Hide and Seek

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

Surprises with its intensity and grip.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

As cliche-ridden horror films go, Hide and Seek builds a pretty darn good mousetrap.

Premiere Kevin Allison

It’s tightly paced and confidently styled. These times call for more daring in our horror films, but for this weekend, this will do the trick.

Entertainment Weekly Scott Brown

Hide and Seek, despite early signs of higher goals, is a factory-standard box of shocks.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

The movie's main purpose seems to be to make audiences squirm uncomfortably. Yelp and shriek in armchair-clawing glee? Not likely.

LA Weekly Chuck Wilson

While the final revelation is laughably absurd, DeNiro and Fanning are so far inside their roles that one can't giggle for long.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

From the base-model script to the assembly-line thrills, everything about Hide and Seek is generic except its star.

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

Aside from its relentless exploitation of a child, this minor thriller features an intriguing beginning, a middling middle and an increasingly silly end, with a multitude of red herrings going squoosh underfoot.

Slate David Edelstein

The movie is OK for a January horror picture, but given the premise and the cast--it should wring you out emotionally as it's scaring you witless.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

It's not technically true to say the movie cheats, but let's say it abandons the truth and depth of its earlier scenes.

Miami Herald Connie Ogle

Its frights are not that chilling or original, its secrets more run-of-the-mill than astounding.

Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell

Kind of a drag.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

Through its first two-thirds, at least, Hide and Seek does a good enough job of piquing our curiosity that the movie's ultimate dumbness is more than a minor insult.

Washington Post Ann Hornaday

Jigh class briefly gives way to high camp, which then itself dissipates to an anticlimactic thud.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

Takes itself seriously enough to pull off a clever bit of sleight of hand, but doesn't have much to offer once the twist comes out of hiding.

Variety Derek Elley

A routine haunted child psychothriller gussied up with A-list casting.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

The film's last 20 minutes devolve into a tedious slog through the kind of pointless, predictable running and screaming that give horror movies a bad name.

The Hollywood Reporter Michael Rechtshaffen

There are twist endings and there are twist endings -- and then there is the logic-strangling, complete cheat of a reveal that takes place in the final 10 minutes of Hide and Seek. It's so absolutely preposterous that it stops the film cold and draws a collective "Aw c'mon!"

The New York Times Manohla Dargis

That Mr. De Niro and especially Miss Fanning manage to register through all this murk is a testament to their talent, which however squandered does nonetheless shine.

Empire Nick De Semlyen

Aside from some effectively understated acting from the leads, there's not much to remember or recommend.

Boston Globe Janice Page

Ignore the hype. You won't find anything startling or memorable in the derivative Hide and Seek.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

Far be it from me to spoil the secret, but I will say this: The last reel should've been sent straight to the city dump.

USA Today Mike Clark

There's not a cliché that isn't nailed.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

It all falls apart at the end, however, and in such a loud and abrasive way that it makes Brian De Palma's "Raising Cain" look like a model of restraint.

Los Angeles Times Kevin Crust

Unless you're a connoisseur of movies that are so bad they're good, Hide and Seek is one game you're not going to want to play.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

De Niro gives a crafty performance, and director John Polson (Swimfan) maintains a pleasantly low-key suspense. But the ending is a disappointment.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin

Like far too many junky post-"Sixth Sense" thrillers, Hide And Seek essentially exists for the sake of its third-act plot twist, but the climactic revelation merely pushes it from bad to worse.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

A thriller without thrills. It's also a thriller that cheats. The story is stretched to feature length only by having the film's incidents arranged in such a way as to reveal as little as possible.

New York Post Debra Birnbaum

A schlocky thriller choking under the weight of its own psychobabble.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

It is a ghastly experience, and I left the theater feeling as if I had waded neck-deep through a stream of raw sewage.

Dallas Observer Luke Y. Thompson

May steal from the best, but it does it so badly and obviously that it has to depend upon gratuitous shock-cuts and soundtrack stings to elicit any kind of reflex-action fright from the viewer.

Film Threat Elias Sevada

Polson offers up a few chilling scares, but the underwritten screenplay really does show off its weaknesses.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

Robert De Niro collects another stupendous paycheck for starring in another piece of exploitable junk.

Village Voice Jessica Winter

Hide and Seek follows no semblance of internal logic--the unveiling of Charlie is a ludicrous cheat, the last reel a unique paroxysm of rancid idiocy.