Hideaway is a
1995The year 1995 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* March 22 - The Dogme 95 movement is officially announced in Paris by Danish directors Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg....
horror filmHorror films are movies that strive to elicit the emotions of fear, horror and terror from viewers. Their plots frequently involve themes of death, the supernatural or mental illness...
directed by
Brett LeonardBrett Leonard is an American film director, producer and music video director specializing in the science-fiction and horror genres. A few of his films such as The Lawnmower Man and Virtuosity feature groundbreaking computer animation and visual effects...
and based on the
novel of the same nameHideaway is a novel written by Dean Koontz and published by Random House in 1992. It is a supernatural thriller centering on an antique dealer named Hatch Harrison who develops a telepathic connection with a serial killer after a car accident leaves him clinically dead for over eighty minutes...
by
Dean KoontzDean Ray Koontz is an American author best known for his novels which could be described broadly as suspense thrillers. He also frequently incorporates elements of horror, science fiction, mystery, and satire. Several of his books have appeared on the New York Times Bestseller List, with ten...
. It stars
Jeff GoldblumJeffrey Lynn "Jeff" Goldblum is an American actor. Currently, he stars as Detective Zach Nichols on the USA Network's crime drama series Law & Order: Criminal Intent.-Early life:...
,
Alicia SilverstoneAlicia Silverstone is an American actress, author, and former fashion model. She first came to widespread attention in music videos for Aerosmith, and is best known for her roles in Hollywood films such as Clueless and her portrayal of Batgirl in Batman & Robin .-Early life:Silverstone was born...
,
Christine LahtiChristine Lahti is an American actress and film director.-Early life:Lahti was born in Birmingham, Michigan, the daughter of Elizabeth Margaret , a painter, homemaker and nurse, and Paul Theodore Lahti, a surgeon. Lahti has Finnish ancestry. Her surname means "a gulf", "a bay" or "a cove" in...
and
Jeremy SistoJeremy Merton Sisto is an American actor. He has had many prominent roles in movies and television, and is probably best known for his recurring role as Billy Chenowith on the HBO series Six Feet Under and Detective Lupo on Law & Order...
. In the movie Goldblum plays a man who dies in a car accident, only to be revived two hours later. He then experiences either
hallucinationA hallucination, in the broadest sense, is a perception in the absence of a stimulus. In a stricter sense, hallucinations are defined as perceptions in a conscious and awake state in the absence of external stimuli which have qualities of real perception, in that they are vivid, substantial, and...
s or psychic premonitions.
A
SatanicSatanism comprises a number of related beliefs and social phenomena. They share the feature of symbolism, veneration or admiration of Satan . Satan first appeared in the Hebrew Bible and was an Angel who challenged the religious faith of humans. In the Book of Job he is called "the Satan" and...
worshipper (Sisto) chants in a room filled with candles and Satanic imagery. The worshipper then commits suicide in a ritualistic way by falling forward onto a knife.
Hatch Harrison (Goldblum) is on a drive with his family.
Hideaway is a
1995The year 1995 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* March 22 - The Dogme 95 movement is officially announced in Paris by Danish directors Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg....
horror filmHorror films are movies that strive to elicit the emotions of fear, horror and terror from viewers. Their plots frequently involve themes of death, the supernatural or mental illness...
directed by
Brett LeonardBrett Leonard is an American film director, producer and music video director specializing in the science-fiction and horror genres. A few of his films such as The Lawnmower Man and Virtuosity feature groundbreaking computer animation and visual effects...
and based on the
novel of the same nameHideaway is a novel written by Dean Koontz and published by Random House in 1992. It is a supernatural thriller centering on an antique dealer named Hatch Harrison who develops a telepathic connection with a serial killer after a car accident leaves him clinically dead for over eighty minutes...
by
Dean KoontzDean Ray Koontz is an American author best known for his novels which could be described broadly as suspense thrillers. He also frequently incorporates elements of horror, science fiction, mystery, and satire. Several of his books have appeared on the New York Times Bestseller List, with ten...
