Hide and Seek (Widescreen Edition)

Thriller, Drama, Horror

Robert De Niro	David Callaway
Dakota Fanning	Emily Callaway
Famke Janssen	Katherine
Elisabeth Shue	Elizabeth
Dylan Baker	Sheriff Hafferty
Amy Irving	Alison Callaway
Melissa Leo	Laura
Robert John Burke	Steven
Molly Grant Kallins	Amy
David Chandler	Mr. Haskins
Elizabeth Shue

Director	John Polson
Producer	Barry Josephson
Writer	Ari Schlossberg

Dakota Fanning--the elfin star of Uptown Girls, The Cat in the Hat, and Man on Fire--trades in her blond locks for a semi-gothic brunette do in Hide and Seek. Fanning plays Emily, a young girl whose mother commits suicide. To help Emily through the trauma, her father David (Robert DeNiro), a psychologist, takes her to an isolated house in upstate New York. But instead of healing, Emily gets dark circles under her eyes, mutilates her favorite doll, and develops an imaginary friend named Charlie. In no time at all, things get spooky and David suspects this imaginary friend isn't so friendly. Hide and Seek owes a lot to The Shining, but whether the creepiness is borrowed or not, there's a decent dose of it (though the twist at the end is unlikely to surprise many viewers). DeNiro does his job with professional gloss, but Fanning carries the movie; she's got the kind of charisma that goes beyond acting ability--that ineffable glow that makes an audience want to watch her. Hide and Seek also features Famke Janssen (X-Men), Elisabeth Shue (Leaving Las Vegas), and the ever-dependable Dylan Baker (Happiness). --Bret Fetzer