The Hidden is a 2015 horror/thriller movie by the Duffer Brothers (creators of Stranger Things). A couple, Ray (Alexander Skarsgård) and Clair (Andrea Riseborough), together with their daughter Zoe, have been hiding for months inside an old fallout shelter under a primary school. They cannot return to the surface for fear of encountering malevolent creators dubbed by Zoe as "Breathers."
For the 1987 alien Body Surf thriller, see The Hidden.
This film provides examples of:
- Armies Are Evil: The military carpet-bombs the quarantine zone in hopes of stopping the outbreak. They do at least test Zoe and Claire before trying to kill them.
- Bittersweet Ending: Ray died, shot down by the military, but Claire and Zoe survived and presumably found safety, being accepted by town inhabitants hiding inside an underground city.
- Bookends: The first and last scene both begin with Zoe awakening in darkness and Claire lighting a lighter to have a similar conversation.
- Bottle Episode: Most of the film takes place in the two rooms of the bomb shelter.
- Chekhov's Gunman: Zoe's friend Joey Neary, who she plays Marco Polo with, is initially just there (along with his family) during the flashbacks to alert the main characters to the airborne pathogen and need to evacuate. Then, in the final scene, he finds Zoe and her mother in the tunnels, calling out "Marco," so they won't think he's a Breather and takes them to a refuge.
- Extremely Short Timespan: The film takes place over 24 hours, with a few brief flashbacks.
- Flashback: Claire, Ray and Zoe each flash back to the day the whole thing started.
- Foreshadowing:
- Claire and Ray stress the importance of "not losing control" to Zoe. This is a clue about the third act.
- Ray certainly seemed to rip that pipe out of the ground pretty easily.
- Game Face: When an infected person "loses control," their skin becomes white and veiny, and their eyes turn black.
- Humans Are the Real Monsters: The Breathers turn out to be humans, and they're slaughtering the citizens of Kingsville indiscriminately.
- Minimalist Cast: There are only three characters for the vast majority of the film.
- Not Using the "Z" Word: No one ever uses the word "vampire," but our three heroes are nocturnal mutants who turn into pale, black-eyed monsters when provoked.
- Quarantine with Extreme Prejudice: After Ray and Claire try to leave the city among others, the military sets up a road blockade and sends jets that bomb escaping people and a town itself. Later on, when main characters encounter the soldiers, they aren't that trigger-happy, but are still about to shoot the heroes down.
- Papa Wolf: In spite of being wounded, Ray shows up in the end to rescue his wife and daughter by ripping a few soldiers to pieces before being gunned down with fully automatic rifle fire.
- The Reveal: Breathers are soldiers who patrol the quarantined area, killing infected survivors. Ray, Claire and Zoe were infected all along and, when annoyed, turn into blood-thirsty mutants.
- Riddle for the Ages: How the outbreak started.
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Spiritual Successor: The film is essentially a Perspective Flip I Am Legend. - Superpowered Evil Side: Those who are infected will transform in appearance, gaining Super-Strength, when they launch into an Unstoppable Rage.
- Super-Strength: It seems like the Breathers have super strength given how one manages to rip all the chains off of the hatch and open it in spite of Claire hanging her full weight from it, but they're just regular humans. It's our three main characters who get super strength when they "lose control."
- Tainted Veins: The virus does this to you when you lose control.
- Tomato Surprise: All three of the main characters were infected all along the story. They knew about it from the start.
- Unstoppable Rage: Infected people freak out when angry and may even turn on their own loved ones.
