'COME out, come out, whatever you are' they cry, as Dakota Fanning and Robert De Niro slug it out for top acting honours in the creepy psychodrama 'Hide and Seek'.

After his wife is found dead in the bathtub, Manhattan psychologist David Callaway (De Niro) decides to take his traumatised child Emily (Fanning) to live in a big, gloomy house in the country.

The shadow of the twisty backyard woods (or something darker) soon creeps over the house and Emily finds a weird friend named Charlie, who her father believes is imaginary.

Charlie likes to play games and is also very jealous of anyone who tries to come between Emily and her dad, like an attractive local divorcee and Emily's New York psychiatrist.

Director John Polson takes his time letting the little details of the story accrue in the patently sombre tradition of directors like M. Night Shyamalan. John Ottman's score is spooky, the photography is drenched in warm colours and the mood is relentlessly strange and unsettling.

De Niro is fine as a wheezing, aging doctor who can't seem to fathom the extent to which his domestic situation has moved past his control. Of course there's a shocking twist or two, plenty of jolts, red herrings and sinister woodland explorations. But the spookiest ingredient in this potboiler is the brilliant Fanning. With her jet-black hair, pale skin and wide blue eyes, she enters the realm of instant horror iconhood as the alternately frightened and frightening Emily.

We have teamed up with Cineworld St Helens and 20th Century Fox to offer readers the chance to win three pairs of free tickets to see 'Hide and Seek'. To be in with a chance of winning, just answer the question below and send your entries with your name, address and daytime telephone number to Hide and Seek competition (Cineworld), St Helens Star, YMCA Buildings, Duke Street, St Helens, WA10 2HZ. Closing date is Wednesday 2 March 2005.

Q: What is the name of Emily's imaginary friend in 'Hide and Seek'?