Brenden Hubbard’s short horror film Hide exceptionally uses suspense and world-building to leave audiences terrified for the fates of a father and daughter. Perfectly utilising the themes of grief and routine, this is a must-watch.

Still reeling from a tragic loss, a father (Alejandro Rose-Garcia and daughter (Ionie Olivia Nieves) cling to a rigid bedtime routine, keeping them safe in a town where unfathomable horror visits its inhabitants night after night.

Horror and grief go hand in hand, especially so in modern horror films, so for a film to surprise you with its take on grief makes it a film that should be widely spoken about. In this case, one of those is Brenden Hubbard’s fantastic Hide.

When we lose someone close to us, one of the most important things to keep having is a routine. For our father-daughter duo, routine is embedded in their lives because monsters come like clockwork into their home every night. How do you stop the monsters from taking you away from another loved one? You stick to a strict routine. You make sure you never falter. It’s what keeps you going. It’s not overly subtle in that regard, but boy is it effective storytelling.

In Hide, there are a variety of great moments that link to this; we see the daughter ask incessant questions about what someone across the street did wrong to be taken away. The father clearly doesn’t want to discuss it; the pain is too real. So when the next night the partner of the person across the street is taken, the daughter and we see the importance of the routine. It’s as much about physical health to stay alive from a monster as it is for your own mental health.

Hide is one of those shorts that is perfect in its sixteen-minute form, but goodness, you could watch another version of this that was longer or even feature-length. Ideas and themes are woven throughout that just grab you. The concept of a creature, or something coming to your house every night that you must hide from in a very particular way. One that the government seemingly knows about, yet no one can stop, is terrifying. We learn little to nothing about what comes at night, only that they know how to open doors, and a black, gooey substance is emitted from them.

Why they take people is also kept from us; Brian Barnes’ script does excellent work giving us just enough information each night to form some idea of what is going on. Slowly and masterfully letting us into this nightmarish world. There is such strength in the writing to be able to hold the cards so close to the chest at all times in a film like this. We could easily have it all revealed in the last scenes, but where is the fun in that? By letting us wonder what the family are seeing on those nights and what is actually happening is the joy of Hide.

Our two leads are particularly strong here too. Both Alejandro Rose-Garcia and Ionie Olivia Nieves are wonderful here. You feel that connection between the two. It could be day 1000 of this nightly ritual for all we know. Yet that feeling we have toward the two of them is immediate. We want them to get through this. Rose-Garcia’s character is clearly struggling with the loss of his wife, but he has to keep going for his daughter. You understand that, which makes the film’s events even more potent.

Hide is a film with zero weaknesses; it’s a film you automatically feel invested in. Characters who, despite only being with them for sixteen minutes, you relate to and feel something for. An absolute home run of a horror short and one that you should search for.

★★★★★

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