This article is about the American thriller film.
For the 2005 Japanese anime short,
see Kakurenbo.
Hide and Seek
Theatrical release poster
Directed by John Polson
Written by Ari Schlossberg
Produced by Barry Josephson
• Robert De Niro
Starring
• Dakota Fanning
• Famke Janssen
• Elisabeth Shue
• Amy Irving
• Dylan Baker
Cinematography Dariusz Wolski
Edited by Jeffrey Ford
Music by John Ottman
Production Josephson Entertainment
company
Distributed by 20th Century Fox
Release date • January 28, 2005 (US)
Running time 101 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $25 million[1]
Box office $127.4 million[2]
Hide and Seek is a 2005 American psychological thriller film starring Robert De
Niro and Dakota Fanning. It was directed by John Polson. Albert Hughes was initially
set to direct, making his debut as a solo director, but left due to creative differences. [3]
The film opened in the United States on January 28, 2005, and grossed $127 million
worldwide. Rotten Tomatoes cited praise for De Niro and Fanning for their
performances, though its consensus called the film "derivative, illogical and
somewhat silly". Fanning received an MTV Movie Award for Best Frightened
Performance in 2005.
Plot[edit]
Following his discovery of the body of his wife Alison in a bathtub after her apparent
suicide, Dr. David Callaway, a psychologist, decides to move with his 9-year-old
daughter Emily to upstate New York. There, Emily makes an imaginary friend she
calls "Charlie". Her friendship with Charlie begins to disturb David when he discovers
their cat dead in the bathtub, who Emily claims was a victim of "Charlie". David has
nightmares of the New Year's Eve party that occurred the night before Alison's
death.
When a family friend, Dr. Katherine Carson, comes to visit David, Emily reveals that
she and Charlie have a shared desire to upset her father. David meets Elizabeth
Young, a local woman, and her niece, Amy, who is the same age as Emily. Hoping
to cultivate a healthy friendship for Emily, David sets up a play date. Amy is eager to
become friends and gives one of her dolls to Emily but the play date is spoiled when
Emily cuts up Amy's doll's face. Emily tells David she doesn't need any friends.
David invites Elizabeth over to dinner one night, where Emily acts hostile toward her.
Elizabeth later tries to make peace with Emily. When Emily tells her that she is
playing hide-and-seek with Charlie, Elizabeth indulges her by pretending to look for
Charlie. When she opens the closet, someone bursts out and pushes her out the
window to her death.
David asks Emily what happened. Emily claims Charlie killed Elizabeth and forced
Emily to help him move the body. She tells David the location of the body. David
discovers Elizabeth in the bathtub full of blood (similar to how Alison died). Armed
with a knife, he goes outside, where he meets their neighbor and assumes that his
neighbor is Charlie. He cuts the neighbor and the neighbor calls the police.
Back in the house, David finds that, although he has been in his study many times,
the boxes were actually never unpacked after the move. He realizes that he
has dissociative identity disorder and Charlie is not imaginary at all: "Charlie" is
David himself. Whenever "Charlie" would emerge, David would be in his study. He
also finally recalls the New Year's Eve party the night before his wife's death. He had
caught Alison making out with another guest. "Charlie" was created as a way to
express David's rage so that he could murder his wife, something the docile David
was too decent to do. Emily knew the entire time about her father's split personality
but did not tell him because she was unsure which personality murdered her mother
until "Charlie" killed Elizabeth.
Once David realizes the truth, he becomes completely consumed by Charlie, leading
him to murder the local sheriff, who arrives to investigate the neighbor. Emily calls
Katherine for help, tricks Charlie, and escapes into the cave where she originally met
Charlie. Katherine takes the gun from the dead sheriff and finds Charlie in the cave.
He pretends to be David and attacks Katherine. Katherine begs for David to fight his
murderous other personality. Charlie says David no longer exists. Emily emerges,
begging Charlie to let Katherine go. Her distraction allows Katherine to shoot Charlie,
killing him at last.
Later, Emily is preparing for school in her new life with Katherine. But Emily's
drawing of herself with two heads suggests that she might also have dissociative
identity disorder.
Endings[edit]
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This film has a total of five different endings, The US theatrical version had the
following ending:
Preparing for school while living a new life with Katherine, Emily draws a picture of
herself and Katherine, looking happy. But when the camera cuts back to Emily's
drawing, Emily has two heads suggesting she now has dissociative identity disorder.
This ending is included as an alternate ending on DVDs featuring the International
theatrical ending. Another four were included on the DVD:
Happy Drawing: The same as the ending in the US theatrical version, except that
the drawing Emily makes of herself has only one head, suggesting that she does not
have dissociative identity disorder.
One Final Game: Emily is shown seemingly in a new apartment bedroom, and
Katherine's actions mirror that of her mother's at the beginning of the film. She
reassures her love to Emily and begins to leave the room. Emily asks Katherine to
leave the door open, but Katherine insists she cannot. As the door shuts, a protected
window is visible on the door. The next cut is of Katherine locking the door from the
outside, revealing this assumed apartment bedroom is actually a hospital room in a
children's psychiatric ward. Emily gets out of bed and does a Hide and Seek
countdown. She nears the closet, opens, and smiles at her own reflection in the
mirror.
Emily's Fate (International theatrical ending): Same as above in the psychiatric
ward, but without the Hide and Seek countdown. This ending was featured in the
international theatrical version.
