Home :: DVD :: Drama :: General  

African American Drama
Classics
Crime & Criminals
Cult Classics
Family Life
Gay & Lesbian
General

Love & Romance
Military & War
Murder & Mayhem
Period Piece
Religion
Sports
Television
Hideaway

Hideaway

List Price: $9.95
Your Price: $9.95
Product Info Reviews

<< 1 2 3 4 >>

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: IS IT A MOVIE?
Review: I'm sorry, but this film, as you say, stinks. God, I only wanted to watch it because it is based on a Dean Koontz novel. Well, now I'm reluctant of reading the novel. The film is tooooo boring, it gets anywhere. Although the film stars the good acting of Jeff Goldblum, it is balanced with the nauseate and hot Alicia Silverstone and other bad actors. DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME.AND MONEY

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Secret ending!!!
Review: Seen this movie a couple of times and I've read the book and they're pretty much the same. The secret with this movie is the ending... If you go to the end of the generic there's an extra scene that says it might not be over for Vassago!
I actually own this on tape and I guess its still there on DVD.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Succeeding Predictability
Review: Solid movie. Two men come back from near-death due to a new experimental surgery. Both of them bring something back with them. God vs Satan ,ala "Prophecy", is the main theme and I find these tales to be entertaining. Hideaway will not knock your socks off with a an ever-twisting story arc but what it does have is a solid core plot, coupled together with above-average acting, and special effects that will move you. That last comment seems to be up for debate, some have called the effects "hoaky" and stated they ruined the movie. I disagree. You'll have to check it out for yourself. High recommendation.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Nothing to write home about
Review: The 1995 film "Hideaway" was adapted from a novel written by Dean Koontz. As much as I enjoy reading horror novels, along with books from many other genres, I usually avoid Dean Koontz. I attempted to read "Mr. Murder" several years ago and failed to finish it. I finally got through one Koontz book, the highly readable and thoroughly enjoyable "Phantoms," roughly a year ago. As good as that book was, I still cannot bring myself to read another of his novels. Like the other author often mentioned in the same breath, Stephen King, many of Dean Koontz's books have found their way to the silver screen. And, like King, most of them tank immediately. This author does not have the track record King has. At least the Maine writer can point to "The Shawshank Redemption" or "Carrie" as proof that a few of his books succeeded in the difficult transition to film. Koontz, as far as I am aware of, cannot make the same claim. While "Hideaway" is not a truly awful picture, it is not a particularly great one either. I seem to recall it disappeared quickly from the theaters, doomed to perpetual existence in the gloomier shadows at the video store.

"Hideaway" is the story of the Harrison family. Patriarch Hatch (Jeff Goldblum), mother Lindsey (Christine Lahti), and daughter Regina (Alicia Silverstone) seem to encounter the typical problems all small families go through. Regina is at that age where she is a bit rebellious and whiny, but she is generally a good enough kid. Hatch and Lindsey seem to have a good careers as owners of some sort of antique store/ art gallery, careers that, if the movie is any indication, require about one hour of work a week. Tragedy strikes the Harrison family on a trip down a winding mountain road when Hatch swerves to avoid a truck. The car teeters on the edge of a sharp incline just long enough for Regina to exit the vehicle. Then the automobile bounces down the slope and splashes into a cold river. Hatch and Lindsey struggle to stay alive, but it is not enough. Lindsey, despite her best efforts, fails to keep Hatch breathing. By the time the couple arrives at the hospital, Hatch Harrison has been walking in the land of shadows for nearly two hours. Doctor Jonas Nyeburn (Alfred Molina) decides to rescuitate Goldblum's character and succeeds. Hatch goes home with his concerned family to continue living his life. But something changed in Harrison during the time he was gone. He claims he saw his deceased daughter on "the other side."

