The Hidden (1987) (mild spoilers but not the one every other review gives)

Finally gave in and rented this on Apple iTunes. It’s one hour and thirty-eight minutes of everything you could ask for in a low-budget ‘80s Sci-Fi/Action thriller, including:

Car chases
gunfights
gross SFX
a rockin’ soundtrack which occasionally turns out to come from something within the diegetic frame
Claudia Christian in red thigh-high boots and a gold cowboy-fringe jacket
lots of mid-‘eighties LA location shooting
a post-Blue Velvet pre-Twin Peaks Kyle MacLachlan
Chekov’s flamethrower
a minor character spooning cocaine from a tiny die cast model of a Ferrari
Chekov’s presidential candidate
an extremely good performance by an animal actor
a split-second appearance by Danny Trejo that made me exclaim “It’s Danny Trejo!”
a slightly ambiguous ending

I learnt about this movie because Kyle Mclachlan mentioned it in an interview. I sort of got the impression he may feel about it the way Shea Whigham feels about Wristcutters: A Love Story (which I also need to see)— one of those films that aren’t well-known but the people involved consider it some of their best work.