The Hidden
directed by Jack Sholder (1987)
Movies category pick for the week of 8/4/08
When I was a kid I liked some decidedly non-kid friendly films, lots of oddball lesser known ones like Ruthless People, From the Hip, and this sci fi/action gem, The Hidden. I credit my dad for always keeping an eye out for movies that might not have had the biggest budgets and hype, but are always entertaining.
New daddy and dog blogger Kyle MacLachlan stars as an FBI agent who is not what he appears. A role that a lesser actor might fumble, McLachlan is pretty much a genius at playing gently strange good guys, a talent he just never seems to get enough credit for. Flashdance alumni Michael Nouri stars as the reasonably incredulous partner assigned to to the case–oddly enough, he bears a resemblance to Kyle’s later local police force helper, Sherrif Harry Truman.
Furthering the Twin Peaks connection, you’ll notice Hank Jennings in the first scene playing a mild mannered regular guy who suddenly goes on an unprovoked murderous rampage. And then the same thing happens again and again to other seemingly normal people. Could it be that something supernatural is afoot?
The Hidden is a solid B movie, the kind you wish for when browsing TBS in the in afternoon. It’s got sci fi alien stuff (in the form of a black slimy thing crawling out of peoples' mouths), bloodshed (a statuesque stripper turned mass murderer takes fifteen bullets in a rooftop shootout), a sense of humor, and a brisk pace.
After sitting through so many big “block busters” that just tend to bore, despite all their efforts to wow us, you watch a movie like this one and want to ask whoever is in charge (Michael Bay?), “See, was that so hard?”
While there may be nothing totally extraordinary or artful about this movie, what's extremely impressive is that it’s just so entertaining. Too bad director, Jack Sholder didn't do so well when he butchered my favorite horror franchise with Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge.
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