The Perfect Hideout

I looked this movie up on IMDb while I was watching it because I couldn't determine where it was taking place. As other reviewers have mentioned, no two characters have the same accent, so one would never know by watching. One thing is sure--none of them have a German accent, which is ironically where the action is set.

Where I think most of the other reviewers got it all wrong, was that I believe it was intended to be a comedy, albeit a dark one. Sure, the acting is often bad, but Billy Zane, as usual, is brilliant. Sure, the plot has holes, but I was typically amused enough that it just played into the humor of it all. The end of course moved directly into the realm of ridiculous; overall however, I found it to be an enjoyable experience.

OK, I'm not going to pretend that this movie is for everyone. It's obviously very low budget, the sound and video quality are apparently distractingly bad for some viewers (easily overlooked by me, personally), and there really aren't many likable characters (a stopper for some people, but, again, not for me); however, if the humor works for you, you'll find it laugh out loud funny at parts (stupid thieves blundering from bad situation to even worse situation, cops shooting "innocent" people, and other very *black* humor elements). Probably the best way to describe this movie is by comparing it to Very Bad Things, though they only share a few surface similarities. If you're a huge Billy Zane fan (and let me advise people that I actually liked Survival Island, so take that into consideration when I say this movie is only for Billy Zane fanclub members), and you can handle very dark humor, this is a great watch.

I got the impression that the people making this movie had a lot of fun, and, for me, that really pushed it over the hump from a rather poor 4/10 to a flawed-but-fun 6/10. I was entertained, and I got to see one of my favorite stars ham it up. I think it accomplished what it set out to do. I think that I'd greatly enjoy watching this movie with the filmmakers, laughing at the cheesy moments and not taking it very seriously. If that's you, I heartily recommend you give this movie a chance, despite the low rating and (admittedly true) criticism from other reviewers. Can you overlook the faults or not? If not, give this movie a wide berth.

It's supposed to be set in Germany...? Those "Germans" look and sound a lot like Americans! Billy Zane is a charming actor. Cristian Solimeno seemed like a decent actor. Melinda Y. Cohen is beautiful. I've seen plenty of low budget films. These actors aren't terrible. It's the script. The dialogue is stilted and childish. Also, that SWAT team...not believable. I saw the comedy bits. It had some horror parts too. I wish it was more into a specific genre, but it's all over the place. They're also too cozy with that killer even after they find out what he did. He's way too cozy with them! The ending left me completely bewildered as to what I just witnessed. Anticlimactic doesn't seem like the right term to describe it. It started off good, then... "Eh...? It's over?" Yeah, the movie has a very weak resolution. You have to see it to believe it. It's like they were running out of film and just said, "End it."

There is zero, and I mean zero, logic involved in this mess. It's stupidity is absolutely an insult to the audience, and it's entertainment value is absolute zero. Dumb characters with no development, lame dialog, and a script that appears to have been made up as things went along. Shot almost entirely in one house, the claustrophobic environment gets unbearable with the meaningless dialog permeating this disaster. The whole thing just gets worse and worse with each passing scene, and finally the wheels come off completely with a totally unbelievable conclusion, as a meek girlfriend suddenly turns into "Rambo". Astoundingly awful. - MERK

What can I say, the story isn't so bad actually. The problem is that it's just too short for a whole movie. So 75 percent is useless conversations to stretch the movie. The acting is also very very bad. No emotion at all. It's not as if I'm looking at a movie, but looking at a very bad theater performance from some amateurs who would like to make their own movies. The overall sound is also quite weak. Somebody dubbed the wrong sound effect to make it sound better, but it just gets more unrealistic. The picture quality doesn't look like it is shot on film. I'm even wondering if this movie is shot with a VHS recorder? Don't waste your time on this movie, I regret watching this one...