This movie steals the main premise from "Bad Ronald" (1974) and some elements from "Black Christmas" (1974 also) but mixes them in a boring manner. Gary Busey delivers a good, believable performance as a psycho. He was abused as a kid so he has some really messed up ideas. This psycho sets in the attic of a new house and spies the family. Soon after he falls in love with the wife and even tries to make "a move" on her. By the way, Mimi Rogers was damn hot in those days.The premise is pretty good but is not correctly used in the movie. In my opinion, the best thing about "Hider In The House" is it's title and Busey's performance. Don't bother looking for this one, it surely will disappoint you. Watch it only if it airs on cable. Don't spend money on this.

The setup of the plot is very original, but it becomes excruciating to watch Tom Sykes since they reduce his behavior to this one dimensional Jason. To me, the point of the movie was going in the direction of "someone is living in the house, without authorization, lets explore the psychological dimensions of this guys behavior, perhaps there can be some interesting message about human behavior" then they decided to end the whole thing in this lame gun battle, which i felt was a cheap ending to something that could have been more fascinating. Overall, interesting, but no payoff.

If you consider yourself who takes every single movie seriously for the purpose it was created, then this probably isn't one you wish to view. However, if you are willing to sit back and laugh at a truly strange movie, paying no attention to the point of it--Then it's a good rental for a rainy day with a friend or two to laugh with. Pay close attention to the grunts, repeated things said by the "hider in the house". Personally, I love films which make no sense and are not at all realistic. I enjoyed it, perhaps you will too.

Besides being pretty dull, I don't see how any of this could have happened. No way could this lunkhead hole up in the attic without being found out on day one. Why didn't someone notice the wall with a door in it? Three windows were showing from the outside and only 2 inside. Doesn't that give somebody a clue? The wall was such an obvious add-on that a ten year old could have spotted it. What a dumb film.