Life with Katherine: An ending similar to that in the psychiatric ward, but in this
ending Emily is not in a ward but her new home. After Katherine shuts the door,
Emily gets out of bed to play Hide and Seek with her own reflection.
On the DVD, the main menu enables you to watch the film with any one of the five
endings.
Main cast[edit]
• Robert De Niro as David Callaway
• Dakota Fanning as Emily Callaway
• Famke Janssen as Dr. Katherine "Kate" Carson
• Elisabeth Shue as Elizabeth Young
• Amy Irving as Allison Callaway
• Dylan Baker as Sheriff Hafferty
• Melissa Leo as Laura
• Robert John Burke as Steven
Release[edit]
20th Century Fox released two versions of the film: the international version and the
domestic version. Both versions received different endings. The domestic version
was released in the US, while the international version was released to other
countries. Both the international and domestic versions submitted to the BBFC were
actually released to UK cinemas. Both versions passed for a 15 certificate for
"moderate horror and violence".[4] The film was released on DVD on July 5, 2005, in
the US and on July 25, 2005, in the UK.
Reception[edit]
Box office[edit]
In its opening weekend in US theaters, the film grossed $21 million. The film grossed
$51.1 million in the U.S. and $71.5 million internationally, for a worldwide total of
$122.7 million.[2]
Critical response[edit]
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 12% based on 156
reviews, and an average rating of 3.9/10. The website's critical consensus reads:
"Robert De Niro and especially Dakota Fanning have earned some praise for their
work in Hide and Seek, but critics have called the rest of the film derivative, illogical
and somewhat silly."[5] On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 35 out
of 100, based on 34 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". [6] Audiences
polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B−" on an A+ to F scale. [7]
Paul Arendt of BBC Movies gave the film two stars out of five, commenting that
"Robert De Niro continues his long slide into mediocrity with yet another charmless
psycho-thriller."[8] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film two stars out
of four: "There was a point in the movie when suddenly everything clicked, and the
Law of Economy of Characters began to apply. That is the law that says no actor is
in a movie unless his character is necessary."[9] According to the New York Times the
film was hampered by budgetary restrictions[10] and the Toronto Sun said it was one
of De Niro's worst.[11]
Accolades[edit]
Year Award Category Work Result References
Choice Movie: Elisabeth
Nominated
Scream Scene Shue
Teen Choice
Award
Choice Movie: Hide and [12]
Nominated
Thriller Seek
2005
Best
MTV Movie Dakota [13]
Frightened Won
Award Fanning
Performance
Golden
Hide and
Trailer Best Horror Won
Seek
Award
Fangoria
Dakota [14]
2006 Chainsaw Best Actress Nominated
Fanning
Award
See also[edit]
• Twist ending
References[edit]
1. ^ "Hide and Seek (2005)". The Numbers. Retrieved April 27, 2016.
2. ^ Jump up to:a b "Hide and Seek". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2016-02-26.
3. ^ Brodesser, Claude (August 27, 2003). "Hughes off 'Hide'; De Niro's still
in". Variety. Retrieved March 14, 2022.
4. ^ "HIDE AND SEEK (15)". British Board of Film Classification.
5. ^ "Hide and Seek". Rotten Tomatoes
6. ^ "Hide and Seek reviews". Metacritic.
7. ^ "CinemaScore". cinemascore.com.[better source needed]
8. ^ Paul Arendt (January 28, 2005). "Hide and Seek". BBC.
9. ^ Ebert, Roger. "Hide and Seek Review". Chicago Sun-Times. Chicago,
Illinois: Sun-Times Media Group.
10.^ Dargis, Manohla (January 28, 2005). "An Escape in the Country? Maybe
Not". The New York Times. New York City. Retrieved February 17, 2017.
11.^ Braun, Liz (January 19, 2016). "Robert De Niro's worst films". The Toronto
Sun. Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Postmedia Network. Retrieved February
17, 2017.
12.^ FOX PRESS (January 6, 2005). "FOX Announces Nominees for "The 2005
Teen Choice Awards"". The Futon Critic. Retrieved 13 January 2023.
13.^ Cotter, Padraig (October 14, 2020). "Every Winner of The MTV Movie
Award for Best Scared-As-S*** Performance". ScreenRant. Retrieved 13
January 2023.
14.^ Garza, Joe (May 26, 2022). "Horror Movie Child Stars You Wouldn't
Recognize Today". Slash Film. Retrieved 13 January 2023.
External links[edit]
• Official website
• Hide and Seek at AllMovie
• Hide and Seek at Box Office Mojo
• Hide and Seek at IMDb
• Hide and Seek at Metacritic
• Hide and Seek at Rotten Tomatoes
hide
• v
• t
• e
Films directed by John Polson
• Siam Sunset (1999)
• Swimfan (2002)
• Hide and Seek (2005)
• Tenderness (2009)
Categories:
• 2005 films
• 2005 horror films
• 2000s mystery films
• 2005 psychological thriller films
• 2000s psychological horror films
• American mystery films
• American psychological horror films
• German mystery films
• English-language German films
• Films about dissociative identity disorder
• Films about imaginary friends
• Films scored by John Ottman
• Films set in psychiatric hospitals
• Films set in New York (state)
• Films shot in New York (state)
• Films shot in New Jersey
• American serial killer films
• 20th Century Fox films
• Films directed by John Polson
• Films about uxoricide
• 2000s English-language films
• 2000s American films
• 2000s German films
