Before he played FBI special agent Dale Cooper in “Twin Peaks,” Kyle MacLachlan played another FBI agent in a film that shared much in common with David Lynch’s seminal TV series. 1987’s “The Hidden” stars MacLachlan as an FBI agent on the trail of a criminal who might be something a little more than human. With its blend of sci-fi, horror, action, and dark comedy, it’s a unique experience deserving of more credit than it gets.
“The Hidden” was written by Jim Kouf, who later co-wrote the screenplays for “Rush Hour” and “National Treasure,” and directed by Jack Sholder, who’s best known for his horror films including 1985’s “A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge” and 1982’s “Alone in the Dark.” “The Hidden” was somewhat of a departure, however, as it saw Sholder embrace more sci-fi and action elements to create something unique in his filmography.
During a Fangoria interview, the director spoke about how the film was initially written as “kind of a romp” before he came on board and reworked it to explore the story’s themes more deeply. “I thought there was a very compelling story there,” he said. “It was really about what it meant to be human.” Sholder then rewrote the script with that principle in mind, adding some characters and gearing the story more towards the question of “what it means to be a good person and what it means to be a bad one.” The result was an ’80s sci-fi movie that very much holds up today. Not only did Sholder and Kouf manage to impress a few critics, modern audiences seem to like “The Hidden,” too, with Letterboxd users describing the film as a “very cool movie” and a “shockingly solid flick!”
What is The Hidden about?
Three years after fronting 1984’s oft-derided “Dune” and three years prior to making his “Twin Peaks” debut, Kyle MacLachlan starred in “The Hidden.” It’s best to go in completely blind as the film takes some wild turns. But if you do want to know a little more about this overlooked sci-fi actioner, read on.
“The Hidden” begins with a bank robbery that sets up what appears to be a fairly straightforward crime thriller. But something about the robber isn’t quite right. After a shootout in which he sustains multiple hits and keeps going, we know for sure we’re dealing with something beyond human… extra-terrestrial, in fact. LAPD Detective Thomas Beck (Michael Nouri) returns to his station where he meets FBI Special Agent Lloyd Gallagher (MacLachlan), who’s very interested in tracking down the robber. Turns out, Gallagher is on the hunt for an alien capable of writhing its way inside human hosts and controlling their bodies. Of course, Beck remains incredulous, but as the pair investigate further he slowly comes to realize his new colleague isn’t making anything up.
Though it’s not talked about as much as you might hope, “The Hidden” does have 76% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes based on 34 reviews. Roger Ebert called it an “original and efficient thriller” and “a sleeper that talks like a thriller and walks like a thriller, but has more brains than the average thriller.” He also praised MacLachlan’s “subtle acting” and the way in which the actor approached his role as if he were someone who’d just been handed the controls to a machine he didn’t fully understand. Sholder also considers “The Hidden” one of, if not his best films, though he surely wasn’t all that impressed with the 1993 direct-to-TV sequel “The Hidden II.”
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