. It stars
Jeff GoldblumJeffrey Lynn "Jeff" Goldblum is an American actor. Currently, he stars as Detective Zach Nichols on the USA Network's crime drama series Law & Order: Criminal Intent.-Early life:...
,
Alicia SilverstoneAlicia Silverstone is an American actress, author, and former fashion model. She first came to widespread attention in music videos for Aerosmith, and is best known for her roles in Hollywood films such as Clueless and her portrayal of Batgirl in Batman & Robin .-Early life:Silverstone was born...
,
Christine LahtiChristine Lahti is an American actress and film director.-Early life:Lahti was born in Birmingham, Michigan, the daughter of Elizabeth Margaret , a painter, homemaker and nurse, and Paul Theodore Lahti, a surgeon. Lahti has Finnish ancestry. Her surname means "a gulf", "a bay" or "a cove" in...
and
Jeremy SistoJeremy Merton Sisto is an American actor. He has had many prominent roles in movies and television, and is probably best known for his recurring role as Billy Chenowith on the HBO series Six Feet Under and Detective Lupo on Law & Order...
. In the movie Goldblum plays a man who dies in a car accident, only to be revived two hours later. He then experiences either
hallucinationA hallucination, in the broadest sense, is a perception in the absence of a stimulus. In a stricter sense, hallucinations are defined as perceptions in a conscious and awake state in the absence of external stimuli which have qualities of real perception, in that they are vivid, substantial, and...
s or psychic premonitions.
Plot
A
SatanicSatanism comprises a number of related beliefs and social phenomena. They share the feature of symbolism, veneration or admiration of Satan . Satan first appeared in the Hebrew Bible and was an Angel who challenged the religious faith of humans. In the Book of Job he is called "the Satan" and...
worshipper (Sisto) chants in a room filled with candles and Satanic imagery. The worshipper then commits suicide in a ritualistic way by falling forward onto a knife.
Hatch Harrison (Goldblum) is on a drive with his family. Harrison gets into a car accident and is pronounced dead—only to be revived two hours later by specialist Dr. Jonas Nyebern (Molina). His wife Lindsay (Lahti), and daughter Regina (Silverstone), were also involved in the car accident but escaped without serious injuries.
After the accident and subsequent revival, Harrison begins to experience premonitions. These involve him seeing murders through the eyes of a killer. Harrison realizes that the murders are actually happening when the women he sees being murdered are announced as missing in news reports. The character Harrison sees committing the murders is later shown to be the same character who committed suicide in the opening sequence. The character, who is identified as Vassago, talks to Harrison's daughter at a night club, which Harrison sees in his visions.
Harrison attempts to stop Vassago from murdering only to be told that he is experiencing mental problems by his family, his psychiatrist, and the police. Harrison visits a
psychicA psychic is a person who claims to have the ability to perceive information hidden from the normal senses through extrasensory perception, or is said to have such abilities by others...
(Chong) who confirms his beliefs and tells him that Vassago is also having visions in which he can see through Harrison's eyes. It is then revealed that Vassago is the son of Dr. Nyebern and that Vassago killed his mother and two sisters. After his suicide (shown in the opening sequence), he was also revived from the dead by Dr. Nyebern.
Vassago then kidnaps Regina and goes to an abandoned
amusement parkAmusement park or theme park is the generic term for a collection of rides and other entertainment attractions assembled for the purpose of entertaining a large group of people. An amusement park is more elaborate than a simple city park or playground, usually providing attractions meant to cater...
, where he kills his father after being confronted by him. Harrison and his wife save Regina, and Harrison kills Vassago. The souls of Vassago and Harrison collide in battle. Harrison lives and exits the park with his family.
Cast
- Jeff Goldblum
Jeffrey Lynn "Jeff" Goldblum is an American actor. Currently, he stars as Detective Zach Nichols on the USA Network's crime drama series Law & Order: Criminal Intent.-Early life:...
