Hidden (2010)

Directed by: Antoine Thomas | 78 minutes | horror, thriller | Actors: Sean Clement, Simonetta Solder, Jordan Hayes, Jason Blicker, Bjanka Murgel, Devon Bostick, Dawn Ford, Elliott Larson

Missed opportunities. ‘Hidden’ deals with it. With a better script, a sharper director and better actors, this could have been a nice movie. Now you have to make do with an insecure slasher that doesn’t convince anywhere. Deadly sin!

‘Hidden’ revolves around Brian Karter (Sean Clement). The man has a relationship with alcohol, does not function in society and prefers to stay in bed all day to sleep off his intoxication. When his friend Simon (Jason Blicker) and his girlfriend Kimberly (a walking cleavage named Bjanka Murgel) wake him up one day and hand him a letter, his life changes instantly. Brian inherited his mother’s addiction clinic. At first he doesn’t mind going to the resort, because of his troubled relationship with his deceased mother. Still, he’s going to take a look. The haunted building turns out to be haunted. The ghosts of abused children were around the clinic. With all its consequences.

Director Antoine Thomas has a beautiful location in his hands. The building exudes misery. You can immediately see that it is not right. The location is immense and an ideal place for scare effects. Unfortunately, the filmmaker does not use this. Thomas relies on swelling music. Unfortunately way too much, so that just about every step is accompanied by loud music. In the long run, this is very irritating.

In addition, the idea of ​​children as bad guys is very cool. Innocence versus threat. Nothing is done about this and the children are not properly controlled, so that they stand awkwardly in the indicated place. Make-up effects should create tension, but you just see dressed up boys who look awkward. To make matters worse, nothing is done with the characters. It is not clear anywhere why Kimberly’s teenage brother has to come along to the location. Of course, it is also not explained why Brian’s ex – an architect – is invited to view the building. Thomas wants drama in his film, but it hits a pig like a pliers. The relationship problems are also very weakly worked out.

The death scenes are also very bad, because you don’t see anything. Don’t expect blood fountains or nasty moments. Most of it happens off screen. The irritating, overpowering soundtrack kills the film. ‘Hidden’ is a saltless, boring B-movie that no one wants. If the film took its title literally, the world would be a lot better off.