Customer Reviews

Hideaway [VHS]

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

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.

Despite a stellar cast, Jeff Goldblum, Christine Lahti, Alicia Silverstone, and Alfred Molina, who do their best with a really bad script based on the Dean Koontz novel of the same name, this movie is a stinker. Even the special effects are bad. It is so bad that Dean Koontz tried to disassociate himself from the film, with good reason.

The basic premise of the movie has to do with a family man (Jeff Goldblum), who dies in an accident and is brought back to life through the extraordinary intervention of a doctor (Alfred Molina). Though the doctor's efforts appeared at first blush to have been successful, our family man now seems to be psychically linked to someone else, a psycopathic killer who happens to be a satanist. Of course, it turns out that this killer was also brought back from the dead by the very same doctor. What happens next is too stupid for words. Save your money. Do not buy this movie.

I have to say, I was fairly underwhelmed by this film. I have not read the book, but I have a feeling that it is much better than this.

Even with all the short comings the movie is decent, but it has some major flaws. For starters, the direction is horrid. The film seems flat, and almost made for TV at times. There is no tightness, nothing close. That hurts the movie a great deal, because the lack of any claustrophobia cuts the tension down immensly. There is only a few short moments where there are any real scares (the begining, and a few of the Sisto in the shower moments), but other than that there is hardly anything here to really scare the audience. The second problem is how the movie seems to glaze over some of the more violent aspects. Yes, there are on screen murders, but they are so tame that the horror of the moment is lost. It all feels very by the numbers as well. The final problem is the acting. Everyone here seems to be trying, but the script gives them very little to work with at times, and because of this, the acting is very on and off. Jeremy Sisto suffers the most in this area. His performances goes from dark and menacing to horridly over the top, and almost pushes this entire affair in to B-movie territory. Jeff Goldblum suffers from the same problem. Christine Lahti has some nice moments, especially towards the end while she is fighting Jeremy, but she also slips in to some over acting. Alicia Silverstone is there, and not much else. She really has no character or than the hostage. The rest of the cast is fine.

The movie does have some very interesting set designs, and the story does have it's cool moments (although those moments are hurt by the very blah pacing).

Now, the movie is far from horrible. It is entertaining to a degree, and has some very interesting sequences (the hell and heaven stuff does look horribly dated due to the reliance on computer graphics though). Also, it is always fun to see some fairly well known actors in a fairly cheesy horror movie. I would recommend renting it, and if you can find the DVD or VHS for really cheap, then grab it. Otherwise, this one can warrant a miss.

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?

Wow, this was bad. And not bad in a "Hard Rock Zombies" kind of way, but bad in a "wow...this is dull" kind of way. The cast, consisting of usually enjoyable performers, is given nothing to work with here. All of the best elements to the Koontz novel are changed or left out. Alicia Silverstone just kind of mumbles her way through the flick, Jeff Goldblum doesn't get to play his usually fun type of character, the usual humor he brings to his roles is sorely missed, Alfred Molina gets what is basically an extended cameo walking around looking upset during his total of 7 minutes of screentime, and Christine Lahti's character is so different from the character in the Koontz novel, you hate to see her wasted here. Jeremy Sisto is the only bright spot, but even he can't do much with what he is given in the lousy script.
The special effects are awful!! Who knew that when we enter the afterlife we are basically cigarette smoke with a face? The computer animation is laughable, Heaven & Hell never looked so boring! Just avoid this sucker, and read the (while not great, but at least enjoyable) Koontz novel instead.

I thoroughly enjoyed this film.
The presence of Rae Dawn Chong helped a lot :-)
However, the film has a great supernatural tinge that works wonderfully.
Almost as good as THE AMAZING MR FROST.

Highly recommended for those who are capable of suspension of disbelief.

It's not a bad movie a few tweaks here and there could have made it better. I love watching throw back movies and have never hear or seen anything of this movie, so it must not have been that big. Also for such well known actors the acting cow,d have been a little better. I can't even give a breakdown I'm thinking about it but but it seems complicated when I write it. The movie preview is above other than that it's watchable.

Fans of Dean Koontz will know what I mean when I say he has created some incredibly memorable antagonists over his many years an author. Think Edgler Forman Vess from Intensity or Enoch Cain in From the Corner of His Eye. I initially watched this DVD simply because Jeremy Neybern/Vassago is one of the best characters Dean Koontz has ever penned.

I was not surprisingly dissapointed in this film, knowing already that Mr. Koontz himself had not behind behind the endeavor.

The really frustrating thing is, this could have been a fabulous film, had they been faithful to the novel, which was amazing! The movie lacked two things; the focus on the religious aspect (heaven vs. hell) and development of Vassago's character (which was deeply dealt with in the novel). Unlike many antagonists, Vassago was different, and the movie simply never made it clear to the viewers that this was the case.

The movie stars Jeff Goldbloom and Christine Lahti as Hatch and Lindsey Harrison, and the way their lives change after Hatch dies in a car wreck and is brought back from the dead by a surgeon, Jonas Neybern (played by Alfred Molina). When hatch comes back, he has brought something with him; namely the connection between himself and a sociopathic Satanist who calls himself Vassago (Jeremy Sisto). Vassago becomes obsessed with Hatch's daughter, Regina (Alicia Silverstone) and through a series of visions and contrived coincidences, the four are brought together in a final showdown in Vassago's lair under the rollercoaster at an abandoned amusement park.

I can't describe with enough detail how painfully I wished this movie would have stayed true to the book. Where they have stupid special effects, connecting the living and other worlds, they could have focused on the development of Jeremy/Vassago's character, his past, to give the viewer at least just a hint of how insane and complicated he truly was.

Where there was Regina, the whiny sixteen year old who wasted screen time (minus the scene in the club between Silverstone and Sisto the character really fell flat), there could have been a precious and precosious ten year old from the book.

Where there were poorly put together and awkwardly acted murder scenes and a stupid metal sculpture that Vassago had built, there could have been more thorough reasons for killing the young women and at least a nod to the macabre collection that Vassago housed in the basement of his hideaway.

Where there were stupid and contrived (as I've said) coincidences that brought Harrison and Vassago together, there could have been solid visions and a purposeful movement towards the final showdown.

The true grit in this book came from the character of Vassago and how he came to be who he was and how he became focused on both Linsday and Regina Harrison. The shock and sometimes chills came from the way Vassago's mind worked and the things he did while in the world of the living, so he could reenter hell. The movie lacked in showing anything like this.

A long time fan of Jeremy Sisto, I feel that he was given so little to work with from a character that could have been so profoundly frightening and shocking. And if this movie's Vassago was not engaging, there was no hope for the rest of the characters.

I don't recommend seeing this more than once, and once if you enjoy watching Goldbloom or Sisto.

This movie was terrible albeit entertaining. READ THE BOOK. Seriously one of the most entertaining and creepy books I've read. Dean Koontz is amazing.

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.