Review of Hide and Go Shriek

It's exactly what you can expect of an 80's horror-flick with such a cringeworthy title: silly, bad-acted and poorly done where it should count the most: the thrills and gore. A little group of teens lock themselves in in a big furniture-store to spend a night of partying and making-out, but are surprised by a mysterious and relentless killer. After the first kills we see them scared out-off their wits (especially the girls are forever hysterically screaming, so maybe the title is not that bad!), running around the ware-house from floor to floor to try to escape (to no avail of course) or to bravely chase the killer. Unfortunately the director thought it necessary to let 95 % of the scenes take place in the dark, maybe to add some authenticity, but it's rather tiresome to constantly have to look at shadows and partly lit people. It's also not very helpful with the enjoyment of the killings and the gore, which are not very convincing to begin with (with the exception of one scene with the elevator, I grant them that!).

The acting is what you can expect of a B-film with a bunch of teens, amateurish but well-meant, at least they do their best. The villain on the other hand, when finally exposed, acts way over the top, and the script gives him by the way an unusual and curious motivation for his killing-spree. The very last shot is intended to give us the shivers, but I was in stitches, I just couldn't believe that they really came up with such a preposterous inconsistency. Well, laughing is not a bad thing, so 4 points for that!