The Hidden was quite the, well, gem, of a movie that I never really heard of, a film that was released in 1987 but got lost. My hope is with this Blu-ray release it’ll find some sort of bigger cult status as it is an incredibly fun flick.
The Hidden
(1987)
Genre(s): Horror, Science Fiction, Action
Warner Archive | R – 97 min. – $21.99 | October 3, 2017
Date Published: 10/18/2017 | Author: The Movieman
|
|
|||||||||||
THE MOVIE — 4.0/5 |
|
Plot Synopsis: A series of bizarre, inexplicable robberies and murders have L.A. police detective Tom Beck (MICHAEL NOURI) totally baffled, And it doesn’t help when mysterious FBI agent Lloyd Gallagher (KYLE MACLACHLAN) tells him that a demonic extraterrestrial creature is invading the bodies of innocent victims – and transforming them into inhuman killers with an unearthly fondness for heavy-metal music, Ferraris and unspeakable violence!
Quick Hit Review: Admittedly, I had actually never heard of this 1987 sci-fi/horror/thriller before and the premise seemed a little on the thin side, but I was surprised at just how much fun The Hidden was, one could say it was a gem of a film… The movie has it all from 1980s over-the-top violence that makes to some extent sense with the alien creature on the more indestructible side, and some tongue-in-cheek humor. And once Kyle MacLachlan shows up as an FBI agent, I definitely got a Twin Peaks vibe, mixed in with Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Co-starring is Michael Nouri, a character actor nowadays but, at least according to IMDb trivia, turned down the role of Riggs in Lethal Weapon; sure, this was a blast of a movie, but probably not the wisest decision and the bulk of his career was spent on the soap opera As the World Turns.
The Hidden was helmed by Jack Sholder with an not-so-noteworthy career, the only film I recognize or seen was Wishmaster 2 and written by Jim Kouf (as Bob Hunt), a name that might not be familiar to some, but has Rush Hour, the two Stakeout films, National Treasure and the Grimm television series, under his belt, and this certainly had some of his style and humor. |
SPECIAL FEATURES – 2.0/5 |
|
This release comes with an Audio Commentary by Director Jack Sholder and TV Director (I think) Tim Hunter who serves as a moderator to ask various questions; Special Effects Production Footage (7:32; SD); and the Original Theatrical Trailer (2:20; HD). |
VIDEO – 3.75/5, AUDIO – 4.0/5
|
| The Hidden comes to Blu-ray through Warner’s MOD Archive Collection and is presented in with a 1.78 widescreen aspect ratio and a new 1080p high-definition transfer (MPEG-4 AVC codec). For a film going on 30 years old and presumably not the biggest budget, looks quite good with nice detail and colors appear to be natural. There were a few downsides including some heavy noise and a few dirt/specs did crop up, though hardly anything that I’d classify as distracting.
Taking a page from Shout Factory’s playbook, this comes with a 5.1 and 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio track, the former being the default option. This is a semi-robust soundtrack which has a wide range including a few car chases and an overload of gunfire which had little impact when it came to the LFE channel. Still, dialogue sounded clear coming through the center channel and there was some ambient noises like the rockin’ 1980s score. |
OVERALL – 3.75/5 |
|
Overall, The Hidden was quite the, well, gem, of a movie that I never really heard of, a film that was released in 1987 but got lost with the likes of Lethal Weapon, Predator, RoboCop, Beverly Hills Cop 2, Stakeout (from the same writer), The Princess Bride, etc. (what a hell of a year, btw). My hope is with this Blu-ray release it’ll find some sort of bigger cult status as it is an incredibly fun flick. The Blu-ray from the Warner Archive Collection offers good video and audio transfers and some okay features. |
Check out some more screen caps by going to page 2. Please note, these do contain spoilers.