Hider in the House (1989) on Netflix
The Dreyer family moves into a new home unaware that Tom Sykes, a recently released psychiatric patient, is hiding in the attic. He watches them, and his attention settles on Julie.
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- Netflix3.0/5
- IMDb6.0/102,392 votes
- Rotten TomatoesNot available
Trailer
Plot summary
Tom Sykes, a psychiatric patient recently released, settles into the attic of the home the Dreyer family is about to occupy. Julie and Phil Dreyer move in below with their son Neil, their daughter Holly and the family dog, Rudolph, with no idea that he is living above them. From the attic Tom keeps out of sight and uses electronic surveillance to spy on the household, and he becomes obsessed with the family. His fixation settles on Julie, the mother, and he intrudes into her life and works to sabotage her marriage to Phil. He also manipulates Neil, teaching the boy fighting techniques.
Cast
- Kurt Christopher Kinderas Neil Dreyer
- Chuck Lafontas Dr. Gordon
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Hider in the House (1989)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
SPOILER
Although the studio was supportive of the film director Matthew Patrick wanted to make, it decided on a more commercially safe Fatal Attraction-style ending in which Tom Sykes becomes evil beyond redemption, tries to murder the family and is shot dead, the ending that was filmed.- In the original ending, Tom Sykes tried to burn down the house with the family inside, recreating what he did to his abusive family as a child, but when he sees their terrified faces he realizes he has become as evil as his parents and pushes them out the window to safety.
- At the Academy Awards a couple of years later, executive producer Steven Reuther told Matthew Patrick he had been right, that the ending the studio rejected "would have made a better ending".
- A psychologist was hired as an adviser so Tom Sykes's psychology would be as realistic as possible; after meeting the psychologist, Gary Busey was excited and called it a "NAR film," explaining that NAR meant "No acting required": "I am the character!"
- Hider in the House was the directorial debut of Matthew Patrick, who also reworked the film's script; Tom Sykes was originally more sympathetic, having grown up in an abusive household and acting out of a desperate craving for a family of his own.
- The film won a Saturn Award for best home video release, a win director Matthew Patrick only discovered many years later, after he was on the Director's Guild.
