Writer/director Abraham Lopez’s Hidden Lives is a good reminder that it’s not exactly a great idea to move in with a total stranger. In the case of his film, the stranger turns out to be a deadly psychopath who tries to control an aspiring musician in desperate need of a roommate. While the feature does have pacing issues and some bloat, it’s largely carried by the performances of its leading ladies.
The movie stars Natalie Moore as Hannah and Deborah Shirley as Samantha. Hannah is a reserved musician who lacks confidence, despite her talent. Moore is a singer and actress, and I wish the film had more than one scene where she performs. Meanwhile, Hannah’s mother doesn’t want her in the house because she reminds her too much of her deceased husband, a detective whose story is thin at best. After performing at a cafe, Hannah meets the diabolical Samantha, who suckers her into becoming roommates. Samantha lives in a wealthy part of town and promises Hannah she doesn’t even have to worry about paying rent immediately. It sounds too good to be true because it is.
Samantha increasingly tries to control Hannah and threatens everyone close to her, including her best friend Brianna (Faith West) and her boyfriend Timothy (Chase Mattson), who’s a real jerk. He’s one of the few characters you hope Samantha kills. For instance, when Hannah performs at a cafe, he fiddles around on his phone. In other scenes, he dismisses her talent.
Once Hannah and Samantha become roommates, the movie kicks into higher gear, but the problem is that doesn’t occur until about 50 minutes into the runtime. Prior to that point, two detectives, played by Jaclyn Lopez and Sam Nejad, interview a blood-soaked Samantha. So, early on, we know Samantha went on a killing spree. The scenes with the detectives, other than Shirley’s captivating performance, are tedious and bog down the movie.
Further, there a few other plot threads that could have been trimmed or even cut to lessen the long runtime. They don’t really go anywhere and as a whole, feel unnecessary. The film’s real tension is between Hannah and Samantha and Samantha’s insistence that she be Hannah’s only best friend.
Besides the pacing and the sluggish first half, the film’s other problem lies with Samantha. As already stated, Shirley is good in the role. In some scenes, she channels a Harley Quinn-like craziness, especially with the detectives. In other sequences, she acts sweet and seductive. However, she’s a rather flat character. She’s nutty from the get-go with very little, if any backstory. She’s essentially a one-note villain.
Hidden Lives is largely carried by the leading performances of Moore and Shirley especially. That said, the film is weighed down by poor pacing. The real fun doesn’t start until about halfway through the film, and viewers may tune out by then. This feature simply needed tighter editing.
