The Vanishing (1988) (2024)

Popular reviews

• Review by Mike Flanagan 18

  This movie is so haunting… you’re almost unaware of the darkness into which you’re being submerged until it’s too late, and you find yourself gazing into an abyss of human evil. A chilling portrait of sociopathy, loss, and how we can find ourselves consumed by unanswerable questions. This gets under the skin and sticks with you.

• Review by Josh Lewis ★★★★ 5

  If you’re looking for something light, breezy, and fun boy have I got a recommendation for you.

  There’s just something so plain and literal about Sluizer's approach here that I find absolutely skin-crawling and hypnotic. It's got an ice-cold clinical patience that it proceeds to methodically converge with its intense portrait of male obsession/sociopathy (and its fragmented, non-linear haunted memory structure) until it turns this horrible Nietzschian/Faustian experience of being offered closure from the void of existential isolation and uncertainty that comes with grief and loss into one of the sunniest, most "ordinary" and matter-of-fact thriller-horror films ever conceived. Love the calmly observational nature of its roaming camera, the unconventionally mundane "suspense" with which it accumulates information and detail, and of course its eventual harrowing, predestined trick of an ending that I dare not spoil.

  Full discussion on ep 297 of my podcast SLEAZOIDS.

• Review by Josh Lewis ★★★★ 11

  This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

  Schrödinger's girlfriend.

  Full discussion on ep 297 of my podcast SLEAZOIDS.

• Review by DirkH ★★★★★ 24

  When I was fifteen my teacher who taught Dutch made us read Tim Krabbé's 'Het Gouden Ei'. After reading it and discussing it in class we watched Spoorloos, based on said novel. I remember being a bit bored by the novel and thought the film was ok.

  Many moons later I re-read the book and recognized it for the sucker punch that it is. (if you loved this film I urge you to read the novel, there are many excellent translations out there and it is well worth the read). A while back I hit a bit of a lull in my movie watching. Wanting to pick it up again I decided to rewatch this. Now, memory is a funny…

• Review by nick ★★★★½ 7

  The Vanishing is one of the most detailed and terrifying murder mysteries I've seen. Told from two intertwining perspectives regarding the disappearance of a female tourist in France, it feels like two hemispheres that fit perfectly together, thus leaving no air for the audience to breathe. The heavy suspense and a sinister atmosphere are prominent throughout, relived by occasional scenes of effective hilarity. The cat-and-mouse game builds organically for an ending where all shocking secrets are revealed. What's most impressive about this movie are the outstanding performances, especially from Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu, whose deceivingly harmless charisma contrasts greatly with the evil things he's capable of doing. Director George Sluizer's decision to elaborate on the perpetrator's personal life actually pays off, enabling…

• Review by CinemaVoid 🏴‍☠️ ★★★★½ 6

  A film about the ultimate price of obsession born out of desperation for closure and the reason why I don’t trust dudes with goatees anymore.

• Review by Scott Anderson ★★★★★ 18

  She looks beautiful in the sunlight. It's the type of moment that you take for granted because you assume the world owes you thousands more just like it. You never believe it could be the last until it is, and even then you probably won't believe it. You refuse to believe it. You look at her there, basking in the glow of a world so seemingly perfect and on face value it's just another day. She looks beautiful in the sunlight, and it will shine tomorrow and the next day and the day after that.

  Only the sun suddenly stops shining. The world seems so dark. You look for her there, anywhere, everywhere but you see nothing. It was just…

• Review by Todd Gaines ★★★½ 4

  Dutch brilliance. What one man is willing to do to uncover the truth of a missing loved one. What one man did that will send shivers up your spine. Thrilling. Edgy. Creepy. No Hollywood ending, but pure satisfaction after viewing.

• Review by Nakul ★★★★½ 2

  Starting my Halloween Movie Marathon with this masterpiece! That ending, one of the most chilling scenes ever put on film.

• Review by 𝕺𝖒𝖆𝖗 ★★★★

  It is a slow burn, but it burns alright. I mean, I was prepared to give this movie 3.5 stars or something. But that ending, though!

• Review by PTAbro ★★★★ 14

  With an ingenious plot structure and a black heart that seems to revel in breaking the audience's own, The Vanishing is a bleak thriller that might not have the technical bravado of Nicolas Roeg's Don't Look Now, but feels very similar in effect. A devastating loss, a study of grief and obsession, and an ending that is simply cruel, but feels just right. Adapted from Tim Krabbé's novella, The Golden Egg, it's a great example of the benefit of keeping the author on to co-write the screenplay. The pacing and structure work together to keep the plot barreling ahead (something other psych-thrillers occasionally stumble on by concerning too much runtime to developing the mood explicitly instead of letting the story…

• Review by Marianna Neal ★★★★ 10

  Don't mind me, just watching this super uplifting movie on a Friday night.