They're not asking for much.
Just to stay together. Just to survive. Just to be invisible long enough that no one notices the bloodstains on the carpet or the smell coming from under the floorboards.
In What We Hide , Mckenna Grace and Jojo Regina play Spider and Jessie — sisters bound by grief, fear, and the kind of loyalty that doesn't come with footnotes. After their mother dies from a fatal overdose, they make a choice that's equal parts desperate and defiant: bury the truth before the system buries them.
It's a story we've seen before — small town, big secrets, even bigger consequences. But here's the twist: this time, the girls are calling the shots.
The trailer opens with shaky handheld shots, flickering porch lights, and a voiceover whispering, “Not all secrets remain buried.” It feels like a ghost story without the ghosts. Or maybe it's just the real America, the one where foster care is less safety net and more roulette wheel.
Dan Kay, who wrote and directed, clearly knows these characters. He wrote Way Off Broadway back in 2001 — yeah, that long ago — but What We Hide feels like he's finally found his voice. Co-written with Julia Keller, the film leans into rural decay without romanticizing it. Junked cars line the yard. The sheriff's eyes linger too long. And the local drug dealer? Played by Dacre Montgomery, so you know he's trouble with capital T.
But it's the sisters who anchor it. Grace brings that quiet intensity she's perfected since The Handmaid's Tale and Ghostbusters: Afterlife . Regina, meanwhile, holds her own as the older sibling trying to hold everything together — including the lie that threatens to consume them both.
Now, let me be real with you: the trailer hits every beat you expect. The ominous music swells. The sheriff asks questions nobody wants answered. There's even a scene where someone says, “We have to move the body.” Classic genre stuff.
But there's something raw in the performances. Something off-kilter in the pacing. Like Kay isn't trying to make a thriller — he's trying to document what happens when love becomes a survival tactic.
Premiered at the 2025 Santa Barbara Film Festival , played at the Dallas Film Festival , and set for a limited theatrical release on August 8th, 2025 , followed by VOD on August 25th , What We Hide is positioning itself as more than just another indie about broken homes. Early reviews call it a “heartfelt watch,” though some critics aren't sold yet.
And honestly? I get it. On paper, this could be Lifetime-level melodrama. But on screen? There's grit here. Grit in the wood floors, in the way Spider looks at the camera like she's daring you to judge her, in the way Jessie keeps folding laundry like normalcy is still an option.
This isn't a film about heroes. It's about kids doing the best they can with what they've got.
And maybe that's enough.
