The Hidden (Jack Sholder, 1987)
Gonzo action, nutty sci-fi, absolute blast
The Hidden is one of the most fun 80s horror movies you’ve probably never heard of. Which is a crying shame because the film is an absolute blast.
It starts at an 11 with a high-speed car chase through the streets of Los Angeles that delightfully indulges in all the cheesy over-the-top cliches you could possibly want — I’m talking construction workers diving out of the way as cars fly though roadwork barriers, cars smashing through giant panes of glass being carried across the street, Ferraris racing along pond-side trails of a city park, and massive destruction to a great many cop cars…
Yes folks, this film you’ve likely never heard of until now is the poster child for the “more is more” mentality. But it works! The Hidden is the epitome of 80s excess and cheesiness — and it is glorious.
Here’s the plot in a nutshell: a series of formerly law-abiding citizens turn into brazen criminals overnight, leaving a chain of outrageous robberies, death, and destruction in their wake. A weary homicide detective is charged with putting an end to the madness and is partnered with an FBI agent who seems to know a lot more than he’s letting on…
As it turns out, the villain is actually a fugitive alien who is body-hopping between human victims — simply doing whatever he wants and stealing anything he likes the look of.
It's the perfect story for a decade of excess. When a possessed thug growls at a white-suited arms dealer and a coke-doling car salesman that he wants the convertible they’re test driving, there’s no obvious bad guy in the room.
When the world itself is so unashamedly self-centered and materialistic, extravagant debauchery seems normal, which allows The Hidden to more effectively highlight the contrast — what makes humanity so special, giving much-needed heart to a film that is otherwise heavy on nutty sci-fi and extreme violence.
There are two groups of fans in particular (and I belong to both) that will especially love The Hidden: fans of The X-Files and fans of Twin Peaks.
Like so many late-80s/early-90s horror flicks, The Hidden feels not only like it could pass for an episode of The X-Files, but it likely directly inspired some. There are several episodes of the which feel like they were directly influenced by this movie (among them Piper Maru, Small Potatoes, and Travelers).
Twin Peaks fans, on the other hand, will delight in Kyle MacLaughlan’s performance which seems to bridge the gap between David Bowie in The Man Who Fell To Earth and MacLaughlan’s own Special Agent Dale Cooper.
The first time I watched The Hidden I wondered where this film had been all my life and how on earth I had never heard of it before.
It’s a sci-fi buddy cop body horror movie that runs the gamut of tentacles bursting out of veins, a gross-slimy-alien-slug/insect-thing, and unrelenting bullet-riddled shootouts the likes of which you’ve never seen.
It is a blast.