Editorials
[In Defense of] The Duffer Brothers’ ‘Hidden’ (2015)
With the Duffer Brothers mysterious series “Stranger Things” currently burning up Netflix, we check in with their underseen debut feature
“’Cause we’re not animals, Zoey.”
Hidden might not be a film that conjures many feelings when it’s brought up. In fact, it might not even be a film that you’ve heard of. That being said, Hidden isn’t a bad movie. It’s not an amazing one, either, but it’s a very promising, controlled debut feature from Matt and Ross Duffer. Hidden is perfectly serviceable and achieves what it sets out to while still doing so in a creative, minimalist manner. Hidden’s lack of reputation and it failing to make an impact on audiences lies more on the fact of the film seeing an extremely limited release than anything to do with its quality. The simple truth is that most people don’t know this film even exists. Now more than ever however, with the Duffers’ release of Stranger Things and such similar “isolation apocalypse” stories becoming increasingly popular, it feels like an especially relevant time to revisit this film and reassess its merits in the current cinematic landscape.
Hidden tells the story of Ray, Claire, and Zoe, a displaced family that have made their way into a fallout shelter, turning it into their surrogate home in order to avoid the dangers that lurks above ground. The film states that they’ve been in this situation for 301 days now, which is certainly a realistic amount of time to be barely surviving in a fallout shelter. The film exhibits its restraint early on by this family talking about their dire reality in believably veiled dialogue (like how the “fire changes people” or the remaining people above ground being known as “breathers”). Hidden never makes it too on-the-nose in regard to what’s happened or is going on either. The picture works more intuitively, letting you try and figure things out on your own while focusing on what’s going on in this fallout shelter; as that’s what’s really important. It’s not unlike how 10 Cloverfield Lane can have a giant monster apocalypse going on outside, but treat the small-scale drama that’s going on inside a bunker as the fascinating focal point. It’s exploring epic storytelling through minimalism, and it’s a great tool when done right.
On the topic of this year’s 10 Cloverfield Lane and other recently claustrophobic pictures, it’s natural to explore how Hidden does things differently. In this case the film’s dynamic is made up of a father, mother, and daughter (and her creepy doll), whereas 2015’s Room is simply a mother and son, and Cloverfield offering up a male and female stranger, plus their captor. In all of these pictures, but particularly in Hidden, the family’s morale and bond is fundamental. Alexander Skarsgard does a fantastic job as Ray and keeping his daughter pacified while making the grisly reality that his family’s facing seem not so bad. It’s a testament to the idea of the power of family and how anything can be tolerable if you’re with people who love you.
It’s fascinating to see how the film shows the limited joy and games that are available instances play parallel to many moments from out of Room, albeit Hidden featuring a lot more solitaire. The film then throws additionally tough scenes into the mix, where elements like the dire food situation and the need to assess their final items of nourishment go on. Complications like a rat problem are devastating as the family is literally surviving off the same supplies to live that vermin are. The other films like this show sufficiently stocked environments or situations with replenishing goods. Here the strain is absolutely felt, which makes this grimness all the more powerful. It adds a certain urgency and ticking clock element to either the food running out, or someone needing to go outside and get more. It’s a welcome angle of anxiety that’s absent elsewhere.
Hidden also deals with an efficient set of four rules that are in place to ensure safety in this ecosystem. These films that depict closed off environments usually seem to have some sort of collected caveat, with Room also going in this direction, but 10 Cloverfield Lane having plenty of unspoken obligations that are in place for safety.
Hidden garners a lot of its goodwill but wisely keeping you in darkness, cramped framing, and isolated shots that make you feel just as trapped as the characters. It’s filmmaking that feels reminiscent of Tarantino’s work in the grave sequence in Kill Bill, Vol. 2 or some of the work done in Rodrigo Cortes’ Buried. The cinematography keeps you within this “world” and never breaks this illusion, which is crucial and builds suspense, as you’re further put in this family’s shoes. The film would be a whole lot less successful if it took you out of this or informed you as to what was going on, even if the characters are still oblivious.
This creativity is displayed in some other great scenes where the family uses a periscope-like mirror to spy on what’s going on outside. It’s a nice cheat where you’re given a tense, horror-friendly angle on what’s going on outdoors, with you really having no idea what’s going to be stumbled upon, whether it’s a wasteland, zombie, some sort of monster, or nothing at all. Once more, it’s the film’s desire to show off its story in tiny, hidden pieces—obscuring other parts of it at the same time—that’s one of its greatest assets. In spite of the film slowly giving you more information, you never feel like you have the whole picture. It makes it feel as if the biggest mysteries and horrors are living within those blind spots. Something like a rat can have the weight of any invincible boogeyman.
