My review

Hello FredBurroughs - my sincere apologies. I stumbled across this site by accident several weeks ago and being a movie person have been enjoying reading and commenting, unaware how my responses are coming across on the other end. In this particular case I was referring to someone who is reviewing movies and sending over only a "link" if anyone is interested in reading it.... my comment was that I agreed with you, they should type out the review for everyone to read instead.
Sure, I'd love to send over my thoughts on "The Hidden" being one of my very favorite movies of all time! These comments/questions are already on the board in various places but have not received any comments yet so I will list them on Post Two that follows:
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to FredBurroughs - post 2 of 3
Would love to hear your viewpoints positive or negative:
ARE THE TWO ALIENS ARE FROM DIFFERENT PLANETS OR THE SAME ONE?
I get the impression that the aliens are from two different planets because Alhauge says "you left a partner for dead on Altair" and the bad alien says "how do you like being Altairian?". Not necessarily but seems so.

THE BAD ALIEN HAS NO GOAL AND SHOWS NO DESIRE OR ABILITY TO BLEND IN WITH HUMANS? WHY IS THE BAD ALIEN SEXUALLY ATTRACTED TO THE FEMALE BODY?
Interesting food for thought and I love this movie regardless. The evil alien's only goal was to climb the ladder and then take over earth (as so many aliens want this lol) and was its way of "blending in". And it makes sense to me that there could be a different interpretation to the evil alien discovering an attraction to the female shape (Miller touching the statue and when inhabiting Brenda's body). Since we no nothing about this alien race, perhaps they do not have male/female as we know it and so instead of sexually, it was only experiencing the difference which certainly could be turned around and work for the audience. And why not as we've seen more than once the inhabited bodies looking at themselves in mirrors touching their own skin.
WHY A YELLOW GLOW FOR THE GOOD ALIEN?
Yes it does seem stereotype to see an angelic light symbolizing the good alien and a slug-like hideous creature as the bad one but I didn't mind it as it's kinda the way typical plots go - the good guy wears white and the bad guy wears black. But I must agree it would have really been a nice surprise to discover that Alhauge was also a similar type of hideous creature when he was transferring into Beck's dying body in the end.
continued on next post #3

to FredBurroughs post 3 of 4
continued...
ALIEN TELEPATHY? my question
From two different comments, I question how Alhauge finds the bad alien each time if he does not witness the transfer? One answer is possibly due to posing each time as a member of a police team thus getting help tracking it down. But missing Brenda's transfer, Alhauge says "I don't know where to start looking" and then later while sitting with Beck in the precinct he says "It knows I'm here so it will find me" which sounds like their species, or at least the bad alien's species has a type of telepathy? I know the sound of his "FBI" toy is a giveaway but what else am I missing?
TRANSFERRING? my question
"The Hidden" 1987 is one of my very favorite movies and I think I've got a question I've never seen answered so I wanted your opinions: When we see the bad alien (no name) transfer for the first time from DeVries to Miller, Miller is unconscious and easily maneuvered to opening his mouth. But not seeing any of the other transfers where the victim is awake, I wonder how they are able to be kept still enough with their mouth open? The only answer I've come up with is that the victims become hypnotized to a degree? Not something that I need to be thinking about because I believe in and love the film for what it is... but I am curious. Thanks.

FAVORITE PARTS my question
For me too many to count!
An excellent answer to the viewers question "what happens if the Ray Gun hits a human?" The glowing yellow light around Beck was superb for its day summing up the question perfectly.
Certainly when Beck has finally accepted who Alhauge is and they walk up the jail cell hall together - Fabulous and Powerful! Beck & Gallagher mad the perfect team.
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to FredBurroughs post 4 of 4
continued ...
Outstanding beautiful work on the creature when the audience first witnesses it in the hospital, the way DeVries shook Miller's mouth into opening, the way it emerged from DeVries grabbing onto the sides of his face to sort of pull itself out, its slimy strange appearance, the way it slowly wiggled in order to fit into Miller's mouth and of course all that stuff that followed looked to me like intestines where it had been residing and was hooked on to. Also, the actor models here were fantastic especially Miller.

The movie has just the right amount of humor. Wonderful acting job by MacLachlan especially at dinner and of course "the asprin". The commentary was very complimentary of how Kyle changed his familiar acting entirely to fit the part. I really warmed up to him.

The very effective scene of the senator's secretary only begin able to view the transfer from the downward facing slats in the closet door. Looking at Willis's bloody coat, allowing our minds to imagine the transfer plus all of the horrific thoughts that must be running through the secretary's mind makes this scene even that much more menacing.
Commentary said the Ray Gun was originally made for a three-fingered alien which might give a clue of what the actual appearance of Alhauge might just be.

The connection between Alhauge and Beck's daughter was intriguing and I thought Katherine Cannon was the perfect choice for Beck's wife.

A personal favorite scene is when Beck & Gallagher burst into the room where Masterson is lying. Beck now realizes that his partner is dead.

And of course the licking of the lips to visually show where the bad alien when to next. The commentary on the DVD is wonderful and recommended to those who love this film.