everything you have heard about this movie is true.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

With a bit More Atmosphere and some Stylizing this could have become a Cult Movie just like "The Stepfather" (1987). It has a Similar, if Not so Powerful, feel. But it does have a Powerful and Memorable Performance from Gary Busey. He Manages to pull off the Dual Personality with an Uncomfortable Ease.This is a Believable Unbelievable Story that draws You in and Delivers a Good Set-Up, some Disturbing Scenes, and an overall Feeling of Lurking Menace that Hides behind this Suburban Sanctuary. Good Acting all around, but it revolves around Tom Sykes, Suffering from a Horrendously Abusive Childhood, and will Never be completely "Cured" and because the Audience is Aware of this from the beginning it unfolds as an Empathetic, Fearful Film.These two Emotions Uneasily Mix as We Wish what will Never Happen. This Movie is a Sleeper and will most Likely be a more Rewarding Experience than anticipated. Something a bit Deeper and a bit Different than the usual Psycho Stuff.

What's that creaking coming from the roof? Might just be rats or mice… Might be? "Hider in the House" is all Busey, although Mimi Rogers (who's looking great) is affably strong and classy as lady at the centre of his growing affection. It's the lead performances that go a long way to lifting this old-hat concept out of the average mould, as the direction while competently polished remains routine in its story progression, tension building and visual aspect. Gary Busey playing slightly disturbed… well at least you know you won't be let down. But I might be understating it by stating slightly --- it's unpredictably intense and gleeful, as his psychological torment is perfectly etched out. Bruce Glover also amusingly shows up as a pervert neighbour.Julie and Phi Dryer along with their two young kids have moved into a new house, but unknowingly to them an ex-patient of a mental asylum Tom Sykes has made himself at home in their attic by constructing a secret room. He spies on them, as he sees them as the ideal suburban family he was never apart of it --- due to a terrible past which was the reason for being an intuition. However his obsession for Julie soon sees him wanting to be the husband of the household, as he goes about trying to make this happen while discarding of any threats which could expose him.Busey's character builds somewhat a nest, where he feels secure and protected, where he simply watches (peering into windows while wandering around the house at night) and listens (through a voice com) but when he catches details on how this family isn't all that perfect he gets involved by orchestrating actions which could see him move right in. The initial build-up is where it's at its strongest; at it's compact, gripping and at times atmospheric --- but this seems to fall by the wayside during the second half when he makes himself known to the family. Now it loses its unsettling edge and becomes predictable and silly.

I LOVED this movie because it reminds me of the plot of "Bad Ronald" and it is a good movie to watch while it is raining and if you have ever been in a secret passage in a house. It is a PLAUSIBLE story as Busey is CLEVER in the things he does to delay and prevent his discovery. If is funny in parts because you see the human side and kindness of a man. And you also see the rage welling up inside and his decline & development to more violent acts. The progression of his childhood at the beginning and his falling through the cracks with the psycho-analysis,makes it particularly interesting from a criminal psychiatry standpoint. The drama is intense, especially when an exterminator sprays his area and nearly kills him! the pace is perfect, as his feelings for the wife develop and he eavesdrops enough to cause trouble for the couple he is observing. Great innocence & love for family shown by Mimi Rogers. Great affectionate but desperation acted by Busey.

Besides being pretty dull, I don't see how any of this could have happened. No way could this lunkhead hole up in the attic without being found out on day one. Why didn't someone notice the wall with a door in it? Three windows were showing from the outside and only 2 inside. Doesn't that give somebody a clue? The wall was such an obvious add-on that a ten year old could have spotted it. What a dumb film.