Review of Hidden (2015) by Brett B — 24 Feb 2016

HIDDEN is a surprising little gem of a movie, a briskly-paced, engaging tale that doesn't overstay its welcome and offers some neat ideas along the way. Right from the start, it quickly establishes the central conceits, and it's an interesting one, directly out of the TWILIGHT ZONE playbook (but in a good way).

As was often the case on that show, the story here deals with seemingly normal people facing a deeply unusual situation; the family dynamic at the center of the movie is convincing and authentic, which makes it very easy to root for them as they navigate their bizarre circumstances.

This is not just some quickie genre exercise, either; the screenplay is genuinely concerned with the emotional lives of its characters, and the three leads - basically the only characters in the story - are very well acted by Skarsgard, Riseborough, and Lind.

Lind, particularly, is quite affecting and quite effortlessly conjures up genuine emotion. The movie is powerfully claustrophobic in the early going, and there's a nice sense of escalating tension that propels the moving into a legitimately unexpected final section; the third act opens the story up a bit and goes into some "out of left field" territory, but in a very interesting way.

Additionally, though the budget is obviously low, the filmmakers milk everything then can out of their limitations, and there are a couple fantastically staged sequences. I don't want to oversell it, because it's not some life altering science fiction film, but it is certifiably compelling, and it was a very pleasant surprise.