- The Hidden
Infobox Film
name = The Hidden
caption = Theatrical release poster
director =Jack Sholder
producer =Stephen Diener Dennis Harris Jeffrey Klein Lee Muhl Michael L. Meltzer Gerald T. Olson Robert Shaye
writer =Jim Kouf
starring =Kyle MacLachlan Michael Nouri Claudia Christian William Boyett
music =Michael Convertino
cinematography =Jacques Haitkin
editing =Michael N. Knue
Maureen O’Connell
distributor =New Line Home Video (USA)
released = 1987
runtime = 96 min
country = flagicon|USA USA
language = English
budget =
preceded_by =
followed_by =The Hidden II
The Seed
website =
amg_id = 1:132739
imdb_id = 0093185"The Hidden" is a 1987 science fiction/horror
film fromNew Line Cinema . The film was written byJim Kouf and directed byJack Sholder . The cast featuredKyle MacLachlan ,Michael Nouri andClaudia Christian .This film received a MPAA rating of R, and was filmed in color with mono sound. The DVD version was remastered in Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound. At the time it was released it was an
independent film and had been produced for less than US$5 million. A sequel, "The Hidden II ", directed bySeth Pinsker was released in 1994.Plot summary
A murderous creature from outer space arrives on Earth and begins to inhabit human bodies as hosts. The creature seems driven to only do two things: drive fast exotic cars at reckless speeds and listen to loud heavy metal music, which leads to a confrontation with the police after it commits a bank robbery. The police officer in charge of the investigation, Sgt. Tom Beck (Nouri), is baffled when the suspect will not fall after being wounded several times in a shoot-out. In the process the creature uses up its human host body (Chris Mulkey), leaving a corpse, and eventually moves on to its next victim while its host is incarcerated at the hospital after the shoot-out with the police. This creature commits a series of murders in Los Angeles while jumping from body to body, leaving the police department perplexed. Arriving on the scene is FBI agent Lloyd Gallagher (MacLachlan), who is actually an alien policeman that was sent to Earth to recapture the parasitic murderer.
Similar works
* "Needle", a novel by
Hal Clement may have been inspiration for this movie.Fact|date=April 2008
* "The Puppet Masters ", a novel from 1951 byRobert A. Heinlein has a similar premise.
* "The Autopsy", a novella byMichael Shea published in 1984 also bears a likeness.
* "Valley of Lights ", a novel byStephen Gallagher published earlier the same year as the movie was released and to which "The Hidden" also bears a remarkable number of resemblances.
* "Fallen", a 1998 film has a similar premise. However, the body-hoppingantagonist is asupernatural demon rather than an extraterrestrial.Awards
*Jack Sholder won the Grand Prize at the
Avoriaz Fantastic Film Festival in 1988.
*Jack Sholder won Best Director atFantasporto in 1988. It was also nominated for Best Film at that festival.
*Michael Nouri won Best Actor at the Catalonian International Film Festival in 1987. Jack Sholder took Prize of the International Critics’ Jury at the same festival.
*At the 1988Saturn Awards , Michael Nouri was nominated for Best Actor, Jack Sholder was nominated for Best Director, Jim Kouf was nominated for best writing, and "The Hidden" was nominated for best film.External links
*imdb title|id=0093185|title=The Hidden
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