"Hideaway" is the story of the Harrison family. Patriarch Hatch (Jeff Goldblum), mother Lindsey (Christine Lahti), and daughter Regina (Alicia Silverstone) seem to encounter the typical problems all small families go through. Regina is at that age where she is a bit rebellious and whiny, but she is generally a good enough kid. Hatch and Lindsey seem to have a good careers as owners of some sort of antique store/ art gallery, careers that, if the movie is any indication, require about one hour of work a week. Tragedy strikes the Harrison family on a trip down a winding mountain road when Hatch swerves to avoid a truck. The car teeters on the edge of a sharp incline just long enough for Regina to exit the vehicle. Then the automobile bounces down the slope and splashes into a cold river. Hatch and Lindsey struggle to stay alive, but it is not enough. Lindsey, despite her best efforts, fails to keep Hatch breathing. By the time the couple arrives at the hospital, Hatch Harrison has been walking in the land of shadows for nearly two hours. Doctor Jonas Nyeburn (Alfred Molina) decides to rescuitate Goldblum's character and succeeds. Hatch goes home with his concerned family to continue living his life. But something changed in Harrison during the time he was gone. He claims he saw his deceased daughter on "the other side."

What's worse, he brought something back, a horrible power to see through the eyes of a serial killer preying on the city's youth. Hatch not only catches an occasional glimpse of terrible activities, he sometimes suffers the same sorts of physical injuries the killer does. A newspaper account of a heinous crime confirms one of Harrison's visions. Lindsey and Regina are in the dark about what is really going on, although Lindsey sees enough weirdness to insist on taking her husband back to Nyeburn for a check up. The doctor insists nothing is wrong, sort of, and Hatch once again tries to live his life. Once again, the disturbing visions return. Harrison gives into them fully this time, heading out in the car to try and find the guy, calling the police to report a murder he saw in a vision, and generally reducing Lindsey to a nervous wreck. Things take a turn for the worse when Hatch realizes the murderer, a young guy by the name of Vassago (Jeremy Sisto), is setting his sights on Regina. The rest of the film becomes a race to discover the location of Vassago in time to save Regina from disaster. Rae Dawn Chong shows up briefly as a nutty new age type named Rose Orwette, an incense burning and Tarot card reading gal who wants to help Goldblum's character locate this monster. The conclusion alternates between genuine suspense and unfettered cheesiness. The requisite plot revelation unfolds in the final minutes too.

As I watched "Hideaway," I could not help thinking how many times we have seen this type of movie before. Director Brett Leonard ("Lawnmower Man," "Virtuosity") falls back on the use of early computer animation effects in several scenes to show what the afterlife looks like. Didn't we see this in "Brainstorm"? Too, Vassago as a serial killer with his own creepy lair isn't that original considering movies from "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" to "Silence of the Lambs" have done essentially the same thing. As for the acting, my girlfriend and I both thought Jeff Goldblum too weird for the role of Hatch Harrison. Don't get me wrong; Goldblum is remarkably restrained in his performance, but a restrained Jeff Goldblum is still weirder than ninety percent of the actors out there. Christine Lahti, for her part, gets little to do from the script except act concerned about her husband's increasing paranoia. Alicia Silverstone is, well, Alicia Silverstone. The best performance comes from Jeremy Sisto as Vassago, especially in those introductory scenes where he terrorizes his family. It's nice to see this actor in an early role before he went on to "May" and "Wrong Turn."

Extras on the disc include a featurette about the making of the film, a trailer, and an alternate ending that, while interesting, does not add much to the ultimate meaning of the film. I cannot conclude that "Hideaway" is a particularly bad film. It's not even close, in fact. I would consider it an average thriller, not really a horror film but not a science fiction picture either. Give it a shot if you like this sort of thing. Goldblum completists will of course wish to procure a copy. I'm just glad I rented it.