''Hideaway'' is a 1995
horror film
Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes.
Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...
directed by
Brett Leonard
Brett Leonard (born May 14, 1959) 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'' (1992) and ''Virtuosity'' (1995) feature ...
. It is based on the 1992
novel of the same name by
Dean Koontz
Dean Ray Koontz (born July 9, 1945) is an American author. His novels are billed as Thriller (genre), suspense thrillers, but frequently incorporate elements of horror fiction, horror, fantasy, science fiction, Mystery fiction, mystery, and satir ...
, and stars
Jeff Goldblum
Jeffrey Lynn Goldblum (; born October 22, 1952) is an American actor and musician. He has starred in some of the highest-grossing films of his era, such as ''Jurassic Park'' (1993) and '' Independence Day'' (1996), as well as their sequels.
...
,
Christine Lahti
Christine Ann Lahti (born April 4, 1950) is an American actress and filmmaker. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for the 1984 film '' Swing Shift''. Her other film roles include '' ...And Justice for All'' (19 ...
,
Alicia Silverstone
Alicia Silverstone ( ; born October 4, 1976) is an American actress. She made her film debut in the thriller ''The Crush (1993 film), The Crush'' (1993), earning the 1994 MTV Movie Award for Best Breakthrough Performance, and gained further prom ...
,
Jeremy Sisto
Jeremy Merton Sisto (born October 6, 1974) is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Billy Chenowith in HBO's '' Six Feet Under'', NYPD Detective Cyrus Lupo in NBC's '' Law & Order'', George Altman in the ABC sitcom ''Suburgatory'', fo ...
,
Alfred Molina
Alfred Molina (born Alfredo Molina; 24 May 1953) is a British-American actor known for his work on the stage and screen. He first rose to prominence in the West End, earning a nomination for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Newcomer in a Pla ...
and
Rae Dawn Chong
Rae Dawn Chong (born February 28, 1961) is a Canadian-American actress. She made her big screen debut appearing in the 1978 musical drama film ''Stony Island (film), Stony Island'', and in 1981 starred in the fantasy film ''Quest for Fire (film), ...
.
In the film, Goldblum plays a man who dies in a car accident, only to be revived two hours later. After being revived, he experiences frightening visions. He begins to understand that he has become psychically connected to a
serial killer
A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more persons,A
*
*
*
* with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them. While most authorities set a threshold of three ...
, and that by cutting himself, he can actually induce the visions and see through the killer's eyes. However, the vision works both ways, and the killer can also see through his eyes.
''Hideaway'' was released by
TriStar Pictures
TriStar Pictures, Inc. (spelled as Tri-Star until 1991) is an American film studio and production company that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, part of the multinational conglomerate Sony. It is a corporate sibling of Sony ...
on March 3, 1995. Critical reception was largely negative, and the film was not a financial success.
Plot
After killing his mother and sister and ritualistically arranging their bodies as a sacrifice to
Satan
Satan,, ; grc, ὁ σατανᾶς or , ; ar, شيطانالخَنَّاس , also known as Devil in Christianity, the Devil, and sometimes also called Lucifer in Christianity, is an non-physical entity, entity in the Abrahamic religions ...
, a Devil worshipper recites the
Lords Prayer backwards as it is written on the wall in a room filled with candles and
Satanic imagery. He then commits suicide by throwing himself onto an
athame
An athame or athamé (, or ) is a ceremonial blade, generally with a black handle. It is the main ritual implement or magical tool among several used in ceremonial magic traditions, and by other neopagans, witchcraft, as well as satanic traditi ...
in an attempt to ensure that he is eternally damned. What follows next is a
near-death experience
A near-death experience (NDE) is a profound personal experience associated with death or impending death which researchers claim share similar characteristics. When positive, such experiences may encompass a variety of sensations including detac ...
where the clinically dead killer flies through tunnels of light, eventually arriving at a gaping,
tentacle
In zoology, a tentacle is a flexible, mobile, and elongated organ present in some species of animals, most of them invertebrates. In animal anatomy, tentacles usually occur in one or more pairs. Anatomically, the tentacles of animals work main ...
-like
being of light who, after flashing through scenes of the recent brutal murders, darkens and casts the killer's soul down into
Hell
In religion and folklore, hell is a location in the afterlife in which evil souls are subjected to punitive suffering, most often through torture, as eternal punishment after death. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hell ...
.
Hatch Harrison is driving home from his family's lakeside cabin with his wife Lindsey and daughter Regina. They collide with a truck and, after Regina manages to escape, the car plummets down a ravine into a fast-flowing river. Lindsey believes she watched her husband die.
