Films portraying cops collaborating with their polar opposites to solve crimes have always been popular. The Hidden was not the biggest hit of the year, despite being released the same year as Lethal Weapon. It did, however, feature a bizarre plot involving vehicle chases, gunfights, and an alien infection.
Michael Nouri reportedly turned down the role of Detective Martin Riggs in Lethal Weapon in order to star in The Hidden, a science fiction action picture about an alien who takes control of ordinary people and uses them to do rash and audacious acts.
The Jack Sholder film investigates how an alien’s vision of human life is influenced by where they arrive. The film is a light-hearted parody of the decade’s unbridled extravagance. We have an extraterrestrial antagonist that is enamored with Ferraris, heavy metal music, and everything LA has to offer, and who is making the most of it by causing havoc.
The Hidden (1987)
A man in a trench coat robs a bank, shoots the security, and drives away in a black Ferrari blaring heavy metal music. The police vehicles chase after him as he continues to drive away without any regard for human life or public property. He outruns the cops by shoving aside their cars and hitting the people on his way.
Meanwhile, Beck questions people about the suspect Jack DeVries and learns he has no criminal past and has lived a quiet life before he suddenly robbed a bank, killed all the security guards, and stole a bunch of Ferraris. The high-speed pursuit ends with the police cornering DeVries into a blockade, shooting multiple bullets into him and blowing up the stolen car.
The bullets of neither the policemen nor the security guard from the banks had seemed to have any effects on the culprit. He was standing tall and smiling before the car was blown up into bits. DeVries ends up in the hospital, tied up in tubes and stitches, barely alive. The doctor believed it was a miracle he had managed to survive but was doubtful whether he would make it through the night.
Given the number of crimes he has committed just in a span of two weeks, Detective Beck thought DeVries deserves to die a painful death. Detective Beck was the best cop in LAPD, Lieutenant Masterson vouches for the fact that without Beck, his department would crumble and criminals would run rampant.
He refused to spare Beck even when the Senator’s office specifically requested him to safeguard the senator after he received several death threats. FBI Special Agent Lloyd Gallagher informs the Lieutenant that he has been sent to investigate a suspect and Detective Thomas Beck has been assigned as his partner to help him with the investigation.
The criminal Gallagher had been sent down to arrest was DeVries, and he rushes to the hospital with urgency on learning about his condition. DeVries wakes up and notices another patient lying beside him. He detaches the IV drip and other needles from his veins and crawls out of his bed.
He goes over to the bed of the other patients and the legs of a tarantula attached to a giant slug-like creature with a head similar to that of a snail and tails that resemble worms crawled out of DeVries’s mouth and entered the body of the other patient. The other patient woke up while the doctor was trying to revive his pulse. Despite being in a critical condition, he just woke up and walked out of the hospital. It was too late by the time Gallagher arrived at the scene as DeVries had collapsed and the alien parasite had transferred itself to another host.
Jonathan P. Miller was scheduled for a triple bypass as his heart had completely deteriorated and he had other ailments. Up until now, he was a law-abiding citizen with a couple of parking tickets, but after becoming the host for an alien parasite, he started committing impulsive crimes.
If he wanted something, he would simply go and get it. As the alien had an affinity for heavy metal music, he started off by shoplifting at a cassette store. When the employee at the shop tried to stop him, Jonathan beat him to a pulp. When he wasn’t satisfied with the mindless violence, he went ahead and stole cash and a revolver from the register and walked out of the store with a boombox.
Detective Beck refuses to help Gallagher chase after Jonathan Miller as the only crime in his records are a couple of parking violations. Beck gets called to investigate the store Miller had just robbed and gets annoyed on noticing Gallagher at the scene. He confronts the Agent and advises him to return to Seattle.
But Beck changed his mind after seeing that the sketch of the culprit matches with the photograph of Jonathan Miller. Beck asked Gallagher about how he knew about Miller as there was no previous crime committed by him in the police record, Gallagher simply replied with a vague answer saying it exists on Gallagher’s reports and he gives a concealed description of the criminal they are after. Detective Beck, along with Special Agent Gallagher, must untangle the mystery of why innocent citizens are suddenly turning into violent criminals.
If you are searching for a b-grade science fiction thriller with a chaotic plot to watch, look no further for you have The Hidden. From bank robberies to car chases, strip clubs to shootouts at mannequin shops, cop bromance to aliens, The Hidden has them all. Before he played a similar role as Dale Cooper in Twin Peaks, Kyle MacLachlan appeared as the righteous alien from Rasalhague pretending to be an FBI Agent in order to catch the alien who killed his family and partner.
His back story adds some depth to his character and explains his awkwardness when it comes to normal human interaction, inability to hold a fork properly, and not knowing the correct way to consume the medicine for indigestion.
His alien origin is hinted at in the scene where he touches his face while looking at the mirror, similar to how Miller had acted after seeing his reflection. The aliens in the movie somehow failed in imitating human life effortlessly and that’s how they were caught. The criminal alien didn’t seem to have a particular aim and just went after what he wanted. Be it stealing a Ferrari from an arms dealer or suddenly deciding to take over the planet by possessing the senator about to run for President. He acts on whims instead of acting according to a plan.
In the original ending scripted for the film, the alien does get away undetected after possessing the Senator, and that ending would have been more ominous but who doesn’t like to see an alien being taken down by a flamethrower?
The movie will certainly exceed your expectations if you are expecting a typical 80s b grade science fiction action piece. The car chase sequence at the beginning of the film is one of the most convincing high-speed pursuits shown in films. The Hidden, as the title suggests is a hidden gem when it comes to undiscovered science fiction b grade films.
