''The Hidden II'' (styled as The Hidden 2) is a 1993 American

direct-to-video Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, television series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strat ...

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definiti ...

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit physical or psychological fear in its viewers. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with Transgressive art, transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements of the genre include Mo ...

and the sequel to the 1987 film '' The Hidden''.

Plot

The alien criminal from the first movie is dead, but he left a few eggs which are hatching now. It is explained that on the alien's homeworld, evolution took two parallel paths: half of their race became violent criminals who live only for pleasure (the squid-like alien form briefly glimpsed in the first film), and the other half evolved beyond their base desires and even physical bodies, becoming creatures of pure energy. A good alien has been inhabiting Tom Beck's body (played now by Michael Welden). He has been waiting just in case this happened. Unfortunately, his presence in the body has taken a terrible toll on it, draining it of life energy. Additionally, relations with Beck's daughter Juliet (

Kate Hodge Kate Hodge is an American actress and film producer. Career Her first starring role was as Michelle, the heroine of the 1990 horror film '' Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III''. She then portrayed tormented college student Randi Wal ...

), now a cop herself, have deteriorated (possibly due to his bizarre behavior caused by the alien inhabiting his body). But when the killing starts again, both will need to work together—and with a new alien policeman (

Raphael Sbarge Raphael Sbarge (born February 12, 1964) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is perhaps best known for his roles as Jake Straka on ''The Guardian'' (2001–04), Jiminy Cricket / Dr. Archibald Hopper on ''Once Upon a Time'' (2011–18) and Inspe ...

), who comes to Earth to aid in the struggle—to stop the new generation of aliens.

Cast

as MacLachlan *

as Juliet Beck *Jovin Montanaro as Stanton *Christopher Murphy as Tony Thompson *Michael Welden as Tom Beck * Honey Lauren as Rave girl

Release

The film was released

direct to video Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, television series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strateg ...

in the United States by

New Line Home Video New Line Home Entertainment (formerly known as New Line Home Video) was the home entertainment distribution arm of the film production studio of the same name, founded in 1990. It was responsible for the distribution of all New Line Cinema the ...

in July 1994. However, in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, it was released in September 1993, 10 months ahead of its US release. In 2005,

New Line Home Entertainment New Line Home Entertainment (formerly known as New Line Home Video) was the home entertainment distribution arm of the film production studio of the same name, founded in 1990. It was responsible for the distribution of all New Line Cinema the ...

released the film on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

on a

double feature The double feature is a Film, motion picture industry phenomenon in which theaters would exhibit two films for the price of one, supplanting an earlier format in which the presentation of one feature film would be followed by various short subjec ...

release alongside the original '' The Hidden''.

Reception

Creature Feature found the twist of the alien slowly being consumed interesting, but otherwise the sequel was found inferior to the original, giving it two out of 5 stars. Moria gave the movie a half-star. While it found the pairing of Sbarge and Hodge to be a plus, especially as Sbarge attempts to understand human behavior, but found the rest of the movie to be an example of everything wrong with sequels. While ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...

'' enjoyed the first movie, it gave this one a D− finding it to be "crud." ''

The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction ''The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction'' (''SFE'') is an English language reference work on science fiction, first published in 1979. It has won the Hugo Award, Hugo, Locus Award, Locus and BSFA Award, British SF Awards. Two print editions appea ...

'' notes that the first 10 minutes of this movie are reprised from the first movie.

References

External links

* * 1993 films 1993 horror films 1993 direct-to-video films 1993 science fiction horror films 1993 science fiction action films 1993 action thriller films 1993 crime films American independent films American science fiction horror films American science fiction action films American action thriller films New Line Cinema direct-to-video films Direct-to-video sequel films Films about extraterrestrial life Films set in the future 1990s English-language films 1990s American films 1993 science fiction films English-language science fiction horror films English-language science fiction action films English-language crime films English-language action thriller films {{action-thriller-film-stub