Rent The Hide (2008)

3.5 of 5 from 77 ratings
1h 22min
Rent The Hide Online DVD & Blu-ray Rental
  • General info
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Synopsis:
Marek Losey's critically acclaimed thriller is set in a bird-hide on the windswept Suffolk mudflats. Inside sits Roy Tunt, a prematurely aged, mildly obsessive-compulsive birder. With one more sighting — the elusive sociable plover — he will have 'twitched' the entire British List. Tunt has his shortwave radio, packed-lunch and a portrait of his ex-wife Sandra for company. Suddenly the hide door blows open and a bedraggled stranger - unshaven, edgy and bloodied enters; a fugitive from the storm. After a tense introduction, the two men discover that they have more in common than initially thought.
As they begin to form a close bond news of a police manhunt sets them both on edge driving their fragile relationship to a tragic conclusion.
Actors:
,
Directors:
Voiced By:
Laura Hopwood, Howard Ward, Fred Perry
Writers:
Tim Whitnall
Studio:
ICA
Genres:
Thrillers
BBFC:
Release Date:
11/01/2010
Run Time:
82 minutes
Languages:
English Dolby Digital 2.0
Subtitles:
None
DVD Regions:
Region 2
Formats:
Pal
Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen 1.78:1 / 16:9
Colour:
Colour
Bonus:
  • Youtube Virals
  • Making of Featurette
  • Trailer
  • Deleted scenes

More like The Hide

Reviews (2) of The Hide

Very stagy and predictable, but also entertaining and interesting - The Hide review by PV

Spoiler Alert
15/04/2011

This film gets 3 and a half stars (rounded up to four).

It would have been higher but there are three things that really annoyed me about this film: 1) the sound was awful - and I would advise anyone to use subtitles with it! All that naturalistic acting and mumbling and fast talking meant many good lines wre missed by all those who watched it at my house! 2) It is just too theatrical and stagy - like so much British drama, it started in the theatre, I think, and it SMELLS of the stage really, like mostradio drama too; 30 the plot twist was no surprise to me - perhaps because I have seen the same character reversal in the theatre a thousand times! I had guessed the ending well in the first act, so the twist in the third that was meant to shock and delight had me yawning instead!

ON THE PLUS SIDE: it's a great little low budget Brit flick which maintains the audience's interest throughout. The characters, though stagy, so bounce off each other with some nice verbal sparring and character arcs. The scenery is lovely (meant to be Suffolk but is in fact in Kent - possibly Sheppey) and I certainly have never seen a film set in a birdwatching hut before! And the flocks of birds look lovely too!

This is an intelligent film well worth watching. Just a shame that it didn't lose some of the stage dialogue before going into production.

1 out of 2 members found this review helpful.

Low budget, creepy, tense thriller. Excellent. - The Hide review by RP

Spoiler Alert
15/03/2013

Two characters cooped up a bird watcher's hide. Both clearly - since this is a drama - with something to hide. So it must mean one goodie, one baddie. Which must mean that the one who looks immediately like a baddie is really the goodie. Err - that's it. And no, that wasn't a spoiler but the essence of all such plays.

This really is an excellent two-handed play made into an excellent film. Yes, it's still stagey, but that works well in such a claustrophobic setting. The acting is also excellent, particularly from Alex MacQueen as Roy Tunt, the introverted, eccentric, obsessive-compulsive bird watching nerd. He's harmless, surely?

The other player is Phil Campbell as David John, who is tormented by some unspoken loss. And it is only at the end where this loss is seen to connect him to creepy Roy Tunt.

The film was directed by Marek Losey, grandson of renowned director Joseph Losey, perhaps best known for 'The Servant' and 'The Go-Between'. Good directorial skills seem to run in the family.

This is a low budget, creepy, tense thriller. It's less than 80 minutes long - just right. Really good - 4/5 stars.

1 out of 1 members found this review helpful.

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