Years before Hayley Joel Osment saw his first dead person, Hollywood horror directors were already wise to the potential of angelic youngsters as cute conduits to the dark side. Regan in The Exorcist, Damien in The Omen and Carol Anne in the Poltergeist series were all perfect for haunting or possession: the prettier their faces, the blacker their souls.

In Hide and Seek, 10-year-old Emily (Dakota Fanning) strikes a blow for this old guard when she enlists an imaginary friend named Charlie to wreak a wondrous tirade of torment on to her father. "Charlie did it!" she insists, with eyes wider than her cheeks. But when "it" includes the midnight drowning of the family cat in the bath, Charlie's lone culpability is brought starkly into question.

It all begins when Emily's mother slits her wrists in a swish Manhattan apartment and her grieving husband David (Robert de Niro) and his disturbed daughter head for the country - and an alarming catalogue of cheap horror staples. The remote village is "quiet out of season" and populated by freaks and creaking lanterns. Kettles boil aggressively, windows open suspiciously, dolls are mutilated, and wherever there's a dark nook, that moggy will be lurking. This mayhem plays into the hands of the enigmatic Charlie, as does David's predilection to listen to loud music through headphones whenever any screaming occurs, and his blithe willingness to allow his daughter to wander with impunity through the surrounding woods.

It is highly unoriginal, of course, but for an hour the chills are handled efficiently. Fanning is a genuine wonder and De Niro seems to acknowledge that he's being acted off the screen and is happy to play second fiddle. This restraint is more admirable than his script selection, however, because Hide and Seek, like every high-budget horror in these post-Sixth Sense days, cannot resist a psychological "twist" that is wholly predictable yet shamelessly betrays all continuity. It is really high time screenwriters made some effort to think past the first idea that comes into their heads. A lot of acting talent, not to mention audiences' time, is going needlessly to waste.

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