What's worse, he brought something back, a horrible power to see through the eyes of a serial killer preying on the city's youth. Hatch not only catches an occasional glimpse of terrible activities, he sometimes suffers the same sorts of physical injuries the killer does. A newspaper account of a heinous crime confirms one of Harrison's visions. Lindsey and Regina are in the dark about what is really going on, although Lindsey sees enough weirdness to insist on taking her husband back to Nyeburn for a check up. The doctor insists nothing is wrong, sort of, and Hatch once again tries to live his life. Once again, the disturbing visions return. Harrison gives into them fully this time, heading out in the car to try and find the guy, calling the police to report a murder he saw in a vision, and generally reducing Lindsey to a nervous wreck. Things take a turn for the worse when Hatch realizes the murderer, a young guy by the name of Vassago (Jeremy Sisto), is setting his sights on Regina. The rest of the film becomes a race to discover the location of Vassago in time to save Regina from disaster. Rae Dawn Chong shows up briefly as a nutty new age type named Rose Orwette, an incense burning and Tarot card reading gal who wants to help Goldblum's character locate this monster. The conclusion alternates between genuine suspense and unfettered cheesiness. The requisite plot revelation unfolds in the final minutes too.

As I watched "Hideaway," I could not help thinking how many times we have seen this type of movie before. Director Brett Leonard ("Lawnmower Man," "Virtuosity") falls back on the use of early computer animation effects in several scenes to show what the afterlife looks like. Didn't we see this in "Brainstorm"? Too, Vassago as a serial killer with his own creepy lair isn't that original considering movies from "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" to "Silence of the Lambs" have done essentially the same thing. As for the acting, my girlfriend and I both thought Jeff Goldblum too weird for the role of Hatch Harrison. Don't get me wrong; Goldblum is remarkably restrained in his performance, but a restrained Jeff Goldblum is still weirder than ninety percent of the actors out there. Christine Lahti, for her part, gets little to do from the script except act concerned about her husband's increasing paranoia. Alicia Silverstone is, well, Alicia Silverstone. The best performance comes from Jeremy Sisto as Vassago, especially in those introductory scenes where he terrorizes his family. It's nice to see this actor in an early role before he went on to "May" and "Wrong Turn."

Extras on the disc include a featurette about the making of the film, a trailer, and an alternate ending that, while interesting, does not add much to the ultimate meaning of the film. I cannot conclude that "Hideaway" is a particularly bad film. It's not even close, in fact. I would consider it an average thriller, not really a horror film but not a science fiction picture either. Give it a shot if you like this sort of thing. Goldblum completists will of course wish to procure a copy. I'm just glad I rented it.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Nothing to write home about
Review: The 1995 film "Hideaway" was adapted from a novel written by Dean Koontz. As much as I enjoy reading horror novels, along with books from many other genres, I usually avoid Dean Koontz. I attempted to read "Mr. Murder" several years ago and failed to finish it. I finally got through one Koontz book, the highly readable and thoroughly enjoyable "Phantoms," roughly a year ago. As good as that book was, I still cannot bring myself to read another of his novels. Like the other author often mentioned in the same breath, Stephen King, many of Dean Koontz's books have found their way to the silver screen. And, like King, most of them tank immediately. This author does not have the track record King has. At least the Maine writer can point to "The Shawshank Redemption" or "Carrie" as proof that a few of his books succeeded in the difficult transition to film. Koontz, as far as I am aware of, cannot make the same claim. While "Hideaway" is not a truly awful picture, it is not a particularly great one either. I seem to recall it disappeared quickly from the theaters, doomed to perpetual existence in the gloomier shadows at the video store.

"Hideaway" is the story of the Harrison family. Patriarch Hatch (Jeff Goldblum), mother Lindsey (Christine Lahti), and daughter Regina (Alicia Silverstone) seem to encounter the typical problems all small families go through. Regina is at that age where she is a bit rebellious and whiny, but she is generally a good enough kid. Hatch and Lindsey seem to have a good careers as owners of some sort of antique store/ art gallery, careers that, if the movie is any indication, require about one hour of work a week. Tragedy strikes the Harrison family on a trip down a winding mountain road when Hatch swerves to avoid a truck. The car teeters on the edge of a sharp incline just long enough for Regina to exit the vehicle. Then the automobile bounces down the slope and splashes into a cold river. Hatch and Lindsey struggle to stay alive, but it is not enough. Lindsey, despite her best efforts, fails to keep Hatch breathing. By the time the couple arrives at the hospital, Hatch Harrison has been walking in the land of shadows for nearly two hours. Doctor Jonas Nyeburn (Alfred Molina) decides to rescuitate Goldblum's character and succeeds. Hatch goes home with his concerned family to continue living his life. But something changed in Harrison during the time he was gone. He claims he saw his deceased daughter on "the other side."

