Are you a fan of the show “Hide and Seek”? Or are you obsessed with pyschological shows? If you are, then you would probably love this show, just like me!
Synopsis:
The tragic loss of their unborn child has devastated Kate and John, taking a toll on both their marriage and Kate’s fragile psyche as she is plagued by nightmares and haunted by demons from her past. Struggling to regain some semblance of normalcy in their lives, the couple decides to adopt a child. At the local orphanage, both John and Kate find themselves strangely drawn to a young girl named Esther. Almost as soon as they welcome Esther into their home, however, an alarming series of events begins to unfold, leading Kate to believe that there’s something wrong with Esther–this seemingly angelic little girl is not what she appears to be. Concerned for the safety of her family, Kate tries to get John and others to see past Esther’s sweet facade. But her warnings go unheeded until it may be too late-for everyone.
Credits: The Internet Movie Database
For those who have watched the trailer like me, would have expected a twist in the story at the end as this was the best part of pyschology movies. During the movie, I was trying my best to guess what’s wrong with Esther but I couldn’t really get it right until the last part.
I think the introduction was really good. At first, the scene looked normal. It was just the main lead, Kate who was giving birth to her third child. The confusing part came when the doctors start to sigh and say that they were really sorry for her loss mixed with Kate’s exclaimation that the baby was not dead and is still moving in her womb. The scary part came when the tension started to rise and came to the climax when the baby was shown. It was dead.
Then came a hysterical scream and it was just a dream. She then went to the bathroom to get her medication. Like most horror flicks, the mirror pose as an important tool to scare the viewers. In this show, it was exceptionally scary with the creaking sound of the mirror drawer. I have no idea if it was intentional or not but the sound made me even more freaked out. The surprising part was that it wasn’t until the third time she pushed open the drawer where something really appeared. But it was just her husband. I think this part is where it started to tell me, this show IS indeed different from other typical horror movies.
The story then started to unfold. Kate lost the baby due to her alcohol addiction which could be inferred from the scene where she was visiting her shrink. Her husband appeared to be caring and was consoling her telling her it wasn’t her fault. But she couldn’t not blame herself which resulted in the endless nightmares. Both her husband and her then decided to adopt a child so that they could give the love meant for Jessica to someone who needs it.
During the stay at the orphanage where Kate and John was finding a child to adopt, the director made many successful attempts to scare us. He made use of the fact that we already were expecting something as the meeting of Kate and John with Esther drew closer. Then the second part which continues to support my view that this show is indeed special was when the meeting with Esther was a completely normal one. In fact, it seemed as though Esther was a perfect normal kid who was able to communicate really well with others. She was a charming kid who could draw well and is optimistic about everything. Her optimism further increased her appeal towards Kate who desperately needed someone to fill up her loss of Jessica.
They then successful adopted Esther. Esther continued to portray as a fantastic child with fast learning abilities where she picked up sign language and piano really fast. Also, she managed to get along well with Max. The strange incidents started to happen when Esther wore this dress to school. Kate asked she didn’t wear the jeans and shirt she prepared for her and Esther retorted with what Kate had said before to her “It was okay to be different from the rest”. Kate gave in and drove them to school.
At school, she was discriminated from the rest especially one of her classmates. Then came the scene when John brings the children to the playground to play. Esther had her eye on this classmate who kept bullying her during class. The director then again adapted the technique which was used earlier both with the drawers and at the orphanage. The last blow came when Esther was seen pushing the girl off the slide where she broke her ankle. Max saw it but denied it at the dining table. The suspicion from Kate started to rise even higher while John just shrug it off saying that it was an accident.
The suspicion grew even worse when Esther experessed her knowledge about sex when she was supposedly to be only nine, after she’ve accidentally seen John and Kate doing it. After that, the John and Kate had a discussion about Esther. Kate tried many attempts to convince John that there was something wrong with Esther but it was a failure. The director then portrayed the overthrown of that belief by ending that scene with John and Kate both using expletives in a comedic way.
