Hide and Seek

Starring Robert De Niro, Dakota Fanning, Elizabeth Shue, Amy Irving

Rated R

            “Hide and Seek” is a scary yet somewhat dramatic thriller that has a killer twist ending that you may or may not guess. Robert De Niro and Dakota Fanning are terrific in the first good horror flick of 2005 (take that, “White Noise.”)

De Niro is David Calloway, a doctor whose wife, Alison (Amy Irving), kills herself one evening. Hoping to get away from bad memories, David and his young daughter, Emily (Dakota Fanning), move to the countryside and try to begin a new life.

Soon enough, Emily develops an imaginary friend named Charlie. According to her therapist, it’s perfectly natural for her to have an imaginary friend. But once David suspects Charlie may be more real than he’d thought, the film goes into horror overdrive and never fails to spook the audience.

I won’t, of course, give away the ending, but I will say that if you’ve seen “Secret Window,” expect some similarities. “Hide and Seek” is creepy fun.

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