(There are Spoilers) After her moms suicide little Emily Callaway, Dakota Fanning, became so seriously withdrawn into a fantasy world. It was then agreed by her psychologist father David, Robert De Niro,and his former student and children's trauma expert Katherine, Fmake Janssen, that it would be best to get her away from New York City and move to the country for little Emily to recover from the shock that she's suffering from.<br /><br />Right from the start things don't turn out the way David expected for Emily with her becoming more and more withdrawn from reality and into a fantasy world. It's in that world where Emily has this friend that she's involved with in playing games, like hide and seek, name Charlie.<br /><br />Charlie at first seems harmless enough but as things start to happen at the country house that border on insanity and later even cross over to murder the "fictictonal" Charlie is someone that's not at all to be ignored. Emily is soon in danger of being committed to a mental institution for the rest of her life because, or her fantasies, of him.<br /><br />We at first have no idea just who Charlie is and like David and later Katherine we assume that he's only a make believe friend that Emily conjured up. When the family cat and later one of the neighbors Elizabeth, Elisabeth Shue, end up dead and in the bathtub, the same place that David's dead wife was found, it becomes evident that this Charlie is a crazed lunatic on the loose in and around the Woodland Estates where David and Emily are straying at.<br /><br />Were given clues all throughout the movie of Charlie's identity and who's behind his murderous actions with a special focus of the clock, by David's bed, striking 2:06:AM and glimpses of some kind of party that David and his late wife Alison, Amy Irving, attended just before she was found dead from silting her wrists. Were also given to understand that David's next door, and somewhat unstable, neighbors have something to do with the weird and deadly goings on at David and Emily's country home. I's not until the last ten minutes or so in the movie "Hide and Seek" that were exposed to who really Charlie is and why he's doing the terrible things that he does and also why Emily is so terrified of him.<br /><br />Not bad horror mystery thriller that's a lot better then you would have expected it to be with the many negative reviews that the movie "Hide and Seek" got in he press and on TV. <br /><br />Rober De Niro gives a very controlled but effective performance as David Callaway the befuddled father who can't grasp what his young daughter is going through and feels at first that she's the one somehow responsible for the carnage that's been going on in and around the house. Young Dakota Fanning is perfect as Emily who's suffering more from the truth then some fantasy that her father David and his colleague Katherine think that she's having.<br /><br />The next door neighbor Laura and Steven, Melissa Leo & Robert John Bork, are a bit odd who's actions can be explained that their young daughter recently died of cancer and look upon Emily as a replacement for her. But later the two , especially Steven, come across as more then just grieving parents but very unstable and dangerous individuals.<br /><br />The ending though a bit labored does put all the pieces of the puzzle together in just who Charlie is and what's the reason for his actions. With Charlie revealing himself to everyone in the movie but little Emily as the sick depraved and homicidal person that he really is. With Katheine, who Charlie earlier slammed down a flight of stairs, coming to Emily's rescue in a spine-tingling and deadly confrontation with Charlie at a deserted cave. Where he first met and got friendly and involved with the unsuspecting Emily and much later the rest of the unfortunate people that he came in contact with in the film "Hide and Seek".