Reviewed by Rama Gaind.
Writer/director: Joel David Moore, Defiant Screen Entertainment.
A house of secrets. A web of lies. A world of danger. These may initially appear to be abstruse insights into the storyline of this psychological thriller, but not for long.
Out on DVD, Hide and Seek centres on Noah (Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Michael Collins, Velvet Goldmine, Titus) who goes in search of his outcast brother after the death of his wealthy father. Little does he realise that he is entering a world where some strange supernatural things are transpiring.
He wants to find him in the hope of making amends and sharing the family fortune.
Unbeknownst to Noah, his family harbours a dark secret that he must solve by following a series of cryptic clues that lead him on a terrifying trail to the truth that threatens to tear him apart from the ones he loves the most.
Noah dives headlong into a warped underworld of squatters and vagrants, where there are “no neighbours, only drifters.” He struggles to maintain his sanity as he is led on a terrifying trail to the truth.
The film also stars Jacinda Barrett (Poseidon, The Human Stain), Joe Pantoliano (The Matrix, The Sopranos), Sue Jean Kim (First Reformed, X/Y) and Mustafa Shakir (Luke Cage, The Deuce).
Described as an intense horror film with shocking twists and turns, the closer Noah gets to the facts, the nearer he gets to danger. Chilling though it is, nothing stays hidden. Can an obsession destroy you?
Joel David Moore (Spiral, Youth in Oregon, Killing Winston Jones) directed and wrote the screenplay based on the original 2013 Korean film by writer/director Huh Jung.
Not devoid of flaws, Hide and Seek still delivers if you are looking for a movie that dispenses moments of real fear.
