Summary
- "Hide and Seek" stars Robert De Niro and Dakota Fanning, exploring grief and the complexities of the human mind.
- Clues throughout "Hide and Seek" suggest that David is actually Charlie, committing violent acts unnoticed.
- The movie has four alternate endings, each altering Emily's fate and exploring themes of mental health struggles.
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The 2005 horror film Hide and Seek's ending explained its shocking plot twist. However, if viewers pay close attention upon watching, several clues to that twist are interspersed throughout the movie. Hide and Seek stars Robert De Niro as psychologist Dr. David Callaway and Dakota Fanning as his nine-year-old daughter, Emily. The plot centers on the duo moving to a new house in upstate New York following the apparent suicide of Alison (Amy Irving), David's wife and Emily's mother. Once David and Emily get to their new home, Emily develops an imaginary friend and calls him Charlie.
This "friendship" worries David when strange things start happening around the house, and Emily keeps blaming them on Charlie. For instance, their cat is found dead in the bathroom, and a new friend from the neighborhood falls out a window to her death while visiting. Eventually, David realizes that he has dissociative identity disorder. He "becomes" Charlie to commit horrible acts he didn't think he was capable of, and in fact killed his wife, the family cat, and the sheriff. Emily knew about David's disorder the entire time but didn't say anything out of fear.
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Every Hint That Robert De Niro's Character Was The Killer
David Only Ever Shows Up After Charlie Has Done Something Bad
Hide and Seek's plot twist remains shocking, but there are hints throughout the movie that David is Charlie. For one, every time David goes looking for his daughter, she tells him Charlie has "just left." Since David is never around when Charlie is doing things, that casts a massive clue that David was the person committing these terrible acts. The only other explanation is bad luck, as David never shows up until after the incident.
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There is also a sense Emily is delivering almost rehearsed lines.
Also, Emily always refers to Charlie's antics in bleak, monotone ways, as if she is used to — and perhaps tired of — lying for David. Another straightforward clue to Charlie's identity comes when Emily tells David that Charlie said "he would have satisfied" Alison. These are terrible comments, and while it seems like she is shocked, there is also a sense Emily is delivering almost rehearsed lines, which she has trained herself to repeat.
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Whenever a violent act happens in the house, there is no evidence left behind that anyone has broken in and done the crime. Plus, David doesn't suspect anyone of the acts since he doesn't know the people in the area. As the movie goes on, David becomes increasingly scared and frustrated. However, viewers of Hide and Seek can see that David is frequently in his study. Conveniently, all the terrible actions in the movie happen whenever he's in that room alone, with his headphones on.
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How The Hide & Seek Alternate Endings Change Things
Hide & Seek Had Four Alternate Endings
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Hide and Seek doesn't just have one alternate ending. The horror thriller has four different alternate endings, almost as if the director wasn't sure what would work until he tried them all. In the original Hide and Seek ending, Emily finally calls a doctor (Famke Janssen's Katherine) for help. She shows up when Charlie has completely overtaken David, and Katherine has to shoot and kill him to save Emily. The very last twist shows that Emily might have dissociative identity disorder as well.
That leads to the first two alternate endings. The first one has the same ending as the main movie, but the picture only shows one head, eliminating the possibility of Emily following in her father's footsteps. In a second, Emily plays hide-and-seek with Charlie again, but this time, she is Charlie. Both keep the same basic premise of Katherine killing Charlie, saving Emily, and taking the girl in. They each alter the final twist for Emily, though, with only one as a happy ending.
It is up to the viewer to decide whether this is better than the ending where Katherine remains unaware of Emily's dissociative identity disorder.
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The third alternate ending is even more depressing. Instead of taking Emily in and raising her as a daughter, Katherine tells Emily good night and leaves the room, locking it, and revealing that the entire incident resulted in the girl's admission into the psychiatric ward for treatment. Emily is still playing hide-and-seek here. This ending, once again, keeps the same idea of Emily's mental health struggles. It is up to the viewer to decide whether this is better than the ending where Katherine remains unaware of Emily's dissociative identity disorder.
The fourth ending is the same as the third, but without Emily playing hide-and-seek at the end. This ending is a little more open-ended and leaves it up to viewers to decide whether she inherited her father's connection to Charlie. Only one of the Hide and Seek endings shows Emily in a happy ending, and all the others show her struggling with mental health issues, the same as her dad. While the original ending is scary with the two-headed child drawing, the idea of playing hide-and-seek fits the narrative better.
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Hide and Seek
R
Horror
Mystery
Hide And Seek, directed by John Polson, follows psychologist David Callaway (Robert De Niro) and his young daughter Emily (Dakota Fanning) as they attempt to rebuild their lives after a family tragedy. Isolated in a remote house, Emily develops an imaginary friend named Charlie, whose malevolent actions lead David to question reality. This psychological thriller explores themes of grief and the complexities of the human mind.
- Director
- John Polson
- Release Date
- January 27, 2005
- Studio(s)
- MBC Beteiligungs Filmproduktion , Fox 2000 Pictures , Josephson Entertainment , 20th Century Fox
- Writers
- Ari Schlossberg
- Cast
- Robert De Niro , Dakota Fanning , Famke Janssen , Elisabeth Shue , Amy Irving
- Runtime
- 101 Minutes