Fill out this form to email this article to a friend
Film
Also opening: Too frightening to contemplate?
By STEVE PERSALL
Published January 27, 2005
Two R-rated horror movies open Friday in theaters. Neither was screened in time for Weekend review. Judging from their plot outlines, that may be a blessing.
Alone in the Dark is based on (yawn) a video game in which zombies are blown to bits. Hide and Seek is yet another would-be thriller with a creepy kid seeing dead people. Kind of like The 26th Sense, if we're counting how many times that premise has been ripped off since M. Night Shyamalan made it work.
Of the two, Hide and Seek shows the most promise, thanks to a cast that includes Robert De Niro as a widower whose daughter (Dakota Fanning) communicates with an imaginary friend. The bubbly girl soon goes goth, putting dad and her doctor (Famke Janssen) in jeopardy. The movie is directed by John Polson, whose previous film, Swimfan, sank without a trace.
On the other hand, Alone in the Dark is directed by Uwe Boll, whose last movie, House of the Dead, left behind a telltale odor. That zombie flick is ranked No. 30 on the Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com) survey of the worst movies of all time. This time, has-been Christian Slater and never-was Tara Reid chase the undead on a mysterious island.
- STEVE PERSALL, Times film critic
[Last modified January 26, 2005, 10:43:05]
Share your thoughts on this story
[an error occurred while processing this directive]
|
News
Fifty years ago, they were screwed-up kids sent to the Florida School for Boys to be straightened out. But now they are screwed-up men, scarred by the whippings they endured. Read the story and see a video and portrait gallery.
Print
Email story
Comment
Email editor