Alien Parasite from The Hidden Explored
The alien creature with Altarian origin is a worm-like creature with multiple appendages and looks like a slimy giant slug. It resides within humans like a parasite and takes on the identity of whoever it’s possessing. The alien does try to imitate the speech and body language of human beings but acts like a stubborn baby when denied what he wants, instead of throwing a tantrum, he just kills whoever dares to stop him.
He likes blasting loud music everywhere, be it the Ferrari he has stolen or playing it out of a boombox in the middle of a diner. He has stolen a lot of cars, mostly Ferraris. He probably had a similar lifestyle on his planet where he caused trouble by killing others and stealing whatever he wanted, causing an Altarian Alien Cop to hunt him down.
He wasn’t picky about who he was possessing. He just leached into the next convenient victim possible and utilized their bodies until he was done with them.
Considering his inability to heal his host’s body, he should have chosen a lifestyle where he was not constantly getting shot by the police and could use the vessel for longer, but he likes to live with danger.
Whoever has stood in his way to stop him from stealing from the bank, music shop, or car dealership has ended up getting shot or being beaten to a pulp. While it speaks it just simply states what he wants or gives orders to whoever is around. He probably thinks of Earthlings as inferior beings, or he is the spoiled child of a rich and powerful Altarian who has always gotten away with bad behavior but the only reason a cop is after him is that he killed his partner and family.
He had no other motive than creating complete chaos but while conversing with Alhague he got the idea of taking over the planet and made his way to possess a senator and announced his desire to be President. He probably could have enjoyed his stay on this planet a little longer had he not lived an extravagant life fueled by danger.
He seemed to have lived on Earth for around eight years and the body count of his victims is quite high. Under the guise of DeVries alone, he killed 12 men and injured at least 23. Predictably, it not only stole 6 Ferraris but also robbed a candy store, six shops, and eight banks.
It is no wonder why Detective Beck was happy to know he was going to die a painful death. Throughout the film, he went on to possess Jonathan Miller, a critical patient, a stripper named Brenda, the most bizarre possession was that of Masterson’s dog, and Masterson himself before finally jumping into the body of Senator Willis.
He had almost gotten eliminated by Alhague after taking over the body of Brenda. He had told Alhague it wasn’t over and jumped off the building. After it left Brenda’s body, there was no way for Alhague to figure out who the next victim was, and to make matters worse, Detective Beck had detained him. Upon arriving on earth eight years back to catch the Alterian criminal, Alhague had taken over the body of Robert Stone. He ended up dead at some point and Alhague went on to possess the deceased FBI agent Lloyd Gallagher.
It gave him access to the FBI’s records and the resources he needed to go after the criminal Altarian. When Gallagher ended up at L.A, Detective Beck caught up with him after observing him closely. Alhague was in possession of a weapon shaped like an oval gun, the only weapon capable of taking down the criminal Alterian. The only time he could use that weapon was when the alien was in the middle of transition as the weapon was ineffective on human flesh.
Beck was fatally injured by the Altarian criminal before Alhague took him down with a flame thrower and hit him with the weapon, after exposing his true form to the people. In the end, Alhague is shown to sacrifice his vessel to take over a dying Beck. Some might consider it a righteous move but Alhague had more to gain than lose by doing so. He got a second chance at being part of a family.
In the sequel, they do say that he stayed behind on Earth in case the evil aliens once again try to take over the planet. Since Alhague’s imitation of human life wasn’t spot on, the change in Beck’s personality is bound to cause rifts in his relationships with others. Alhague was intended to stand for the opposite of what the criminal alien represented but they did share similar traits. Both of them would go on to possess unsuspecting humans and parade around with their identity.
The criminal alien wasn’t the only one with an affinity towards expensive sports cars, Alhague himself was seen riding around in a stolen Porsche. Apart from these, Alhague was different from the Altarian criminal not only in personality but appearance as well. His true form was a floating plasma of yellow light. Unlike the slug-like creature, he was a being of pure light.
Instead of possessing a random passerby, Alhague chooses not to possess the living and only the deceased or almost dead people. Both of the aliens have the ability to take over total control of the brain and nervous system. Alhague is resilient and superhumanly endurable once in possession of a body. He is almost bulletproof. Whereas the criminal Altarian damages the body of the host he is possessing, Alhague is powerful enough to resurrect a corpse if he decides to possess it. Taking control of the brain gives him full access to the memories of his host. He is a smart and intuitive intergalactic police officer with superior combat skills.
The only traits he needs to master in order to be perfect are the skills to have normal human interaction and the ability to properly hold a fork. If he manages to live as Beck without giving away his identity, it might motivate his alien race to secretly take over human beings and colonize our planet.
Future Prediction
The hidden had a sequel which was released directly to video back in 1993. During the years 2005-2006, Hollywood witnessed the rise of popularity amongst the movies that didn’t take themselves too seriously. People were inclining more towards low-budget films with stories so terrible that they were good. The audience was rooting for the remakes of memorable movies and cult classics.
Around that time, the remake of The Hidden was in talks and the new version was being written by Rock Shank Jr and Mark Jonathan Stanley. The remake version was renamed to the Seed but it didn’t seem to have budged from the pre-production stage.
A lot of fans have been expecting a remake of the original or a televised reboot of the same for a long time. It would be interesting to learn more about the planet the aliens have come from and their social dynamics. The original stood out for its high body count and continues to be recognized for the same. The Hidden deserves to be rebooted as a series where we learn more about these mind-controlling alien slugs and where they come from.