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Hideaway is a 1995 horror film directed by Brett Leonard and based on the novel of the same name by Dean Koontz. It stars Jeff Goldblum, Alicia Silverstone, Christine Lahti and Jeremy Sisto. In the movie Goldblum plays a man who dies in a car accident, only to be revived two hours later. He then experiences either hallucinations or psychic premonitions.

Plot

A Satanic 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 mysterious visions. 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 psychic (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 park, 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 ... Hatch Harrison
• Christine Lahti ... Lindsey Harrison
• Alicia Silverstone ... Regina Harrison
• Jeremy Sisto ... Vassago / Jeremy
• Alfred Molina ... Dr. Jonas Nyebern
• Rae Dawn Chong ... 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".^[2] Roger Ebert, one of the few critics who liked the film, characterized it as a standard fare horror film that accomplishes the film's modest goals.^[3] 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."^[3] Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle gave the film a poor review, but stated that Goldblum's performance "makes a tedious film intermittently tolerable."^[4]

Hideaway made $11,677,123 in the US box office.^[5]

Dean Koontz

Koontz was reportedly unsatisfied with the film. According to Washington Post's Rita Kempley, "Koontz hates the movie so much he tried to force TriStar to remove his name from the credits."^[6] 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 of the final version of the film.^[7]

References

External links

• Hideaway at the Internet Movie Database