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Robert De Niro was never going to stick primarily to mob movies for the entirety of his long career. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest actors of our time, so whenever we see his name billed in a movie that we wouldn't normally expect to see him in, we still go see it anyway... because, after all, this is De Niro.... and we respect the great man.

Unfortunately, Hide And Seek is neither ambitious or ultimately thrilling; it's incredibly dull. After a promising first half hour, which begins with David (De Niro) and his daughter Emily (Dakota Fanning, Man On Fire) finding his wife dead in the bathtub, the film then descends into the usual, clichéd horror flick that seems typical of Hollywood these days. I can think of at least three other horror movies that posses similarities to this film, yet have been far superior in their execution: The Shining, What Lies Beneath and The Omen.

Anyway, the story continues with David and Emily moving upstate, in grievance for the family member that they've just lost. David soon learns that Emily has an imaginary friend called Charlie, who forces her to do bad things to other people. Now, without giving too much away, when the "big twist" eventually does come around, the audience is expecting, at the very least, to be frightened; instead, though, the patient build up that preceded ends up being completely wasted, and we're left ultimately wondering why the hell De Niro (the great one) and Fanning (one of the most promising young actresses in Hollywood) would ever bother to make a movie like this in the first place. They're both extraordinary actors and we expect better.

De Niro, especially, has had a career that only Al Pacino could ever consider rivalling, so why the hell he would stoop to this level of crapness is way beyond me; I hate to say it, but he is downright embarrassing in places here. By now he should have the sense to realise that he is above roles such as this (and it's not like he needs the money, surely?)

I'll get over such betrayal in time, but as far as Hide And Seek goes let's just conclude by saying this: It's by no means intriguing enough, it's by no means scary enough, and it's by no means worthy of the tag "Psychological-Thriller"! So, filmmakers, stop leading us on!

(C) Andy Carrington, 2009.