Hide and Go Shriek

Hide and Go Shriek (released in edited form on home video as Close Your Eyes and Pray in the United Kingdom) is a 1988 American slasher film directed by Skip Schoolnik in his directorial debut, and starring Bunky Jones, Annette Sinclair, Brittain Frye, Donna Baltron, George Thomas, and Sean Kanan in his film debut. The story details a group of teenagers who celebrate their graduation by staying the night inside a furniture store, where they are stalked and murdered by a cross-dressing killer during a game of hide and go seek.

Plot
Four couples - Judy and David, John and Bonnie, Randy and Kim, and Shawn and Melissa - have just graduated from high school and are preparing to sneak into a furniture store owned by John's father, Phil. The teenagers begin to drink beer and party as John gives them a tour of the entire store. Kim suggests playing hide-and-go-seek. During the second round, Melissa and Shawn are killed by an unknown murderer.

At midnight, the remaining six regroup to eat dinner, all concerned about Shawn and Melissa's whereabouts. The group searches everywhere, but are unable to find them. The couples go to bed. As John and Bonnie are having sex, a man dressed in Shawn's clothes enters the room and incites John to chase after him. They start a fight, but the killer impales a mannequin's arm through John's stomach, killing him.

One by one, the others wake up. The group calls the police, but find the phone line cut and all exits chained shut. They begin to panic and try to get the attention of a vagabond, then a passing cop car, but to no avail. They discover the dead bodies of their friends and arm themselves with weapons, ready to fight back. Outside, a shopkeeper notices them in the store and calls the cops to report an intrusion.

The group encounters Fred, an ex-convict employee hiding out in the building. Believing him to be the killer, they knock him unconscious and tie him up. The group gets in the elevator but Kim does not make it in time and is decapitated by the moving elevator car.

When the killer attacks the group, Fred appears and tackles the killer, who is revealed to be Zack, Fred's gay lover from prison. Zack tells Fred that he killed the teenagers as he thought they were coming between him and Fred. Fred rejects Zack, who attacks Fred with a knife. Judy lunges forward to slash Zack with a razor. Zack leaps back and stumbles over Kim's severed head before falling down the empty elevator shaft. After that, the police and Phil arrive. As Phil asks Fred what had happened, Fred succumbs to his wounds and dies.

The surviving teenagers are checked over by paramedics before leaving the store and getting into an ambulance. In the final scene, Zack turns out to be driving the ambulance.

Cast

 * Bunky Jones as Bonnie Williams
 * Brittain Frye as Randy Flint
 * Annette Sinclair as Kim Downs
 * George Thomas as David Hanson
 * Donna Baltron as Judy Ramerize
 * Scott Fults as Shawn Phillips
 * Ria Pavia as Melissa Morgan
 * Sean Kanan as John Robbins
 * Scott Kubay as Zack
 * Jeff Levine as Fred
 * Michael Kelly as the alley Wino
 * Ron Colby as Phil Robbins
 * Donald Mark Spencer as Vince
 * James Serrano and Lyons as the cops in the police car
 * Robin Turk as the prostitute in the opening scene
 * Joe White as the man behind the newsstand

Release
The film was given a limited theatrical release in the United States on November 1, 1988, by New Star Entertainment, which has its violence trimmed in order to receive an R rating.

Home media
Hide and Go Shriek was released unrated on VHS by New Star Video and New World Video respectively in 1989, as well as on LaserDisc by Image Entertainment. In the United Kingdom, it was marketed as Close Your Eyes and Pray for its home video release, which was shorn of fifty seconds.

The film was initially released on DVD in the United Kingdom by Bellevue Entertainment A/S on July 22, 2004, under its original title. Scanbox Entertainment issued another DVD in Region 2, and was included in a 'Platinum Collection' with Dolly Dearest, Inner Sanctum 2, and Dark Breed. Hide and Go Shriek was released by Code Red on Blu-ray for the first time on December 3, 2016, with a remastered 2K scan from the original internegative, and was followed by a DVD release by Kino Lorber on May 30, 2017. The same year, 88 Films released the film on dual Blu-ray and DVD format in the United Kingdom on July 10, which was subsequently reissued on Blu-ray on February 11, 2019.