At the hospital, Hatch is revived by Dr. Jonas Nyebern, who runs a specialist resuscitation team. During the procedure, a nurse warns Dr. Nyebern about bringing back a patient who has been gone for so long, saying "We both remember what happened last time." While he is on the operating table, Hatch experiences visions of the same tunnels of light as the killer, but upon arriving for judgment is slowly floated into a surreal heavenly scene, where he sees his young daughter Samantha who died years before in a car accident. Hatch then enters
Heaven
Heaven or the heavens, is a common religious cosmological or transcendent supernatural place where beings such as deities, angels, souls, saints, or venerated ancestors are said to originate, be enthroned, or reside. According to the belie ...
and is merged into the light of a great
angel
In various theistic religious traditions an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God.
Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Other roles include ...
until he is revived.
Hatch begins to experience disturbing visions while he sleeps which involve him seemingly murdering young women, when in fact he is actually seeing through the eyes of the real killer. As the killer looks down at his young blonde victim dead in shrubs at the side of a road, Hatch sees the same vision; in his vision the young blonde woman becomes his daughter Regina. The killer, who can also see through the eyes of Hatch, sees Regina.
Hatch realizes that the murders are actually happening when the women he sees in his visions are announced as missing in news reports. Regina sneaks out the house to meet some friends and they go to a dingy alternative night club, where the killer also happens to be. He recognizes Regina from his vision and introduces himself as "Vassago". Regina's friends interrupt and tell Vassago to leave them alone. Hatch, asleep at home, sees all this happening in his visions.
The next day, Hatch accuses Regina of being at the night club, which she denies. Hatch scares Regina as he attempts to warn her about Vassago. He is told that he is experiencing mental problems by his family, his psychiatrist, and the police. He visits a
psychic
A psychic is a person who claims to use extrasensory perception (ESP) to identify information hidden from the normal senses, particularly involving telepathy or clairvoyance, or who performs acts that are apparently inexplicable by natural laws, ...
who confirms his beliefs and tells him that he is tied to Vassago by a "coincidence of fate", and that Vassago is also seeing through Hatch's eyes. Vassago sees this and then visits the psychic at her home and kills her.
Hatch discovers that Vassago's real name is Jeremy Nyebern, and is the son of Dr. Nyebern. He confronts Dr. Nyebern, who explains that Jeremy is psychotic and that after murdering his mother and sister and attempting suicide, was revived by his resuscitation team. Jeremy kidnaps Regina and takes her to his hideaway beneath an abandoned
amusement park
An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, as well as other events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central ...
where he has been building a "monument to hell". He ties Regina up at the top.
Dr. Nyebern finds Jeremy and tries to talk him down, but Jeremy kills him. Hatch and Lindsey find them, and a fight ensues between Hatch and Jeremy. The demonic soul within Jeremy emerges and calls itself Vassago while Hatch watches. An angelic spirit resembling Hatch's daughter Samantha then emerges from him and collides with Vassago in a battle of good vs evil. Hatch manages to kill an attacking Jeremy while the spirit kills Vassago. With his family safe, he exits the park with them.
A post-credits scene shows Jeremy being pulled in to be revived. Jeremy wakes up, reaches for a scalpel on the medical table, and slits a nurse's throat. Hatch wakes up in his bed, realizing he was only dreaming. Hatch and Lindsey laugh and go back to sleep.
Cast
*
Jeff Goldblum
Jeffrey Lynn Goldblum (; born October 22, 1952) is an American actor and musician. He has starred in some of the highest-grossing films of his era, such as ''Jurassic Park'' (1993) and '' Independence Day'' (1996), as well as their sequels.
...
as Hatch Harrison / Uriel
*
Christine Lahti
Christine Ann Lahti (born April 4, 1950) is an American actress and filmmaker. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for the 1984 film '' Swing Shift''. Her other film roles include '' ...And Justice for All'' (19 ...
as Lindsey Harrison
*
Alicia Silverstone
Alicia Silverstone ( ; born October 4, 1976) is an American actress. She made her film debut in the thriller ''The Crush (1993 film), The Crush'' (1993), earning the 1994 MTV Movie Award for Best Breakthrough Performance, and gained further prom ...
as Regina Harrison
*
Jeremy Sisto
Jeremy Merton Sisto (born October 6, 1974) is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Billy Chenowith in HBO's '' Six Feet Under'', NYPD Detective Cyrus Lupo in NBC's '' Law & Order'', George Altman in the ABC sitcom ''Suburgatory'', fo ...
as Vassago / Jeremy Nyebern
*
Alfred Molina
Alfred Molina (born Alfredo Molina; 24 May 1953) is a British-American actor known for his work on the stage and screen. He first rose to prominence in the West End, earning a nomination for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Newcomer in a Pla ...
