The Hidden

New Line Cinema | Release Date: October 30, 1987

CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION

69	METASCORE Generally favorable reviews based on 15 Critic Reviews

Positive:

Mixed:

Negative:

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Critic Reviews

Critic score Publication By date

100

Steve Simels

The Hidden is hands down the best movie ever made about a homicidal alien slug that oozes from human host to human host. Read full review

Gene Siskel

The film is violent and a little gross in one or two scenes, but there is an intelligence in its writing by Bob Hunt and direction by Jack Sholder that makes everything worthwhile. [30 Oct 1987, p.41C]

Nathan Rabin

The Hidden is a textbook example of how a B-movie can transcend its origins and budgetary constraints through craft, imagination, and all-around resourcefulness. Shifting genres almost as often as its villain changes bodies, it's at once an enormously effective thriller, a smart exercise in science fiction, an exciting action movie, and a kinetic dark comedy. Read full review

Staff (Not Credited)

Powered by a driving rock score, this is by turns sleek, reckless, and smoothly effective, like a Ferrari with a psycho killer at the wheel. Read full review

Roger Ebert

A sleeper that talks like a thriller and walks like a thriller, but has more brains than the average thriller. Read full review

Hal Hinson

This is a rare kind of pulp; it's boisterously destructive, funny and, at the same time, almost serene. Read full review

TV Guide MagazineStaff (Not Credited)

An exciting mix of science fiction, cop thriller, and buddy film, The Hidden is one of the most exciting and unique genre hybrids. Read full review

Dave Kehr

The polish and unpretentiousness of The Hidden are enough to suggest Don Siegel's original 1956 Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and there are few compliments in horror films higher than that. [30 Oct 1987, p.41C]

H. J. Kirchhoff

All in all, a fine evening of exactly what it purports to be: hot and heavy action, lightweight story-line, amusing dialogue and a nifty, science-fiction twist. [30 Oct 1987]

Orlando Aloma

The Hidden cannot be dismissed as just a police story with a couple of aliens affixed to it. In fact, without the aliens, there wouldn't be any story. [30 Oct 1987, p.D5]

Staff (Not Credited)

The Hidden is a well-constructed thriller, directed with swift assurance by Jack Sholder, brought down by an utterly conventional sci-fi ending. Read full review

Vincent Canby

The movie is mostly a series of automobile chases through Los Angeles, but there is also some humor. Read full review

Peter Stack

If The Hidden were less obvious, it might have been a zinger of a sci-fi action flick. But this cinematic presentation, now available on home video, is too predictable, and even though wickedly fun at times, it's only halfway as awesome as it might have been. Read full review

Kevin Thomas

The Hidden has enough smarts that it doesn’t need to be so total and unrelieved a massacre. The caustic dark humor with which it begins ends up drowning in an ocean of blood. Read full review

Hal Lipper

While The Hidden never manages to meld Aliens with Blue Velvet - that appears to be Hunt's intention. It has a kinky charm that fuels it full throttle throughout. [30 Oct 1987, p.5D]