The Vanishing is a subtly creepy and haunting look at a sociopathic man seeking to discover whether he is capable of committing an act of extreme evil without remorse. No spoilers, but the ending may be the most disturbing thing I've seen or felt while watching a mystery. I bathe in the moments he is with her. Wonderfully written screenplay filled with a horror that is so unspeakable that none of us want this to happen to a loved one. Tim Krabbe's underlying novel (originally titled The Golden Egg) is okay, but the film version shows George Sluizer learned all the right lessons from Clouzot and Hitchcock and added some freaky improvements all his own. I rewatch certain sections of it. Ultimately, a sober and bleak affair but that is, really, what crime is. Perhaps if you have your system attached to other audio equipment, it will do. An unorthodox love story and a truly unsettling thriller, Dutch filmmaker George Sluizer's The Vanishing unfolds in an unforgettable finale that has unnerved audiences around the world. A similar fate as hers. I relive them. But if you're only listening through the speakers in the TV, you won't be able to hear it even with the volume adjustment on high. This low-key film, like its villain, makes all its moves out in the open and seems to put all its cards on the table right from the start. Even if for some unfortunate reason you've chanced upon or even watched the remake & thought it terrible (it IS) i implore you not to be put off in watching this, the original & in my eyes a classic film which only improves with each watch - in a word? I'm not sure why they would take that bit out. Naturally, the subtitles distract - I speak French and the translations are not quite accurate - but the acting is effective and natural and the direction never seems to waiver. Quickly browse titles in our catalog based on the ones you have picked. This isn't a Hollywood big budget film, this is original film making at it's best before Hollywood stole all the elements out of it. A couple have a weekend getaway and when they are at a rest stop, the woman is kidnapped leaving the man to go insane without her. Reviewed in the United States on May 20, 2020. Sign in to see videos available to you. . After three years and no sign of Saskia, Rex begins receiving letters from the abductor. It doesn't help that her abductor sends him postcards, taunting him, obsessing him at the cost of all else. It is so faint. . The character development is deep but reaches into places that are unusual and hard to comprehend for most of us. Like I like to watch the beginning when he is with Saskia. The pace is slow but tense. The Vanishing is a great film--unsettling; it stays with you--ofttimes a calm (or maybe a frenzied calm is a better way to put it) masks a feeling of underlying evil. Reviewed in the United States on February 19, 2014. And I relish in the logic that leads him to his fate. The Vanishing ( 1988) The Vanishing. Indeed, the abductor, though he describes himself as a "sociopath", comes across as quite inept in several scenes although this hardly makes him sympathetic. Select the department you want to search in. I prefer subtitles with foreign films, and the subtitles in The Vanishing were very well done. I found the acting to be lackluster, the film was slow, long, and painful to watch. An unorthodox love story and a truly unsettling thriller, Dutch filmmaker George Sluizer's The Vanishing unfolds in an … It is this push-and-pull, this chronic uncertainty that gives the film its drive. Reviewed in Germany on September 14, 2019. Habe die DVD heute bekommen, kenn den Film von früher. The Vanishing (1988) Dir. The Vanishing (Dutch: Spoorloos, literally: "Traceless" or "Without a Trace") is a 1988 thriller film directed by George Sluizer, adapted from the novella The Golden Egg (1984) by Tim Krabbé. This film, however, was so disappointing. It really should be a thriller, but it is more like a horror film the way it plays out. It also analyzes reviews to verify trustworthiness. The scenery is mainly France and can add to the dimension if you know the areas. I've never seen another movie in which the ending is so carefully prepared, and so in keeping with the logic of the story, and yet so shocking when it arrives. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It was unbelievably predicable and let me thinking "what the heck?" Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 25, 2020. Reviewed in the United States on November 15, 2017. The transfer looks great! Masterpiece!!! Ich war sehr enttäuscht, weil die DVD nur auf Englisch und Französisch und Niederländisch abspielt. Does anyone know? The film (Breakdown) with Kurt Russell is almost exactly like this film, but this film has a different dark ending that will stay with you forever. I've watched this movie ten times already. I was watching it on a regular Samsung 32" screen TV through its normal audio mechanics. I had never seen the film before buying it and I couldn't stop thinking about it for weeks after viewing it. Beautifully filmed and delightful French scenery with a shocking ending that seems somewhat tamer through the lense of today's open door sex, violence and empty celebrity society, was 1988 really that long ago? Not just a scary movie -- it's genuinely frightening, Reviewed in the United States on August 31, 2013. Sadly, I'm sorry I spent the money to rent it. I examine him and her. It's simply one of the finest movies about a disappearance that has ever been made. My only gripe is that when I first saw it in the theatre (this is the original, back in the 80s; it was called The Golden Egg at the time), there was a chilling sequence where two hitchhikers innocently happen upon the killer while he's on his country property, and rather than chance their suspicions, he murders them both. The Vanishing is a great film, unsettling. Spoorloos (original title) Not Rated | 1h 47min | Mystery, Thriller | 27 October 1988 (Netherlands) Rex and Saskia, a young couple in love, are on vacation. A master class in intelligently crafted, emotionally harrowing suspense. I admire this movie. Great film, spoken in French (and Dutch, I think). I absolutely love foreign films, and 90% of the time I much prefer original films regardless of the country to American remakes which can be bland and anemic. This is The Criterion Collection's DVD version I have (the older packaging from 2002, with the graphic of the service station lights reaching up to the night sky), so maybe they've added it back in for the 2014 Blu-ray and DVD release (with the black dots as a cover graphic), but I wouldn't count on it. It's a small thing, maybe 10 minutes of the film, and nothing is really lost if you see the film without it; but having seen it, you do miss it, because it further reveals just what a stone cold pyscho/sociopath we're dealing with. I'm not a big fan of subtitle movies, but this one is an exception. It stars Gene Bervoets as a man who searches obsessively for his girlfriend following her disappearance at a rest area. A young man embarks on an obsessive search for the girlfriend who mysteriously disappeared, and his three-year investigation draws the attention of her abductor, a calm professor with a diabolically clinical mind. A young man embarks on an obsessive search for the girlfriend who mysteriously disappeared, and his three-year investigation draws the attention of her abductor, a calm professor with a diabolically clinical mind. Do yourself a favour & ignore the remake. I cry when she's gone. Echt schade. Her boyfriend is left to put the pieces together but he cannot. Top subscription boxes – right to your door, © 1996-2020, Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. (4 1/2 stars), Reviewed in the United States on February 12, 2015. Prime members enjoy FREE Delivery and exclusive access to music, movies, TV shows, original audio series, and Kindle books. Reviewed in the United States on September 25, 2018. An enjoyable but tense film which has a very European flair and is better than its "american" remake. And if, like the hero, you believe that, you will be punished for your gullibility. This film is so far superior to its American remake that it almost doesn't warrant discussion. Video availability outside of United States varies. There is an uneasy neutrality when the film looks into the lives of the boyfriend and the abductor. I had read a review last week citing the ending of the original as blowing the American remake out of the water, so I expected so much more. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Great stuff, but don't say you weren't warned. Rentals include 30 days to start watching this video and 3 days to finish once started. Reviewed in the United States on January 23, 2017, An engrossing film that leads the viewer on.