What actually happens
Moving house to get away from a bathtub
Dr. David Callaway, a psychologist, finds his wife Alison dead in the bathtub in what looks like a suicide. He moves with his nine-year-old daughter Emily to upstate New York. Emily soon announces that she has a new friend called Charlie, whom nobody else can see. David gets uneasy when he finds the family cat dead in the bathtub, and Emily says Charlie did it. David also has nightmares about the New Year's Eve party that took place the night before Alison died.
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A doll's face is the first thing to go
David's friend Dr. Katherine Carson comes to visit, and Emily tells her that she and Charlie both want to upset her father. David meets a local woman named Elizabeth Young and her niece Amy, who happens to be Emily's age. He arranges a play date, hoping a real friend will help. Amy offers Emily one of her dolls, and Emily responds by cutting up the doll's face. Afterward she informs her father that friends are unnecessary. David can see the plan is not working, so he asks Elizabeth over for dinner instead.
Elizabeth opens the wrong closet
At dinner Emily is rude to Elizabeth, who tries to smooth things over by joining Emily's game and pretending to look for Charlie. This is the scene people dread most. It happens partway through the movie: Elizabeth opens the closet, someone bursts out, and she is pushed out of the window to her death. Afterward David asks Emily what happened, and she says Charlie killed Elizabeth and made her help move the body. She tells David where to look, and he finds Elizabeth in a bathtub full of blood, just as he found Alison. He picks up a knife, goes outside, and decides the man next door must be Charlie. He cuts the neighbor, who calls the police.
The boxes were never unpacked
Back in the house, David notices that the boxes in his study are still sealed, though he has supposedly spent a lot of time in there. That is when he works out that Charlie is his own second personality, and that David was in his study every time Charlie appeared. He also remembers what happened at the New Year's Eve party: he saw Alison kissing another guest. Charlie was the part of David who could do what the gentle David never would, and Charlie killed Alison. Emily knew about the split all along. She did not tell her father because she could not be sure which of his personalities had killed her mother, until Charlie killed Elizabeth.
Katherine takes the sheriff's gun to a cave
Once David understands, Charlie takes him over completely and kills the sheriff who arrives to ask about the neighbor. Emily phones Katherine, outwits Charlie, and hides in the cave where she first met him. Katherine picks up the dead sheriff's gun and follows. Charlie pretends to be David, then attacks her. Katherine begs David to fight back, and Charlie tells her David is gone. Emily appears and begs Charlie to release Katherine. Charlie is distracted, and Katherine shoots him dead. Some time later, Emily lives with Katherine and is heading off to school. A drawing of herself with two heads suggests she might have the same condition as her father.
The ending, explained
David realizes that Charlie is his alter ego, and then Charlie takes David over completely. He kills the sheriff, and Emily phones Katherine and hides in the cave where she first met Charlie. Katherine arms herself with the dead sheriff's gun and finds Charlie there. He pretends to be David and attacks her, and when she begs David to fight him, Charlie says David no longer exists. Emily comes out of hiding and asks Charlie to let Katherine go. That gives Katherine the opening she needs, and she shoots Charlie dead. Emily goes to live with Katherine and is getting ready for school. A drawing of herself with two heads suggests she may also have dissociative identity disorder.
The post-credits ruling
Nobody has confirmed whether there's a scene after the credits.
✓ Spoiled safelyDog status: fine, no dog dies.
Questions people ask at 1am
Is Hide and Seek scary?
Somewhat. Hide and Seek is a 4 out of 10 with low dread. The fear comes from a slow psychological mystery, a few jump scares and a handful of violent scenes.
How does Hide and Seek end?
Charlie is David's second personality, and he takes David over entirely. Katherine shoots him in a cave, and Emily goes to live with her. A drawing hints that Emily may share the condition.
Does the dog die in Hide and Seek?
No dog dies in Hide and Seek. The family cat does die early in the story, found drowned in the bathtub.
Is there a post-credits scene in Hide and Seek?
Nobody has confirmed whether Hide and Seek has a scene after the credits.
Who is Charlie in Hide and Seek?
Charlie is the alter ego of David, Emily's father, who has dissociative identity disorder. Charlie is the part of David who killed his wife Alison.
