Joel David Moore’s modern reimagining of Huh Jung Helm’s captivating Korean thriller Hide & Seek never quite hits the hellish heights of its predecessor, despite a decent cast and convincing production values.
Many mediocre admissions exist within the thriller category, and unfortunately, Hide & Seek, for all its visual sleekness, seems destined to meet the same ill-fated criteria.
Though Hide & Seek makes for a pleasant spectacle, ultimately, it suffers from stagnant storytelling that too often goes stale, despite impressive elements of production and some well-choreographed cinematics.
Though perhaps too cliche for acquired tastes, Hide & Seek does at least deliver on a visual front. Too bad it’s slim-pickings, concerning scares.
The plot follows in the wealthy footsteps of businessman Noah, played by Jonathan Rhys Meyers. Following his father’s recent death, Noah, having acquired the family fortune, goes in search of his brother, harboring ambitions to split the will.
Venturing down a dark rabbit hole of ever-present danger and intrigue, Noah soon finds himself consumed within a cutthroat criminal underbelly and entangled in the violently illicit affairs of a shady syndicate.
Of course, it sounds sufficiently thrilling on paper. But delivery is where Hide and Seek seemingly falls short. At its most impactful, execution should be bloody, uncensored, and suspenseful. Hide & Seek, however, never quite marries these horror essentials, despite coming close.
If the script concentrated on chills, then, given the intriguing premise, we could have been enjoying a slippery, gore-infested slope to scare-heaven. But, instead, what we're left with, is a series of half-baked horror scenarios that ultimately left me craving more.
Visually, it's a pretty motion picture, for the most part, whose stylish cinematography does somewhat mask some of the film’s fragilities. Yet, for some reason, there’s this lingering sense of predictability that lurks behind each scene.
At this point, I should credit the musical score, which does a decent job of animating suspense in certain parts. Furthermore, speaking purely from a stylistic perspective, I’ll be watching Joel David Moore’s future works with a vested interest.
As for notable horror moments, the script probably operates at its most suspenseful when the children face distressing degrees of peril. Conversely, Hide & Seek struggles to establish its mysterious antagonist with an underwhelming unmasking towards the curtain call.
Overall, despite a series of high points, I find it difficult to recommend Hide & Seek, especially when finding the original vastly superior.
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