Hide
Year: 2009
Director: K.C. Bascombe
Studio: MTI Home Video / Artist View Entertainment
Stars: Christian Kane, Rachel Miner, Beth Grant
MPAA Rating: R
Running Time: 96 Mins.





Going into this film, I thought that I was going to watch a suspenseful action packed heist film. Instead, this was not the film that was advertised to be.

“Hide” is a film that tries to be like “Bonnie and Clyde”. The film is about, two lovers who go down the path murder and mayhem, as they shoot up a diner and killing everyone there. Soon, one of them is caught during a shoot out. Fast forward seven years later, where Billy Bear (Christian Kane) is being transported to another prison when his girlfriend/partner-in-crime (Rachel Miner) breaks him out of jail. Soon the two are on the run, as they look for the money that they stole. But unknown to them, there is someone is following them, as this person wants them to pay for the sins that they committed. The film also co-stars Polly Shannon (Lie with Me) and Beth Grant (No Country for Old Men).

Throughout watching this film, I could tell that “Hide” had an identity crises. I really didn’t know what this film was trying to be, as it clearly rips off films like “True Romance”, “Pulp Fiction”, and “insert any serial killer flick”. To put it in plain words, this was a painful film to watch.

The direction wasn’t good at all. Director K.C. Bascombe doesn’t try to make this original or even entertaining. Everything felt lifeless, from the direction to the narration. It was like ninety-six minutes of boredom. The action scenes were very boring, as every time something was going to happen, it slows down into another scene. I thought this was supposed to be an action thriller. The acting didn’t do the film any favors. Bascombe makes the performances very dark which really made the characters lifeless. I really didn’t care for any of them. That’s a shame because there are some very talented actors in this film. It’s just, the way they were directed that made the performances dull.

But my main criticism with this was the screenplay written by Greg Rosati. There was nothing original about this screenplay. It was like that he took bits and pieces from other films and wrote something that doesn’t fit with the rest of the story. It made the film feel like a collection of pulp films, instead of an original piece of work. Also, the screenplay has many problems. One of the things that I would have like to have seen was another angle to the story, maybe from the police point of view. Instead, I felt like there was only one point of view to the film, which made the story unsuspenseful and quite frankly painful to watch. The other major problem this film has the film needed more characters. That point is quite evident with the film’s twist, as it made the twist very predictable. Rosati should have added more characters. In order for a twist to work, you need more central characters in a story like this. When you have three central characters and two of them are running away from a mystery person, of course you know who the hell that person is. That’s makes the film’s twist a miserable failure and further worsens the story. If it had a couple of more central characters, then maybe it would have worked. Instead, it sends this film into this special category.

It’s sad that I have to make this a Screener from Hell, as there are talented actors here, who chose the wrong project to work on. This is just a failure on all levels. “Hide” is a bad knockoff film that just gets worse, as the film goes along and that’s why “Hide” is a screener from hell.