on the operating table by Dr. Jonas Nyebern after being dead for a short period . After this miracle he begins having odd flashes / visions that he has trouble dealing with as they seem so real, as Dr. Nyebern seems to be hiding something about his work. Hatch would discover later that he actually has a special connection with a vicious psychopathic serial killer that can see through his eyes and he can see through theirs. Is there a special link to this, or is Hatch loosing his mind? A respectable, but stock-like psychic thriller adapted from a Dean R. Koontz novelisation, which bestows a capable bunch of actors in the likes of Jeff Goldblum, Christine Lahti, Alicia Silverstone (a wholesome turn before making herself big in "Clueless"), Jeremy Sisto and Alfred Molina. Director Brett Leonard (from the "The Dead Pit") brings to the feature the computer special effects that shrouded his previous sci-fi film "The Lawnmower Man", but for "Hideaway" it's only used in minor doses in the sequences involving the afterlife / out of body experiences. Although it lets loose towards the film's rampaging, if overdone climax in a good vs. evil confrontation of souls in illuminating lights, but the computer effects for its period are well done for most part.Nevertheless it's compellingly delivered, even though it consists of some clumpy dialogues and holds quite a stringy plot that has you questioning details for them to only unfold the further it went. When it decided to feed us some of the niggling queries (it opens up a can of worms) to clear up any confusion and this is when it suddenly turned mechanical and unassuming in its plot progression. Gone was the hauntingly edgy and sombre atmospherics of looming nightmares of a character trying to make sense of the erratically jarring images plaguing his mind. Was he unknowingly committing these acts in some sort of blackout or was he tunnelling somebody else's sight? Now it would be replaced with the standard over-the-top race against the clock with the family in peril get-up. This type of story has been done plenty of times before, but Goldblum's sober turn is an interesting one and Leonard's sickly crafted, well paced direction is visually appealing in its dourly under lit, but well filtered tones and glassily etched-out suspense. Gale Tattersall's expressive photography is lean, but precise. Sisto's homicidal serial killer performance at first is sinisterly creepy, but as it went along it began to grate away with his eccentricity opting out. Trevor Jones' music score is hauntingly harmonious in its arrangement and the Gothic / industrial rock soundtrack is fitting.Also after the credits finish rolling there's an unnecessary tacked on shock sequence with "Carrie" getting a reference.

This film started out very strange, where you proceed into a home with all religious pictures on the wall and a mother and daughter praying before a statue. Then you see a young man go into a locked room and does horrible things to himself as his father tries to help him. The picture proceeds to Jeff Goldblum,(Hatch Harrison) who plays an antique dealer and his wife Christine Lahti,(Lindsey Harrison). This married couple have a daughter Alicia Silverstone,(Regina Harrison) who is bored to death on a vacation her parents are taking in the mountains. Alicia fights with her dad and they all decided to head back home, on the way they have a car accident which causes reason problems with Hatch Harrison. There is plenty of Soul, Body and Spiritual happenings and also Good & Evil Spirits. If you like this type of film, you will definitely love this film and the excellent acting.

I just watched this on video. Looking at the video box, I remembered looking at the video box before, but I didn't remember seeing it before. I remember seeing it before now, though. Not a good sign. I can honestly, then, say this movie is forgettable.It starts with a young man in a house, with two women who appear to be praying silently. He goes up into a small room in which he has a lot of candles lit, newspaper clippings, and things written on the wall in red. He impales himself on a knife. A man runs into the house, and finds his wife and daughter are not praying, they're dead and posed, and he then finds his dead son. In a CGI scene, the dead son's soul or whatever (his translucent face, and a vague indication of his body) is traveling through colorful tunnels. It's pretty laughably bad.From that happy family, we go to Jeff Goldblum and his wife Christine Lahti on vacation with their daughter, Alicia Silverstone. They're corny, and their daughter finds them annoying. They get into a car accident on the way home, and Goldblum drowns or nearly drowns. He goes through the same sort of tunnels, but he also sees his other daughter who had died sometime in the past calling to him. It's pretty laughable too.Alfred Molina brings Goldblum back to life, but Goldblum starts having visions of himself killing young women. He also finds that when he injures himself, the injuries heal up almost instantly (that was never explained). Goldblum worries for the safety of his daughter, who the killer takes an interest in.In the end, there's a big CGI battle between good and evil. It's pretty corny too, and it's not just a matter of the now-dated special effects.

~Spoiler~Hideaway is a fairly lackluster attempt to bring Dean Koontz to the big screen. Koontz' adaptations are rarely successful. Most of the films "based" on his work tear everything in his stories apart. This film is no different. But strictly as a movie, it's still bland and nothing worth seeing again. Jeremy Sisto and Jeff Goldblum's characters have both had near death experiences and are brought back with a connection. They can both see through one another's eyes now. A good explanation of this is never given. Also, a good reason is never given as to how the good doctors were able to bring Goldblum back to life after being clinically dead for 120 minutes. I guess we're just supposed to chalk that up to the supernatural. Back to the story, Sisto is a deranged killer and Goldblum wants to stop him. That's about all there is here. Alfred Molina is wasted and Alicia Silverstone, thankfully, doesn't have too much screen time. The ending is very cheesy as are most of the effects. You can tell this is from the same guy that directed Virtuosity and The Lawnmower Man.