However, Kate didn’t really gave up. In the supermarket, Sister Abigail called her and was reminding her about the health reports for Esther. Kate walked away to have the call in private. Esther then used Max to help her eavesdrop on the conversation. When Esther realized that the truth about her might be exposed, she deceived Max into helping her to murder Sister Abigail. The cruelty of Esther is then shown when she used a hammer to crack the Sister’s skull. They then hid the evidence in the Daniel’s treehouse. Daniel accidentally came across that and thought that he was safe.
Following that night, Esther appeared beside his bed and threatened him to not breathe a word about it. The story then started to get even heavier when more strange happenings involve Esther. Kate tried her best to convince John about it but John was still in disbelief. The relationship between Kate and John came to its worst when Esther cut the white roses in their garden. Kate was extremely grieved and grabbed Esther’s hand. To make it worse, that night, Esther broke her arm using John’s vise and convinced John that it was Kate’s doing. That night, Esther slept in the room with John while Kate was forced to sleep downstairs. Unable to cope, Kate went to buy alcohol. However, she didn’t drink a single sip as she remembered the unfortunate event of Jessica.
Kate finally decided to work on her own and find out more of Esther’s past. She came across Esther’s bible again and realizes there were many photos of unknown guys. At that time, John was continuing to persuade Kate to go to a rehab centre as he feels that Kate is reverting back to her addiction which wasn’t true. John then took out the bottle that Kate had bought the day before and expected, the bottle was “found” by Esther.
Esther finally managed to drive Kate out of the house when Daniel was almost being burnt alive by Esther. Daniel managed to survive although he was still in critical condition. Esther then tried to kill Daniel. Max then made up her mind to stop Esther but it was too late. When Kate realized that, she wanted to confront Esther but was sedated by the doctors.
That night, Esther had her make up on and tried to seduce John. However, she failed terribly. The story then develops even further when the mental institution called back Kate who was in the hospital. She was questioned if she had seen the scars that Esther had at her neck and wrist. The director cleverly joined that together with Esther being exasperated and pulling off the neck and wrist decorations she always wore. The scars were obviously present. John finally realized the truth when he saw Esther’s room in a mess. When Esther disrupted the house’s lightings, John came across all the drawings that Esther pasted on the wall.
Then all the pieces started to come together. Esther used luminous paint which could only be seen when the fish tank’s light is on. John then saw the paintings of Kate and him which was hidden behind all the drawings. The scene was combined with Kate’s conversation with the mental hopsital. It was then revealed that Esther was actually a 33 year old full grown lady who suffered from a sickness which causes her body to develop unusually.
Kate then drives the car back to the house at full speed. On the way, she tried to inform John about it but he did not pick up the phone. When she was back, she realised that it was too late and John was on the floor suffering from multiple stabs on his chest and a pool of blood. The hide and seek of Max, Esther and Kate begun. Esther who was at first hunting down Max decided to first kill off Kate.
The ending was filled with many fighting scenes of both of them struggling to kill each other. Kate showed her motherly love by all the attempts to stop Esther from hunting down Max. Esther was then knocked out by Kate when she fell through the roof of the garden house. Kate then carried Max away from the house and towards the ice lake. When they heard the police sirens, they finally let out a sigh of relief.
However, it does not end here as Esther came chasing with a knife. Kate and Esther fought with each other and fell into the cold lake. Max tried to kill Esther with a shotgun but failed. When Kate climbed out of the hole in the lake, we thought everything was over but Esther then grabbed Kate’s foot. She then tried to use the soft tatic to “beg” for her life and addressed Kate as mummy. However, Kate wasn’t deceived and foiled Esther’s plan by kicking her off and broke her neck. Esther then fell back into the cold pond.
Finally, Kate and Max was saved by the policemen.
I was quite disappointed with the ending as I anticipated something like Hide and Seek but it didn’t appear. For those who didn’t understand what I meant, I shall explain. In Hide and Seek’s final ending, the drawing appeared another girl who held the hands of that small girl who survived which means that that girl also suffers from personality disorder. In this show, that didn’t happen. So it was quite disappointing.
But overall, it was a great show that is definitely not to be missed !
