Don't read anything or listen to anyone who threatens to give away any more than three plot points in the new thriller Hide and Seek.
Even the trailers let us know that something traumatic has happened in little Emily Callaway's (Dakota Fanning) life making her withdraw into a private world.
It's also evident that Emily's father, noted psychologist David Callaway (Robert De Niro) decides to move her out of New York where the tragedy occurred.
He takes her to a quiet bedroom community two hours from the big, bad city.
Finally the trailers make it clear that once in the country Emily claims she has found a new friend named Charlie and that their favourite game is hide-and-seek.
From all that spooky music, strange noises and haunted looks on Fanning's little face, it's clear Charlie is someone or something to be feared.
Enough already.
See the movie if you want to know more.
See the movie if you dare because it's a genuine scare-fest that will have you squirming in your seat and even screaming aloud.
Hide and Seek is the best little psychological thriller in a long while.
It's what movies like White Noise, The Forgotten and all those teen slasher movies promise to be but never fully deliver on.
Hide and Seek does deliver, for many reasons.
It has a clever screenplay by Ari Schlossberg, who scatters red herrings about as if he's setting up a stall in a fish market.
He'll likely have you so confused you won't see what's really coming to make you gasp with surprise, if not total disbelief.
It's only on a subsequent viewing that you'll see how all the pieces of the puzzle fit together.
I'm still convinced one piece got lost in the editing room because no one explains the origin or reason for the secret room in the house.
John Polson's taut direction maintains the suspense and mystery while delivering some great visual shocks.
What really clinches the deal are the performances from De Niro and Fanning.
It's amazing just how expertly and seamlessly Fanning is able to play opposite De Niro.
The 10-year-old is every bit as convincing and powerful as he is.
Because the two of them achieve a chilling naturalism, it's up to the supporting performers to provide the heightened melodrama a film like this needs.
Everyone in this town seems to be skulking around or hiding a secret and they all end up on the Calloway doorstep.
There's no question Schlossberg and Polson watched classic thrillers like Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho and Stanley Kubrick's the Shining for their inspiration.
Shower curtains, knives against locked doors, scrawlings on walls and mirrors mingle with some great ghost movie cliches to make Hide and Seek a creepy little mind-twister.
(This film is rated 14-A)
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