What's worse, he brought something back, a horrible power to see through the eyes of a serial killer preying on the city's youth. Hatch not only catches an occasional glimpse of terrible activities, he sometimes suffers the same sorts of physical injuries the killer does. A newspaper account of a heinous crime confirms one of Harrison's visions. Lindsey and Regina are in the dark about what is really going on, although Lindsey sees enough weirdness to insist on taking her husband back to Nyeburn for a check up. The doctor insists nothing is wrong, sort of, and Hatch once again tries to live his life. Once again, the disturbing visions return. Harrison gives into them fully this time, heading out in the car to try and find the guy, calling the police to report a murder he saw in a vision, and generally reducing Lindsey to a nervous wreck. Things take a turn for the worse when Hatch realizes the murderer, a young guy by the name of Vassago (Jeremy Sisto), is setting his sights on Regina. The rest of the film becomes a race to discover the location of Vassago in time to save Regina from disaster. Rae Dawn Chong shows up briefly as a nutty new age type named Rose Orwette, an incense burning and Tarot card reading gal who wants to help Goldblum's character locate this monster. The conclusion alternates between genuine suspense and unfettered cheesiness. The requisite plot revelation unfolds in the final minutes too.

As I watched "Hideaway," I could not help thinking how many times we have seen this type of movie before. Director Brett Leonard ("Lawnmower Man," "Virtuosity") falls back on the use of early computer animation effects in several scenes to show what the afterlife looks like. Didn't we see this in "Brainstorm"? Too, Vassago as a serial killer with his own creepy lair isn't that original considering movies from "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" to "Silence of the Lambs" have done essentially the same thing. As for the acting, my girlfriend and I both thought Jeff Goldblum too weird for the role of Hatch Harrison. Don't get me wrong; Goldblum is remarkably restrained in his performance, but a restrained Jeff Goldblum is still weirder than ninety percent of the actors out there. Christine Lahti, for her part, gets little to do from the script except act concerned about her husband's increasing paranoia. Alicia Silverstone is, well, Alicia Silverstone. The best performance comes from Jeremy Sisto as Vassago, especially in those introductory scenes where he terrorizes his family. It's nice to see this actor in an early role before he went on to "May" and "Wrong Turn."

Extras on the disc include a featurette about the making of the film, a trailer, and an alternate ending that, while interesting, does not add much to the ultimate meaning of the film. I cannot conclude that "Hideaway" is a particularly bad film. It's not even close, in fact. I would consider it an average thriller, not really a horror film but not a science fiction picture either. Give it a shot if you like this sort of thing. Goldblum completists will of course wish to procure a copy. I'm just glad I rented it.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Compared to the Book: BLAND.
Review: This could have been a really incredible movie. The Book was very suspensful and had a lot of fantastic imagery that would have played well on the screen.
The film version of this story fell VERY SHORT!
It wasn't the casting or the script...I was disappointed in the plot elimates that were dropped from the Book Version.

The Film opens with the Living Room Scene of Jeremy's Mother and Sister posed in Prayer Positions. I kept hoping they would show the poses for the other victims as well (like they do in the book)...THIS WAS MY GREAT DISAPPOINTMENT with the film version.

Maybe I should have seen the movie first?
And then read the book?

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Weird but cool movie!
Review: This movie as I expected was great. It kept the suspense up right til the end. Very good story. Very original and acted out very well. Give this movie a go!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: jeremy sisto is hot
Review: this movie is thrilling but wouldnt be without jeremy sisto. he makes the whole movie. he has to be the most underrated actors around. id watch this video because its scary, gives ya nightmares, and stars jeremy sisto.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Suspenseful and chilling until the cheesy ending.
Review: This movie was a pleasant surprise finding it on the $.49 rental shelf. The story unfolds at a steady pace that builds up great suspense setting up for an ending that does not work. If the supernatural special effects had been left out or kept to minimum I would have given this movie 4 stars. The ending is just a little too fantastic. It is a movie that makes you probe the what if's of dying and being brought back to life and what the consequences may be of science interfering with that process. Jeff Goldblum gives a good performance. Definitely worth seeing once and it is much better than the Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer variety of teen horror flicks.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Alright
Review: This movie was pretty good. Hollywood ruined a perfectly good story by making this movie. I mean it was good, but could the end have been any more corny? I wonder who's going to come out as the victor. And what sexy, teen, prettyboy is going to somehow screw himself over? Good idea gone terribly wrong.


<< 1 2 3 4 >>

© 2004, ReviewFocus or its affiliates