as Dr. Jonas Nyebern
*
Rae Dawn Chong
Rae Dawn Chong (born February 28, 1961) is a Canadian-American actress. She made her big screen debut appearing in the 1978 musical drama film ''Stony Island (film), Stony Island'', and in 1981 starred in the fantasy film ''Quest for Fire (film), ...
as Rose Orwetto
*
Kenneth Welsh
Kenneth Welsh, (March 30, 1942 – May 5, 2022) was a Canadian film and television actor. He was best known as the multi-faceted villain Windom Earle in ''Twin Peaks'', for his roles in the films ''The Day After Tomorrow'', '' Adoration'', ''Su ...
as Detective Breech
Production
An international co-production film between The United States and Canada. Filming took place in 1994 in
Britannia Beach
Britannia Beach (Sḵwx̱wú7mesh: Shisháyu7áy, ) is a small unincorporated community in the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District located approximately 55 kilometres north of Vancouver, British Columbia on the Sea-to-Sky Highway on Howe Sound. I ...
,
British Columbia
British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
, Canada. Vassago's hideaway was constructed in the abandoned Britannia Mine.
Reception
The film received negative reviews from critics, with
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
reporting that 12 out of the 15 reviews they tallied were negative for a score of 20% and a certification of "rotten".
Mick LaSalle
Mick is a masculine given name, usually a short form (hypocorism) of Michael. Because of its popularity in Ireland, it is often used in England as a derogatory term for an Irish person or a person of Irish descent. In Australia the meaning broaden ...
of the ''
San Francisco Chronicle
The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. de ...
'' gave the film a poor review, but stated that Goldblum's performance "makes a tedious film intermittently tolerable." Film critic/historian
Leonard Maltin
Leonard Michael Maltin (born December 18, 1950) is an American film critic and film historian, as well as an author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives. He is perhaps best known for his book of fil ...
characterized the movie as a "bomb" and added, "This goes nowhere for nearly two interminable hours."
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...
of ''
The Chicago Sun-Times
The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...
'' gave the film a rare positive review, 3 stars out of a possible 4. He characterized it as a standard fare horror film that accomplishes its modest goals via good performances by a talented cast.
He wrote: "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 card
The tarot (, first known as ''trionfi (cards), trionfi'' and later as ''tarocchi'' or ''tarocks'') is a pack of playing cards, used from at least the mid-15th century in various parts of Europe to play card games such as Tarocchini. From their ...
s and not liking what she sees, you see this movie, you get your money's worth."
Koontz was reportedly dissatisfied with the film. According to Rita Kempley of ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'', "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's'' Walter Addiego, Koontz was so dissatisfied with ''Hideaway'' that he would only allow a film adaptation of his novel ''
Phantoms'' to be made if he was allowed to approve the final version of the film.
On his own website, Koontz states that pre-production of the film was promising under
Mike Medavoy
Morris Mike Medavoy (born January 21, 1941) is an American film producer and business executive. He is the co-founder of Orion Pictures (1978), former chairman of TriStar Pictures, former head of production for United Artists (1974–1978), and ...
, who wanted to preserve Koontz's vision for the story and ordered a rewrite of the first script at Koontz's request. However, Medavoy was removed from the film and new production staff did not communicate with Koontz about the finished film, which departed drastically from his novel. Koontz ultimately resorted to legal means to get his name removed from the title of the film and from major advertising, but was unable to get his name removed from the credits. He also writes that he sent several letters to the Japanese CEO of the parent company of
Universal
Universal is the adjective for universe.
Universal may also refer to:
Companies
* NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment company
** Universal Animation Studios, an American Animation studio, and a subsidiary of NBCUniversal
** Universal TV, a ...
/
MCA, which had the rights to the film, requesting that his name be removed.
Box office
''Hideaway'' made $12,201,255 at the US and Canadian box office
and $14 million internationally for a worldwide gross of $26.2 million.
[
]
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hideaway (Film)
1995 films
1995 horror films
1990s English-language films
1990s serial killer films
American horror films
American serial killer films
Canadian horror films
Canadian serial killer films
Canadian slasher films
Films about child abduction in the United States
Films about Satanism
Films about telepathy
Films based on American horror novels
Films based on works by Dean Koontz
Films directed by Brett Leonard
Films scored by Trevor Jones
Films set in Washington (state)
Films shot in British Columbia
Films with screenplays by Andrew Kevin Walker
Matricide in fiction
Fiction about near-death experiences
Patricide in fiction
Sororicide in fiction
TriStar Pictures films
1990s American films
1990s Canadian films