tangreat-bk The only reason I watched this movie was because I'm a huge fan of Robert De Niro and wondered what would he be like in a horror movie.Overall it's a decent watch.It's well crafted, well performed (both by De Niro and Fanning) and to a point well written. It builds up the tension slowly but surely and focuses on the character relationships.But it's not a smooth sail. The movie suddenly falls apart in the third act due to a nonsense twist whose only ambition is to shock the viewer. Needless to say it doesn't work at all and doesn't even fit in with what happened with the first two acts of the movie. Left a bad taste with me.

David Arnold While this isn't one of De Niro's best movies, it's definitely not his worst either. I've seen reviews saying that Hide & Seek was the "lowest point of De Niro's career" and "De Niro done OK with a terrible script". This is, on both counts, absolute rubbish, because De Niro, along with Dakota Fanning, do a good job with a decent story. Hide & Seek is not a supernatural type of movie either, so if you are expecting a movie of that genre then you'll be sorely disappointed. It's a psychological thriller, and a pretty decent one at that, even if the 1st hour is a bit slow, but thankfully the last 30 minutes or so makes up for it.The story is about a widowed father, David Callaway (De Niro), and his daughter, Emily (Fanning), who move to a secluded house in a small town after the death of David's wife. Emily is understandably withdrawn after her mother's death, and in time she starts spending time with an imaginary friend called Charlie. However, David becomes more concerned for his daughter when she starts blaming horrible incidents that are happening around the house on Charlie. Soon David learns that Charlie may not just be a figment of Emily's imagination after all, and he has to try and find away of figuring out the mystery.Like I said earlier, the story is a pretty decent one and is not anywhere near as bad as people make it out to be. There is a good amount of tension and suspense throughout...especially in the last 30 minutes where everything starts coming to a head, along with a pretty good twist to boot, which, when you watch it, is actually quite an ironic twist considering.Whether you're a fan of De Niro, good psychological thrillers, or both, Hide & Seek is a very decent film and is definitely worth watching.

TheBlueHairedLawyer Donnie Darko, Magic, Dark Water, Imaginary Playmate, these are just a few of the tons of films made over the years featuring malevolent imaginary entities. Hide and Seek is typical. Emily, played by the overused and rather annoying actress Dakota Fanning, is a little girl whose mom just committed suicide. Her dad decides to move with her out of the city to a country home. Emily tells her dad about Charlie, an imaginary friend she has created. As it so happens Charlie isn't just an imaginary friend.Typical.I have an imaginary friend; movies that portray them as signs of insanity annoy me because it really isn't true. Mind you it is a fictional movie, a horror movie no less. Still, it'd be a lot better if it didn't have Dakota Fanning in it. Just like the child actresses Chloe Moretz and Drew Barrymore, Dakota Fanning is used way too much in too many movies, is not a very good actress and is kind of annoying. It makes the movie less believable to see the same girl as you see in tons of movies. If you're bored and like a basic horror movie then you might like this one, but it isn't a very good one.

SnoopyStyle David Callaway (Robert De Niro) lives in NYC when suddenly his wife Alison (Amy Irving) commits suicide. His daughter Emily (Dakota Fanning) is suffering from the shock of seeing her dead body and they move to Woodland in upstate NY. Emily starts talking to an imaginary friend named Charlie. Laura (Melissa Leo) and Steven (Robert John Burke) are the neighbors next door who suffered a great loss. Elizabeth (Elisabeth Shue) is a divorced mom who befriends David and has her own little girl. Katherine (Famke Janssen) is the doctor friend from NYC. Dylan Baker plays Sheriff Hafferty.This movie moves far too slowly for far too long. It has a bit of moody atmosphere but the movie tries to stretch it out. There isn't anything scary for that long stretch. The acting is fine by the outstanding cast, and I'm not sure if they could have done anything better. Of course, there is the twist ending. It doesn't really set it up properly, and it feels very jarring. I don't think it's wrong. I just wish that they put down better clues to the twist.