While Dread may have been the frontrunner as the best offering in this year's After Dark Horrorfest collection (thanks in no small part to have Clive Barker's name attached to it, no doubt), the most surprisingly solid offering award should actually go to The Hidden. This Norwegian import, written and directed by Pal Oie, may not be loaded to the gills with monsters and gore but it's got atmosphere to spare, great acting, and an intelligent and engrossing storyline.

The film revolves around a man named Kai Koss (Krisoffter Joner) who returns to the small town he grew up in when his mother passes away and he inherits her home. After stopping at the morgue to see for himself that she is, in fact, very dead he heads to the house for the first time in years. As he begins to explore the house he's startled by some vivid hallucinations brought about by memories he'd long since tried to repress. This is, after all, the house where he was abused by his mother and kept locked in the basement for most of his childhood.

Kai's return is seen as a good thing by Sara (Cecilie A. Mosli), a pretty blonde cop who remembers Kai from their youth, but not everyone in the town shares her enthusiasm for his return. A few of Sara's fellow police officers, primarily a hot head named Roy (Marco Kanic) think that he may have something to do with a couple of strange events going on in the area. Sara wants to help Kai figure out his past and his connection to a child named Peter who may have been kidnapped by his mother years before, but Kai's really only interested in burning the house to the ground and getting back to his life. As Kai settles in to room 212 at a local hotel run by a strange woman named Miriam (Karin Park), however, circumstances will arise and strange things will occur which will force Kai to deal with his past.

Pay close attention to this film and you'll find yourself well rewarded with a rich and multi-layered plot, a well fleshed out central character, and some really interesting themes and ideas. Plenty of films deal with a character 'returning home' again after some time to deal with whatever sort of tragedy you'd care to name but few do it with the same amount of style and suspense that this odd little Norwegian film has in spades. Refusing to subscribe to the ideology that everyone in a small town must be quirky and weird (blame that one everyone wanting to rip off Twin Peaks), this movie instead provides us with people we can believe in. Realistic characters certainly go a long way towards helping a film build legitimate suspense and Pal Oie's film knows this and makes the most of it.

More than just a character driven piece, however, the picture also delivers plenty of solid scares. A few are provided by some fairly typical jump scares, you'll notice this in the first twenty minutes or so, but once we get past the point where Kai's character needs to see his dead mother every time he turns around we start delving deeper into his past and how it relates to the killings in the area and the history of the house he has inherited. It's here that the film stretches its wings and becomes more than just a 'things jump out and make loud noises' film as Kai's story becomes more and more unusual.

Of course, all of this is anchored by some very strong acting. The supporting performances from Mosli, as the cute girl next door, and Park, as the mysteriously attractive hotel clerk, are both noteworthy but it's Joner in the lead who anchors the picture. His character is understandably a bit shock up by the recent turn of events he is forced to deal with but never to the point of tedium and we're able to sympathize with him enough that it works. Since the film has so little dialogue compared to most pictures, it's a testament to the cast that they're able to communicate as well as they do here. This isn't a film that's full of effects or gore set pieces (though there are a couple of each, they're minor) but those with the attention span to appreciate it who are looking for something a little off the beaten path will find much to appreciate here.

Video:

The Hidden arrives on DVD in a strong 2.35.1 anamorphic widescreen transfer. The movie isn't the most colorful of productions and it makes use of a fairly bland and dark color scheme - lots of grays and browns and dark greens - but in the context of the story it works well. There aren't any obvious compression artifacts nor is there any edge enhancement to complain about. A bit of mild aliasing shows up if you want to look for it but that issue aside, things look pretty good. Detail is strong and the source material used for the disc was obviously in great shape as there are no problems with print damage, dirt or debris at all.