... Hatch Harrison
- Christine Lahti
Christine Lahti is an American actress and film director.-Early life:Lahti was born in Birmingham, Michigan, the daughter of Elizabeth Margaret , a painter, homemaker and nurse, and Paul Theodore Lahti, a surgeon. Lahti has Finnish ancestry. Her surname means "a gulf", "a bay" or "a cove" in...
... Lindsey Harrison
- Alicia Silverstone
Alicia Silverstone is an American actress, author, and former fashion model. She first came to widespread attention in music videos for Aerosmith, and is best known for her roles in Hollywood films such as Clueless and her portrayal of Batgirl in Batman & Robin .-Early life:Silverstone was born...
... Regina Harrison
- Jeremy Sisto
Jeremy Merton Sisto is an American actor. He has had many prominent roles in movies and television, and is probably best known for his recurring role as Billy Chenowith on the HBO series Six Feet Under and Detective Lupo on Law & Order...
... Vassago / Jeremy
- Alfred Molina
Alfred Molina is an English-American actor. He first came to public attention in the UK for his joint lead role with Gary Oldman in the 1987 film Prick Up Your Ears...
... Dr. Jonas Nyebern
- Rae Dawn Chong
Rae Dawn Chong is a Canadian-American actress.-Biography:Chong was born in Edmonton, Alberta, the daughter of Maxine Sneed and Tommy Chong, a comedian, actor, writer and director. Chong's father is of Chinese and Scotch-Irish ancestry and her mother is of Black Canadian descent...
... Rose Orwetto
Reception
The film received negative reviews from critics, with the review tallying website rottentomatoes.com reporting that 9 out of the 11 reviews they tallied were negative for a score of 18% and a certification of "rotten".
Roger EbertRoger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter.He is known for his film review column and for two television programs Sneak Previews and Siskel & Ebert at the Movies, which he co-hosted for a combined 23 years with Gene Siskel...
, one of the few critics who liked the film, characterized it as a standard fare horror film that accomplishes the film's modest goals. Ebert summarized his review by saying, "Look, I'm not saying this is a great movie, or even a distinguished one. I'm saying: You want horror, you want psychic abandon, you want Rae Dawn Chong reading Jeff Goldblum's Tarot cards and not liking what she sees, you see this movie, you get your money's worth."
Mick LaSalleMick LaSalle is an American film critic currently writing for the San Francisco Chronicle and the author of two books on pre-code Hollywood. As of March 2008, he has written in excess of 1550 reviews , and he has been podcasting them since September 2005...
of the
San Francisco Chroniclethumb|right|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireSan Francisco Chronicle is Northern California's largest newspaper, and one of the largest in the United States, serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area, but distributed throughout...
gave the film a poor review, but stated that Goldblum's performance "makes a tedious film intermittently tolerable."
Hideaway made
$The United States dollar is the unit of currency of the United States. The U.S. dollar is normally abbreviated as the dollar sign, $, or as USD or US$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies and from others that use the $ symbol. It is divided into 100 cents .The U.S...
11,677,123 in the US box office.
Dean Koontz
Koontz was reportedly unsatisfied with the film. According to
Washington Post'sThe Washington Post is the newspaper with the largest circulation in Washington, D.C. and is the city's oldest paper, founded in 1877. Being located in the nation's capital, it has a particular emphasis on national politics and international affairs...
Rita Kempley, "Koontz hates the movie so much he tried to force TriStar to remove his name from the credits." In addition, according to the
San Francisco Chronicle'sthumb|right|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireSan Francisco Chronicle is Northern California's largest newspaper, and one of the largest in the United States, serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area, but distributed throughout...
Walter Addiego, Koontz was so dissatisfied with
Hideaway that he would only allow a film adaptation of his novel
PhantomsPhantoms is a novel written by best-selling author Dean Koontz, first published in 1983.-Plot summary:Jenny and Lisa Paige, two sisters, return to Jenny's hometown of Snowfield, California, a small ski resort village nestled in the Sierra-Nevada Mountains where Jenny works as a doctor, and finds no...
to be made if he was allowed to approve of the final version of the film.