Arguably, some of 10 Cloverfield Lane’s charm comes from the fact that Michelle and Emmett are strangers, get roped into this situation together, and neither of them really know who to trust. A similar approach is taken here, except rather than any of the characters having comrades in a comparable situation within the hole, you’re made to be their de facto inmate. It’s a technique that works quite well. While Room deals with a physical, intermittent captor and 10 Cloverfield Lane also resembling much more of a hostage situation with a clear antagonist, but Hidden is more concerned with a complicated lock situation what must be maintained. Like the mentality of John Goodman’s character, Howard, in 10 Cloverfield Lane, this is a situation of people locking themselves in rather than out. They’re worried about the dangers on the outside, with these locks acting as protection, rather than a means of keeping them captive. They’re not trying to escape. They’re trying to remain—aptly enough—hidden. The Duffers even mine some poignant cinematography out of this idea with climbing this big ladder upwards to reach the exit door is almost framed like ascending into heaven—or pulling yourself from out of Hell—to reach freedom and a new life.
After spending a substantial amount of time wallowing in its claustrophobia, Hidden resorts to brief flashbacks pre-fallout shelter showing the family’s life beforehand. These scenes take a little away from the film’s desired effect, but they’re also very sparingly used and brought in through motivated means, such as flashes during dreams. The flashbacks never become disruptive to the narrative, but it’s a fine line to tow and they do become increasingly indulgent as the film keeps going. Fragments that show scenes like the family initially getting into the shelter probably don’t need to be shown. We can connect these dots on our own. In spite of their ultimately unnecessary nature, they do still help amp up the feeling of paranoia and effectively show an isolating final days as people begin to freak out before everything goes to Hell.
The most effective instance of the flashbacks comes in the form of the scene where the government spontaneously flash bombs the city while everyone watches. The scene captures chaos and confusion so well and it’s even one of the better disaster scenes that I’ve seen in a movie in some time.
Matters escalate in a beautiful manner where before even a half hour of the film has passed a massive fire in the cramped space becomes an inspired complication to send this fragile environment into a landslide. It’s just as thrilling to then see the family need to open their safeguarded exit as quickly as possible when the whole point has been to keep it locked up until now. Once things move above ground it’s not surprising to see that this isn’t a monster situation, but rather a massive government operation dealing with a quarantines and virus outbreak. Admittedly this is an angle that’s been done plenty before, but Hidden’s “less is more” approach again makes this feel different.
Of course, with such a concept heavy movie, as mentioned before things do eventually move outside of the hiding spot with a rather seismic paradigm shift going on in the process. The entire film is predicated on the dangers of the outside and the rules that govern this family to keep them safe, but unsurprisingly, things are quite different on the outside with this new direction fueling much of the film’s final act. The shoot-out and massacre that ensues is marvelously shot and composed, again having you be as clueless and scared as Zoe is in the scene. Being out in the open again is a whole new world for these people and you can feel it in the disorientation present in the chaotic firefight.
It’s a bit of a genuine surprise in the end to see this family get infected and go through everything that they do—sure, they’re still alive, have each other, and are still on their own together, but this new complication almost acts as a manifestation of the struggle they’ve been through. It’s just another new obstacle for them to overcome, but now in just a slightly larger cage to root around. At least they’ve got a bigger community, family, and support center at this point since they’ve found other survivors, but at the same time, this is still very much an ending about struggling to survive.
Hidden might not be a perfect film, but it’s one that plays with a bunch of themes ahead of the curve while still subverting the norm in the process. It’s easy to see how this film could grab M. Night Shyamalan’s attention, spurring him to bring the duo over to the equally unpredictable first season of Wayward Pines. On top of this though, Hidden shows the work of growing filmmakers that are clearly only getting started and hopefully this title won’t remain hidden for much longer.
With there being an overlap between wrestling fans and horror fans, it only made sense for WWE Studios to produce See No Evil. And much like The Rock’s Walking Tall and John Cena’s The Marine, this 2006 slasher was designed to jumpstart a popular wrestler’s crossover career; superstar Glenn “Kane” Jacobs stepped out of the ring and into a run-down hotel packed with easy prey. Director Gregory Dark and writer Dan Madigan delivered what the WWE had hoped to be the beginning of “a villain franchise in the vein of Jason, Freddy and Pinhead.” In hindsight, See No Evil and its unpunctual sequel failed to live up to expectations. Regardless of Jacob Goodnight’s inability to reach the heights of horror’s greatest icons, his films are not without their simple slasher pleasures.
See No Evil (previously titled Goodnight and Eye Scream Man) was a last gasp for a dying trend. After all, the Hollywood resurgence of big-screen slashers was on the decline by the mid-2000s. Even so, that first Jacob Goodnight offering is well aware of its genre surroundings: the squalid setting channels the many torturous playgrounds found in the Saw series and other adjacent splatter pics. Also, Gregory Dark’s first major feature — after mainly delivering erotic thrillers and music videos — borrows the mustardy, filthy and sweaty appearance of Platinum Dunes’ then-current horror output. So, visually speaking, See No Evil fits in quite well with its contemporaries.
