Hider In The House

Today’s feature is about the nightmare scenario of Gary Busey secretly living in your attic: Hider In The House.

Hider In The House was written and produced by Lem Dobbs, who also penned screenplays for movies like The Hard Way, Kafka, The Limey, Haywire, The Score, and Dark City.

The director for the movie was a guy named Matthew Patrick, whose credits include a handful of television movies and shorts, but no other feature films.

The cinematographer on Hider In The House was Jeff Jur, who also shot the movies Joy Ride, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, How Stella Got Her Groove Back, Soul Man, It’s Pat, and numerous episodes of the television show Dexter.

Outside of Dobbs, the team of producers for Hider In The House included Edward Teets (Under Fire, Three Men and A Baby), Michael Taylor (Phenomenon, Bottle Rocket), Steven Reuther (The Ugly Truth, Face/Off, Under Siege), Diane Nabatoff (Narc, Very Bad Things), and Stuart Cornfield (Mimic, Tropic Thunder).

The musical score for Hider In The House  was provided by Christopher Young, who has done the music for such films as Sinister, Priest, Drag Me To Hell, Spider-Man 3, Ghost Rider, Swordfish, The Core, Species, and Trick or Treat, among others.

The effects work for the movie was done by a small team that included Gary L. King (The Prophecy, Demolition Man, Volcano, Commando), Judee Guilmette (Silent Night, Deadly Night), and Susan Mills (Cool As Ice, Captain Ron).

The cast for Hider In The House included Gary Busey (Predator 2, Lethal Weapon, The Gingerdead Man, Under Siege), Mimi Rogers (Austin Powers, Ginger Snaps), Bruce Glover (Die Hard Dracula, Diamonds Are Forever), and Michael McKean (Clue, This Is Spinal Tap).

The plot of Hider in the House is summarized on its IMDb page as follows:

A deranged man hides in the attic of a new house and becomes obsessed with the unsuspecting family that moves in.

Hider In The House is a mostly forgotten feature, though the reviews that do exist aren’t exactly positive: it currently holds an unenviable 5.8 rating from the IMDb user base.

First off, Gary Busey is more than solid in the lead role of Hider in the House, and makes his character both off-putting and erratic, but still generally sympathetic. His character is like a cross between Lenny from Of Mice and Men and Michael Myers from Halloween, which is perfect for Busey and fascinating to watch.

Bruce Glover, a character actor of some note and the father of Crispin Glover, has a supporting role in Hider In The House as an equally off-putting and potentially menacing neighbor. Despite not being on screen much, his bit character makes a significant impression, like he is a rapist or murderer desperately trying to maintain a facade, and failing spectacularly.

The premise at the foundation of Hider In The House is beyond bizarre: the idea of someone living in a secret room inside of an occupied house sounds like something out of an Edgar Allan Poe story, which makes the modern setting for the tale kind of intriguing. That said, there is a lot of necessary suspension of disbelief which increases throughout the progression of the story in order for the premise to hold up.

At the same time, the atmosphere and tension is pretty solid, and I personally found myself simultaneously concerned for Busey getting discovered, and nervous about the danger he presented to the family. It isn’t a great movie by any means, but it does what it sought out to do, and is an entertaining experience on the whole.

Hider in the House is worth checking out based on Busey’s erratic performance alone. For bad movie fans, getting a glimpse of Busey in a lead role where he gets to show off his manic side is an absolute treat. The film is totally watchable on top of that, with both Bruce Glover and Mimi Rogers putting in occasional memorable moments on top of that.

For more thoughts on Hider In The House, I highly encourage checking out the We Hate Movies episode on the movie, which is regarded as one of their most memorable episodes among fans.