Samhain Project 2: The Hidden

Jack Sholder's The Hidden is a perfect encapsulation of the 80's.  Bright day and night-time shooting, seriously rockin' tunes from the era, cars, cocaine, guns and big ass hair.  That's all on the surface however.  While not available as a disc from them, this little number is airing on the Criterion Channel as we speak.  It's that highly regarded and I've read extremely recently from folks whose opinions I generally respect that it should be up for re-assessment. 

This one's a bit more sci-fi than horror, but I need to fit one or two stylistic twists in my collection here, and that's why it deserves to be included.  

Los Angeles is being torn up by a mass murderer with a penchant for robbing banks, killing people regardless of their age, stealing Ferraris and causing millions of dollars in property damage.  And the bastard is really hard to catch.  LA's finest, Beck, played with some pretty good intensity and just enough subtlety by Michael Nouri is on the case, but the bodies pile up so fast and high, he's barely got time for his family.  Enter FBI agent Lloyd Gallagher, played by Kyle MachLachlan with an intentional robotic stiffness that had to be the reason why David Lynch brought him in as Dale Cooper in Twin Peaks.

Or he had him in mind from Blue Velvet, it doesn't matter.

I wrote a bit earlier this month about the James Brolin vehicle Night of the Juggler, and its breakneck speed and intensity.   If it weren't for a couple pauses,  The Hidden could challenge Juggler for the title of most out of control feeling movie of the 1980's.  It races from day to night and back again, with cars crashing everywhere, guns firing, blood spraying, bodies flyin', people dyin'.  Despite all of the violence and ill intent, the movie doesn't suffer from a lack of humor, it's there just to liven things up a bit, if not make them a touch weirder than they already are. 

This one's not going to make too many best of lists, but it's fondly remembered by its cult audience, and gaining regard by some chunks of the film community and is a lot of fun to watch.