Despite its mere setup — young offenders are picked off one by one as they clean up an old hotel — See No Evil is more ambitious than anticipated. Jacob Goodnight is, more or less, another unstoppable killing machine whose traumatic childhood drives him to torment and murder, but there is a process to his mayhem. In a sense, a purpose. Every new number in Goodnight’s body count is part of a survival ritual with no end in sight. A prior and poorly mended cranial injury, courtesy of Steven Vidler’s character, also influences the antagonist’s brutal streak. As with a lot of other films where a killer’s crimes are religious in nature, Goodnight is viscerally concerned with the act of sin and its meaning. And that signature of plucking out victims’ eyes is his way of protecting his soul.
Image: The cast of See No Evil enters the Blackwell Hotel.
Survival is on the mind of just about every character in See No Evil, even before they are thrown into a life-or-death situation. Goodnight is processing his inhumane upbringing in the only way he can, whereas many of his latest victims have committed various crimes in order to get by in life. The details of these offenses, ranging from petty to severe, can be found in the film’s novelization. This more thorough media tie-in, also penned by Madigan, clarified the rap sheets of Christine (Christina Vidal), Kira (Samantha Noble), Michael (Luke Pegler) and their fellow delinquents. Readers are presented a grim history for most everyone, including Vidler’s character, Officer Frank Williams, who lost both an arm and a partner during his first encounter with the God’s Hand Killer all those years ago. The younger cast is most concerned with their immediate wellbeing, but Williams struggles to make peace with past regrets and mistakes.
While the first See No Evil film makes a beeline for its ending, the literary counterpart takes time to flesh out the main characters and expound on scenes (crucial or otherwise). The task requires nearly a third of the book before the inmates and their supervisors even reach the Blackwell Hotel. Yet once they are inside the death trap, the author continues to profile the fodder. Foremost is Christine and Kira’s lock-up romance born out of loyalty and a mutual desire for security against their enemies behind bars. And unlike in the film, their sapphic relationship is confirmed. Meanwhile, Michael’s misogyny and bigotry are unmistakable in the novelization; his racial tension with the story’s one Black character, Tye (Michael J. Pagan), was omitted from the film along with the repeated sexual exploitation of Kira. These written depictions make their on-screen parallels appear relatively upright. That being said, by making certain characters so prickly and repulsive in the novelization, their rare heroic moments have more of an impact.
Madigan’s book offers greater insight into Goodnight’s disturbed mind and harrowing early years. As a boy, his mother regularly doled out barbaric punishments, including pouring boiling water onto his “dangling bits” if he ever “sinned.” The routine maltreatment in which Goodnight endured makes him somewhat sympathetic in the novelization. Also missing from the film is an entire character: a back-alley doctor named Miles Bennell. It was he who patched up Goodnight after Williams’ desperate but well-aimed bullet made contact in the story’s introduction. Over time, this drunkard’s sloppy surgery led to the purulent, maggot-infested head wound that, undoubtedly, impaired the hulking villain’s cognitive functions and fueled his violent delusions.
Image: Dan Madigan’s novelization for See No Evil.
An additional and underlying evil in the novelization, the Blackwell’s original owner, is revealed through random flashbacks. The author described the hotel’s namesake, Langley Blackwell, as a deviant who took sick pleasure in defiling others (personally or vicariously). His vile deeds left a dark stain on the Blackwell, which makes it a perfect home for someone like Jacob Goodnight. This notion is not so apparent in the film, and the tie-in adaptation says it in a roundabout way, but the building is haunted by its past. While literal ghosts do not roam these corridors, Blackwell’s lingering depravity courses through every square inch of this ill-reputed establishment and influences those who stay too long.
The selling point of See No Evil back then was undeniably Kane. However, fans might have been disappointed to see the wrestler in a lurking and taciturn role. The focus on unpleasant, paper-thin “teenagers” probably did not help opinions, either. Nevertheless, the first film is a watchable and, at times, well-made straggler found in the first slasher revival’s death throes. A modest budget made the decent production values possible, and the director’s history with music videos allowed the film a shred of style. For meatier characterization and a harder demonstration of the story’s dog-eat-dog theme, though, the novelization is worth seeking out.
Jen and Sylvia Soska, collectively The Soska Sisters, were put in charge of 2014’s See No Evil 2. This direct continuation arrived just in time for Halloween, which is fitting considering its obvious inspiration. In place of the nearly deserted hospital in Halloween II is an unlucky morgue receiving all the bodies from the Blackwell massacre. Familiar face Danielle Harris played the ostensible final girl, a coroner whose surprise birthday party is crashed by the resurrected God’s Hand Killer. In an effort to deliver uncomplicated thrills, the Soskas toned down the previous film’s heavy mythos and religious trauma, as well as threw in characters worth rooting for. This sequel, while more straightforward than innovative, pulls no punches and even goes out on a dark note.
The chances of seeing another See No Evil with Kane attached are low, especially now with Glenn Jacobs focusing on a political career. Yet there is no telling if Jacob Goodnight is actually gone, or if he is just playing dead.
Image: Katharine Isabelle and Lee Majdouba’s characters don’t notice Kane’s Jacob Goodnight character is behind them in See No Evil 2.
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