Hider in the house – a review

Not every movie review I post needs to be about the newest releases. This time around I wish to exclaim my love for the little known thriller Hider in the house.

The story is about (wonderfully named) Tom Sykes (Gary Busey) who –after years of physical abuse- killed both his parents by setting the house on fire.  After spending time in a psychiatric institution he’s released to make something of his life. And he does; by building a secret room in the new house of a young family. Living on the attic he sees every move the family makes and falls in love with the mother of the household Julie (Mimi Rogers). And as time progresses Tom’s psychological issues turn more and more violent.

There is a great little subgenre in Hollywood about a charming person who befriends a family but turns out to be a psychopath. The hand that rocks the cradle, Mikey, Stepfather, Unlawful entry and –more recently- The guest; to name a few. Most of these movies were made in the early nineties -it was a bit of a hype back then- but thankfully the sub-genre never really went away.

But if you see a lot of these movies you’ll soon notice that they follow the same structure over and over again. The best friend dies, the children care for the psycho, in the end it’s the mother that fires the deadly shot and other elements that get repeated time and again. And that’s fine. These movies sell what’s on the tin as it were.

But where Hider in the house is delightfully different is the fact that Gary Busey’s Tom is such a sweet person. The movie takes its time to explain the character. To make you care for poor Tom. As I said in the summary this character suffered years of abuse by his parents which explains why he has several lost marbles upstairs. And every kill he does –he pretty much does out of childish ‘need’. Tom is like a mix between Shakespeare’s Shylock, Steinbeck’s Lenny and Harris’s Hannibal Lector. And I feel it’s a triumph to have a psychopath movie that takes its time to get to know said psychopath (something I seriously missed in the thrilling The hand that rocks the cradle).

But this character also allows Gary Busey to show his acting chops. Party due to his cocaine-formed voice he is often typecast as the villain of a movie (e.g. Under Siege and Lethal Weapon). And I’m sure he’s fine by that. Heck, he’s really good at it. He’s part of that select group of actors that –the minute you see him on screen- you know he’s the bad boy on the block.

To sidetrack a bit: I also love the fact that Busey’s son Jake –after Peter Jackson’s The frighteners- has now joined this little club of movie villains.

But as villain characters go they are hardly ever three dimensional. The character is a villain! Why does he do all those villainous acts? The movies usually don’t explain. Hider in the house does and that makes it one of the better psychopath thrillers of the early nineties.

But Hider in the house is, of course, also a faulty movie. The directing is fine and the tension build-up is quite well done. But in the end the movie still follows the same routine like all the others. Yes –Spoiler warning- Tom doesn’t survive the movie. But still there are nice gems to be found throughout the movie. Just to name two:

As I wrote above Tom Sykes is a bit like Lenny from ‘Of mice and men’. Now, if you ever read the book or seen Gary Sinise’s (or others) film you’ll know that Lenny isn’t really a murderer in the cut-clear sense of the word. The blood on his hands are ‘somewhat’ accidents. The same goes for Tom. He never really sets out to kill but –since he’s a psychopath- he does. Again this makes this character interesting. So when the movie follows the psychopath-in-the-house-checklist and kills of the mother’s best friend Tom actually feels sorry for what he did. For a moment that is. Which I think is the biggest problem of the movie this constant shift between a dangerous but caring man and the fully out villain. But then again that’s also the charm.

Then there’s the final defense-scene. Writing a story is basically just putting characters together and making things happen. And Hider in the house has a wonderful scene that –to me- is just textbook perfection.
Mimi Roger’s Julie has just found out the truth about her friend Tom and he’s threatening her. Then the father and the children come home and find the two in the living room. Pretending Julie orders her husband out of the house claiming she doesn’t love him anymore. And if he would be so kind to take the children along with him. For the audience this is obviously a ploy to protect her children. The husband (Michael McKean), however, isn’t that fast on the uptake and starts to verbally fight back to save his marriage. Which, to say the least, isn’t the wisest thing to do.
This scene is a great usage of character and information. The audience knows the peril of the situation but the husband doesn’t. Moreover, Michael McKean’s character is a bit of an alpha male who doesn’t shy away to protect what’s his. So this creates a nice little tension filled moment with an inevitable explosion.

To sidetrack again: Slight spoiler: I love the fact that Michael McKean’s character is having an affair in this movie. It always reminds me of his final words in Clue: “I’m going home and sleep with my wife!”. Jep. Which wife were you talking about?

To end this little praise article I can only say –lucky you, Hider in the house is available on youtube. Go watch it and enjoy a more layered take on the early nineties psychopath friend-genre.