The Hidden (1987) 96m.
In what could almost be a pedigree of his TWIN PEAKS role as FBI agent Dale Cooper, Kyle MacLachlan plays an otherworldly FBI agent in search of a psychotic killer on the loose in L.A. He teams up with local detective Michael Nouri after the killer has been cut down in a police shootout and tries to convince him that their problems are far from over. As we quickly discover, the real killer is an alien parasite that moves from body to body, rendering it nearly impossible to find. The good news is that almost immediately the new host exhibits telltale behavior patterns, revealing the true nature of the alien hidden within it. The bad news is that these signs usually include car theft, bank robbery, and homicide.
Look at THE HIDDEN one way and it's almost a 50s Juvenile Delinquency picture - the notion of alien-as-hedonist incorporates the same elements used to drive a wedge between the cinematic generation gap of that time: sex, fast cars, loud rock music, destruction of property, and living like there's no tomorrow. But even though all of the alien's incarnations commit acts of casual violence the strange overall impression is not so much that it is wrong to steal or kill but that in a civilized society it is simply wrong to do whatever you feel like. Just to confuse the matter, the alien chooses middle-aged subjects for its hosts (I suppose in some cases it doesn't have much choice). Was this because the portrayal of younger people going on a shooting rampage was too uncomfortably close to reality? It would have at least drawn attention to the J.D. motifs in the film. I'll concede that it's the juxtaposition of the hosts' appearances against their repugnant activities that provides much of the film's humor. Especially effective is the alien's second host body (William Boyett) whose monosyllabic delivery, beady eyes and tight-lipped expression make him both amusing and unsettling. It's useful that Boyett gets more screen time than the other incarnations because it gives us a chance to compare him with the much more sedate (but equally elusive) MacLachlan.
Film manages to make the old alien-parasite routine look fresh thanks to great pacing that doesn't let up from the opening car chase (exciting on a big screen), but thinking over the storyline and script, you'll realize that this could have been a terrible film. As it turns out, Bob Hunt's script is served well by good acting, fine cinematography, great effects, and energetic direction (by Jack Sholder). It's one of the few B-movies you'll see with an A budget - don't tell me that any film that totals a Porsche in the first scene has a B-grade budget! The ending, although strangely neutral (it's neither totally satisfying nor unsatisfying) suggests in the final shot that a whole new, different story is just beginning. I'm glad they left it up to our imaginations instead of churning out HIDDEN II.
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