Review of Hidden, The

Introduction

I remember hiring The Hidden from the local video shop when it was released years ago and although not expecting much, found it to be a good entertaining film. A good few years down the line, I can only really remember two things about the film. Firstly is the opening car chase, where a criminal tries to outrun the police in a black Ferrari 308 whilst listening to thumping rock music and making no attempt to avoid pedestrians! - and secondly Claudia Christian. During a recent discussion I had about films, The Hidden was mentioned and I decided to see if I could obtain it on DVD...

Video

The video quality really is very suprising. Given that the film is basically a 13 year old B-movie, New Line really have excelled themselves with this 1.85:1 anamorphic transfer. The image is crisp and stable througout and looks very clean. The film is also presented in pan & scan on the DVD, but I didn`t watch look at that version.

Visually, the film opens with a spectacular car chase where hoardes of police chase a black Ferrari through the streets - this still looks pretty good and is well filmed and gets the film started at a good pace.

As far as effects go, the hidden creature is the usual insect type thing covered in nasty slime and is therefore suitably unpleasant!

Audio

Sound has been remixed into 5.1, but in truth the soundstage is very much centered around the front stereo pair and centre speaker. Sound however is of a good standard, and the dialogue is clear throughout.

The creature in the film has a passion for Ferraris and rock music so there are plenty of engine noises and loud music to keep your system occupied.

Features

Aside from the expected trailer and scene access etc, there is also an audio commentary by Director Jack Sholder along with Special Effects Production Footage Narrated by Jack Sholder.

Conclusion

I enjoyed watching The Hidden again, but it did suffer from having been seen a couple of times too often years ago. The cast is strong and the parts are all acted well, with Claudia Christian`s entrance just as jaw-dropping as I remembered!

The video really is suprisingly good, and the soundtrack above average - both far better than I dared hope for and there is a reasonable spread of extras on the disc.