Hider in the House

This is a decent little thriller. Busey steals the show as he often does, managing here to evoke the memories of the Universal Horror creatures of the 1930/40, a lumbering oaf whom the audience has an empathy with. It is quite an accomplishment from Busey, as the premise is both ridiculous and unoriginal. McKean and Rogers are satisfactory as the put-upon couple who become the unwanted centre of Busey's jealousy and affection. It's a shame that Busey's once promising career soon went downhill, as he is a very good character actor. He'll be remembered for his bigger roles but I truly think this is his best performance.

I will agree that the premise of this movie - a man secretly hiding in a house without anyone detecting him - is a bit hard to swallow. But I found this movie strangely compelling. One reason is that the "bad guy" isn't without sympathy. We see that he is still insane, but that's no fault of his, and that he struggles very hard not to do anything bad. (Busey gives a great performance, by the way.) Some events in the movie, like when he starts to introduce himself incognito to the family, are unexpected and intriguing.

However, starting about 20 minutes before the end, we see the movie start to fall apart, and the climax is way too familiar and expected - it's almost like the screenwriter refused to change from a typical cop-out ending.

Otherwise, not bad.

Forget the inanity (no thats NOT a typo!) of the plot...a fruitloop living soundlessly in an attic, in a tiny room he built there - EQUALLY soundlessly!......this is a tour-de-force performance from Busey. The most realistic nutter put on screen since Norman Bates! As someone commented, a similar premise to THE STEPFATHER, being the story of a lone weirdo psychotically disposed towards creating the "perfect" family!

Busey's deranged Tom Sykes, complete with nervous dysfunctionality is awesome. There are several scenes you feel for the guy and really ache for his solitude and inherent decency! I believe it was his best role and despite the fact the wheels tended to fall off towards the end, as it entered the standard formula "where-do-we-go-from-here" scriptwriters' block, ENOUGH professional work had been witnessed to term this a way better than average thriller! Mimi Rogers always has dignity, class and resolve (well OK she struck-out marrying Tom Cruise arguably) Here, she puts across a sympathetic woman who finds herself in a seriously unwanted position through no fault of her own.

Ultimately you'd have to wonder, if despite his mental disturbances, Sykes wouldn't have made a better husband than Phil (McKean) who proves himself the wimpiest womaniser on the block! I was rooting for Busy to take him out big-time!

Flawed thriller that should by rights, be rating 6.8 here!

Well it's a well-off middle class family with a sleazy Dad, oh and Gary Busey in the attic. Not something that would give you a good nights sleep. I liked this movie. It has enough twists and turns to keep you on the edge of your seat and Busey is great. I would have liked to have seen more of the creepy neighbour as his similar looks to Busey could have caused some confusion for the family and police.

A refugee(Gary Busey) from the nut house takes up living in the attic of an empty house. After a young family movies in, he becomes obsessed with the lovely housewife(Mimi Rogers). This particular scenario is hard to believe, but also hard to forget about. Pretty predictable story line with Busey the focus of the better scenes. There is no better psycho than Gary. Rogers is enjoyable to look at, but acting skills are lacking throughout cast...Busey the exception of course. Also appearing are Michael McKean, Bruce Glover and Carole King.