"The Hidden" & Sci-Fi Shenanigans Starring John Hartl PNW Spotlight Award Winner Kyle MacLachlan

In honor of the Seattle Film Critics Society presenting Kyle MacLachlan (Dune, Twin Peaks, The Flintstones) with the 2024 John Hartl Pacific Northwest Spotlight award, I’m revisiting a criminally underseen buddy cop/sci-fi actioner starring the Yakima native—1987’s The Hidden. The film is scheduled to be screened at SIFF Cinema Downtown on October 30th, followed by a moderated Q&A with MacLachlan. 

Image courtesy of SIFF

What if a body snatching alien invaded Earth, went on a GTA-like spree, and tried to run for president? If such a premise tickles your fancy, I’ve got the movie for you. MacLachlan headlines as Lloyd Gallagher, a mysterious FBI agent (from Seattle, or at least he claims) on the hunt for a pleasure-seeking space slug able to hop from host to host (dogs, strippers, stockbrokers) while terrorizing the city of Los Angeles. Veteran LAPD sergeant Tom Beck (Michael Nouri) reluctantly joins forces with the “special” agent while being left in the dark about the unworldly origin of the perp. 

The Hidden plays like a combination of The Terminator, The Thing, and The X-Files (not bad company, huh?). It’s paced like a bullet train, packed with enough Ferrari chases and squib-heavy shootouts for a movie double its runtime. (For those of you who desperately need plots to be bogged down by exposition, I’d suggest staying home and reading a book instead.) There’s also some pretty fun Reaganomic satire. As the alien  goes on its body-piling rampage, all it desires is loud music, fast cars, and big guns—the ideal American consumer. 

The two leads play off each other particularly well, gradually building a mutual respect based on a shared dedication to their respective duties—not to mention some perfectly-timed dry humor. And a special shout-out to the man of the hour, the perfectly cast Kyle MacLachlan—always a peculiar screen presence, with a whole milk face that screams boy-next-door, but look a little longer and you see danger behind the eyes.