Remembering THE HIDDEN, A Gem From the 80s

I still mourn the demise of New Line Cinema since it merged with Warner Bros. in 2008. Sure, their logo pops up occasionally to distribute the Sex & The City films or the remake of Friday The 13th.

But the New Line I grew up with, and fondly remember, spawned franchises like Nightmare On Elm Street and Austin Powers. It produced cult favorites such as Dark City and The Wedding Singer, and surprise hits like Se7en and Blade. (Yes, people, the fact the Se7en made $100 million in 1995 was a surprise.)

And of course, lest we not forget what I consider the ultimate in film trilogies: The Lord of the Rings.

Ergo, New Line will always hold a special place in my heart. Because in addition to all the films listed above, they also made what I consider an extremely underrated movie from 1987 called The Hidden.

Starring Michael Nouri in his ’80s heyday and a 28 year-old Kyle MacLachlan, The Hidden combines the genres of sci-fi/action with the buddy cop movie that elevate it to a much higher level than the $5 million B-movie it was expected to be.

The film opens inside a bank, with the first shot being footage through the surveillance camera. As that static shot lulls you into a false sense of security, a man in a beige trench coat opens fire with a shotgun. What happens after this is probably one of the most entertaining car chases committed to film.

Indeed, director Jack Sholder (already in the New Line fold after directing A Nightmare On Elm Street 2) says that when he shot the sequence, he aspired it to be like the car chase in The French Connection. Trust me, he did not disappoint. Watch it now, and take note that they did not have the capability to CGI cars at that time:

Nouri’s character Tom Beck thinks that he is pursuing a ruthless killer named Jack DeVries. Little does he know that inhabiting DeVries’ body is an evil, slug-like alien with a penchant for Ferraris and loud music. When the human shell it is using is too bruised and battered, it simply moves to another body. And while it occupies its human host, it is also unkillable, Terminator-style.

Enter Kyle MacLachlan’s poker-faced FBI agent named Lloyd Gallagher, who says he tracked DeVries south from Seattle. In this role, one can see the origins of his Twin Peaks agent Dale Cooper that he would play 3 years later. Together, Beck and Gallagher embark on an unlikely partnership to take down their antagonist, who also chooses to dwell in the body of a Hollywood stripper and a dog at different points during the film.

Somehow, The Hidden never found its audience in its theatrical release. That year, it had to compete with the likes of another buddy cop movie, Lethal Weapon, as well as a seminal science-fiction one, Predator.

Surprisingly, beneath the surface of its genre elements The Hidden contains emotion unusual for its kind: longing for family and a place to belong, and capped with an extremely poignant ending. There are also parallels of good and bad between the two species, which may show that we are not so different after all.

I strongly urge you to check out this film if you haven’t seen it; thankfully it’s available on DVD. There’s also a 1994 sequel that I admittedly haven’t watched. So many movies, so little time. I would also submit that the original is ripe for a remake. But for reasons like The Hidden, I still mourn the death of New Line.