HIDEAWAY
A film review by James Berardinelli
Copyright 1995 James Berardinelli
RATING (0 TO 10): 2.8
U.S. Availability: wide release on 3/3/95 Running Length: 1:45 MPAA Classification: R (Violence, language, sex, mature themes)
Starring: Jeff Goldblum, Christine Lahti, Alicia Silverstone, Alfred Molina, Jeremy Sisto Director: Brett Leonard Producers: Jerry Baerwitz, Agatha Hanczakowski, and Gimel Everett Screenplay: Andrew Kevin Walker and Neal Jiminez based on the novel by Dean R. Koontz Cinematography: Gale Tattersall Music: Trevor Jones Released by TriStar Pictures
HIDEAWAY, director Brett Leonard's adaptation of the novel by Dean R. Koontz, is about a man who is resuscitated after having crossed death's threshold. Considering what happens after Hatch Harrison is reborn, it might have been better for everyone--both the characters in the film and those unfortunate souls in the audience--had he stayed dead. In fact, this entire production should have been consigned to a very deep grave.
Jeff Goldblum plays Hatch, a man with a more serious problem than his unorthodox, pulp-fiction like name. After "dying" in a car crash, he is revived by a brilliant doctor (Alfred Molina), but since his return, he has started having all sorts of sick visions. Apparently, he has brought something back with him from the other side, and now he has a bizarre symbiotic relationship with a serial killer. Each can "see" through the other's eyes. And the sicko has decided that Hatch's daughter Regina (Alicia Silverstone) might make a tasty victim.
If an excruciatingly bad ending can ruin a good movie, what can it do to a film that's already beyond redemption? HIDEAWAY provides an emphatic answer to that question. As the climax unfolds, with its deluge of computer-generated not-all-that-special effects, jaws are likely to drop--not at the wonder of the images, but at the mind-boggling stupidity of what's happening. And don't be surprised if there are a few snickers, as well.
If nothing else, the concluding pyrotechnics roused me from the stupor the rest of the movie had put me into. In this case, spending over one-hundred minutes with Jeff Goldblum and Christine Lahti becomes a trying experience, especially considering the moronic level of the plot. Lahti is adequate as the worried wife, but the normally-reliable Goldblum is unconvincing, never connecting with his character or the audience. And, based on the merit of her performance here, Alicia Silverstone (last seen terrorizing Cary Elwes in THE CRUSH) isn't ready for an Oscar nomination, either.
Early on, HIDEAWAY almost fools its audience, but it doesn't take long for us to realize that we're not watching a legitimate psychological thriller. HIDEAWAY is pretty poor entertainment, and what starts out as a superficial trip into the occult ends with a pointless, overblown fight to the death. "Overblown" is the key word here, because a pair of very special supernatural entities make cameo appearances. I don't want to drop any names, but one of them was a lot more impressive handing Charlton Heston some tablets in THE TEN COMMANDMENTS.
I haven't read the book by Koontz upon which this material is based, but the author himself seems extremely put out by what appears on screen, having publicly stated the he finds it "astonishingly incoherent, filled with contradictions and moronic logic." Not exactly a ringing endorsement. And as for how Neal Jiminez (THE WATERDANCE) got mixed up in this--well, even the most promising writers have bad days. Hopefully, HIDEAWAY will go away ... fast.
- James Berardinelli (jberardinell@delphi.com)
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