Year: 1988
Runtime: 90 mins
Language: English
Director: Skip Schoolnik
Close your eyes, count to ten, then run for your life. A group of teenagers throw a graduation party in an empty furniture store, staying overnight. When one of them convinces her boyfriend to play hide‑and‑seek among the aisles, a deranged killer begins stalking them one by one, turning their game into a desperate fight for survival.
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Read the complete plot breakdown of Hide and Go Shriek (1988), including all key story events, major twists, and the ending explained in detail. Discover what really happened—and what it all means.
Four recently graduated high school couples — Judy, Donna Baltron and David, [George Thomas](/actor/george-thomas; John, Sean Kanan and Bonnie, Bunky Jones; Randy, Brittain Frye and Kim, Annette Sinclair; and Shawn, Scott Fults and Malissa, Ria Pavia — are riding a surge of freedom as they graduate and plot a mischievous night inside a furniture store owned by John’s father, Phil, Ronald L. Colby. The mood is light, the beer flows, and what begins as a bold prank soon spirals into a test of nerves as they explore every corner of the showroom and dive into playful games. The group laughs, teases one another, and bounces from display to display, each teenager trying to outdo the others in bravado, while the store’s quiet aisles echo with their teenage bravado and whispered plans.
The carefree atmosphere takes a dark turn when Kim suggests a second round of hide-and-seek, and the game ends in tragedy: Malissa and Shawn are killed by an unknown killer. The celebration collapses into fear as the remaining five try to make sense of the night’s sudden violence, their celebration replaced by a chilling realization that danger may be closer than they thought.
As midnight settles, the survivors regroup for a tense dinner, each one haunted by the disappearance of their friends. They scramble to locate the missing pair, but the building seems to close in around them—the phones are dead, and every exit is chained shut. They stagger through the store, calling out to one another, their earlier camaraderie replaced by a growing panic. A vagabond is sought for help, then a passing police car—yet neither proves able to offer any relief. The sense of isolation turns the furniture store into a trap, heightening the stakes with every creaking floorboard and shadowed corner.
Soon the fear becomes immediate danger as the killer strikes again in a chilling sequence: the intruder slips into the darkness and, during a struggle, a deadly ambush on John occurs when the attacker is dressed in Shawn’s clothes, forcing John to chase him. The confrontation escalates quickly when the killer impales a mannequin’s arm through John’s stomach, ending his life in a brutal, sudden act that dredges up everyone’s fear and anger. As the others awaken to the nightmare, they impulse to protect themselves, arming up and trying to piece together what happened.
The tension peaks as they corner Fred, an ex-convict employee hiding in the building, whom they momentarily suspect of being the killer. They subdue him and bind him, hoping to use him as a possible link to their assailant. Yet the danger immediately pivots in a shocking, heart-stopping moment when Kim is decapitated in a gruesome accident as she fails to reach the elevator in time. The killer’s plan unfolds further when Fred suddenly appears to confront the threat, bravely tackling the assailant—only to reveal that the killer is Zack, Fred’s former lover from prison. Zack confesses that he killed the teenagers to drive a wedge between Fred and himself, a motive rooted in jealousy and possession.
The revelation reels Fred, who rejects Zack’s cruelties, and a vicious struggle erupts with Zack pressing forward with a knife. Judy makes a desperate lunge to end the threat, slashing at Zack with a razor as he recoils and stumbles over Kim’s severed head before tumbling into the empty elevator shaft. The arrival of the police and Phil brings a grim calm to the aftermath, but not before Fred dies from his wounds, leaving the survivors shaken and exhausted.
Paramedics tend to the wounded before the group is ushered into an ambulance and evacuated from the store. The final twist lands with unsettling irony: Zack is the one behind the wheel of the ambulance, turning the rescue into a final, chilling reminder that danger can ride along even when help arrives. The survivors, now recovered enough to leave, carry with them the weight of the night’s events as they move toward whatever comes next, forever marked by a night of betrayal, fear, and survival inside the silent corridors of a store that once felt like a playground.
Last Updated: October 09, 2025 at 14:24
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