Written and directed by Stranger Things creators Matt and Ross Duffer, Hidden is an underrated psychological thriller every fan of the hit Netflix series should check out. The story follows a tight-knit family of three whose lives are upended when a mysterious outbreak ravages the United States. Taking cover in an abandoned bomb shelter beneath the Earth’s surface, the family must survive a deadly attack from mysterious monsters known as “Breathers.”
As fans watch the fifth and final season of Stranger Things, Hidden is worth watching to see how far the Duffer brothers have come as creators. After all, Hidden features many spine-tingling elements that appeal to Stranger Things fans, including cryptic creatures and an unpredictable ending that bears closer examination. Here’s what transpires at the end of the aptly overlooked Hidden.
What Is ‘Hidden’ (2015) About?
Written and directed by the Duffer brothers in their film debut, Hidden is an underrated psychological thriller with sci-fi/horror elements. The plot concerns a close-knit family of three, including Ray (Alexander Skarsgård), Claire (Andrea Riseborough), and their young daughter Zoe (Emily Alyn Lind). The story begins shortly after a catastrophic event that has resulted in a deadly outbreak in the United States. To avoid danger, the family hides in a condemned underground fallout shelter.
While taking shelter, Zoe has a nightmare about mysterious monsters called “Breathers.” As the family adjusts to their cramped living conditions, they notice a rat has breached the shelter and begun stealing their food rations. Ray discovers a hole in the air duct but assures Zoe that it’s too small for the Breathers to invade the shelter. As the days go by, the family believes they are the only human survivors and that the Breathers are systematically hunting them.
Once Claire kills the rat inside the shelter, Ray inadvertently sets the shelter ablaze by knocking over a lamp. The smoke from the fire signals the family’s whereabouts and exposes them to the Breathers. Ray and Claire race to remove the ash accumulated atop the shelter hatch, which gives away their location. Left alone, Zoe spots a creepy humanoid entity in the distance using a makeshift periscope.
Zoe disobeys Claire’s orders to stay inside the shelter, climbs through the barricade, and warns her parents of the humanoid’s presence. Just as the family seeks refuge in the underrated 2015 horror movie, Zoe’s toy doll makes a noise, drawing the attention of a Breather who tries to break into the shelter.
What Are the Breathers in ‘Hidden’?
At first, the family believes Breathers are killer monsters actively hunting them down. However, the Duffers pull the rug from under the viewers with an explanatory flashback. Before the outbreak, Ray had been driving his family along the highway when they were stopped by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
Cutting back to the present, an army of Breathers breaches the shelter and finds the family safe inside. Claire and Zoe escape through the air duct, leaving Ray to be caught. Ray suddenly vanishes, and his splattered blood suggests he’s been killed. Believing they are stalked by bloodthirsty creatures, Zoe and Claire race to the surface to find safety. As soon as they emerge from the shelter, they are caught in a large net shot from a helicopter above.
At this point, it is revealed that the Breathers are not humanoid monsters. Instead, the Breathers are U.S. soldiers monitoring the quarantine zone. They are called Breathers because they wear re-breather gas masks to avoid radioactive contamination from the fallout. The Breathers also sport night-vision goggles, which give them an otherworldly appearance. Once the Breathers are identified, another flashback depicts Claire being infected with a mysterious disease when she cuts her hand and bleeds black blood. The family infers that the disease must be airborne and that they’re already infected.
‘Hidden’s Ending Explained
The final act of Hidden begins when the Breathers test Claire and Zoe’s blood for infection. Upon testing positive, the Breathers prepare to kill them. Ray suddenly reappears with bloodshot eyes and black veins, indicating a late-stage infection. Ray has also developed superhuman strength, which he uses to kill one soldier and easily overpower three. As Ray subdues the Breathers, Claire and Zoe escape from their captive net. In a stellar performance by Riseborough, Claire suddenly morphs into a superhuman monster like Ray and devours every remaining Breather but one.
The lone Breather injures Claire, and just when he is about to kill her, Zoe rabidly attacks the soldier and infects him by removing his gas mask. Zoe attacks Claire and nearly kills her, but Claire calms her down by reiterating the house rules that enabled the family to survive. As Ray lies dying, his wife and daughter spend his final moments with him in a tender sendoff.
Hidden ends with Claire and Zoe fleeing into a vast underground sewer system, meeting a band of infected survivors. Zoe’s friend Joey (William Ainscough) invites them to join the underground survivors, proving that the family was infected the whole time. Zoe states they’ve been hiding underground for 302 days, which Claire calls “miracles,” a callback to what Ray once described as every surviving day following the catastrophe.
With shades of horror movie classics The Mist and A Quiet Place, the Duffer brothers prove they understand genre storytelling and how to subvert expectations. For most of the movie, viewers are led to believe that Ray and his family are the good guys, while the U.S. soldiers who are preventing the spread of infectious diseases are the bad guys. In the end, the opposite is revealed. Ray and his family were the hidden monsters all along. Yet the Duffers elicit sympathy for the family by showing their determined efforts to protect one another and survive at all costs.
Where To Stream ‘Hidden’ (2015)
There is a lot for fans of dark sci-fi to dig into with Hidden, with the movie showcasing the early skills the Duffer brothers would come to fine-tune in creating what is arguably the most culturally significant TV series of the modern era: Stranger Things. It is absolutely worth streaming for fans of the TV show and for anyone who enjoys a dark film full of twists and turns (not to mention phenomenal performances). Unfortunately, unlike its more famous counterpart, Stranger Things, Hidden remains true to its namesake, with few options for watching it. Hidden is available to rent on Apple TV and Prime Video.
- Release Date
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September 15, 2015
- Runtime
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83 minutes