The Vanishing

When I searched for "The Vanishing," all I could find was that abysmal "Americanized" version of the film starring Jeff Bridges. What a horrible mistake of a movie that was. Let's consider, instead, the original film in which a fellow and his girlfriend are on an outing when she vanishes without a trace. He becomes obsessed with discovering what happened to her. Whether he can be completely successful in his quest is the whole point of the movie. Why the original director would remake this little masterpiece in English with a Hollywood ending is completely beyond me. See the original. You won't soon forget it.

This is not a token 10 out of ten to try and inflate the ratings for a movie I like. This is one of the few perfect movies I can honestly say I have ever seen.

I'm a huge horror fanatic and I put off seeing this despite it being recommended time and time again because the subject matter is so mundane. This move is the only horror move I have ever seen move that transcended scary to downright shocking to my very soul.

It was a very unique experience that no movie has ever duplicated before or since. Once it was over, i actually just sat there for about 10 minutes thinking about what I had just seen, it was only after pondering it for a bit that i realized that the pacing and just sheer implications of what i had just seen was probably the most disturbing and awful yet utterly brilliant and in a strange way beautiful thing I had ever seen because as others have stated, it couldn't have possibly ended any other way. The viewer won't want it to end any other way.

Through impeccable pacing and direction George Sluizer manipulates the viewer in a way I never thought could be possible, it would be criminal to spoil ANYTHING from this movie but I found myself in the same conundrum the protagonist Rex finds himself in at the ending and rooting something yet at the same time dreading to see it's result, but I must see. I can't think of any ending to any movie that was more fitting and a better conclusion than the ending of Spoorloos.

Fans of psychological horror, this more than anything is required viewing. I await the day that a film can make me feel the way this one did and frankly I doubt it will ever come.

Bravo, and shame on you George for the abysmal American and Americanized remake that absolutely ruined this movie for so many people I know. This movie is a masterpiece and half the people I know will never be able to enjoy it.

SPOORLOOS (THE VANISHING) has been categorized as a horror / thriller / suspense film for the most part. Having watched it several times over the years, I consider it to be a tragedy with a bleak atmosphere of building dread, all leading to a horrific finale. This is a tale of love, loss, and the maddening effects of the unknown.

Young couple, Rex Hofman (Gene Bervoets) and Saskia Wagter (Johanna ter Steege) are on a holiday trip, when Saskia goes missing. Thus begins a three year ordeal for Rex, who, in addition to being shattered by the incident, is also obsessed with solving the mystery of Saskia's disappearance. His entire life is geared toward finding out what happened to her, to the exclusion of all else.

Enter Raymond Lemorne (Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu), who is shown as the prime suspect from the very beginning. Rex and Raymond are on a fateful collision course, driven by each man's desire to "know".

Much foreshadowing at the start of the film -including Saskia's revealing of her greatest fear, a symbolic dream, and the couple's almost ritualistic use of a pair of coins- make what follows as mystical as it is heartbreaking.

Along the way, we also learn much about the character of Lemorne, making him a far more nuanced villain than in most such works. While we may not be able to relate to his motives, we do gain understanding of why he does what he does. In the end, we feel the results of his actions.

SPOORLOOS is a masterpiece of darkness and sorrow...

George Sluizer directed the brilliant, unforgettable Dutch/French suspense flick Spoorloos aka The Vanishing (not to be confused with the wretched 1993 American remake, which he was also directed--difficult as that is to fathom), a potent, haunting, and impressively nuanced thriller. . As for the original, it remains a remarkably effective psychological thriller and an obvious influence on films as diverse as Breakdown, Joy Ride and With a Friend Like Harry. Not to mention, the theme of disappearance has been attempted by many great directors (Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes), but it has never been done as spooky as it is here. It belies how strange life is and how relevant our dreams are.

The film begins with a young Amsterdam couple on vacation in the south of France. They have apparently not been together for a long time as they are still getting to know each other, getting in tune with each other's rhythms. At one point Saskia relates to Rex a terrifying recurring dream she can't explain, which really haunts her when their car runs out of gas in the middle of a deep tunnel. Later, they stop at a park for a short time, and Saskia decides to go into a convenience store to get drinks. But she never returns. After awhile, Rex naturally becomes frantic and goes to the police.

Suddenly the film shifts its focus to the story of Raymond, an ordinary family man, a teacher who is also a self-absorbed intellectual. He is obsessed with the idea of good vs. evil and sets out to experiment with the possibility that he might have an evil side he has never tapped. How Raymond's experiments tie into Saskia's disappearance makes for a fascinating game that eventually takes on cat-and-mouse proportions — but does not go down the roads you will expect.

This film is so well-crafted, that it is easy to get carried away and think that more is being said than what has transpired. But in the simplicity of its story, it becomes easy to identify with the Amsterdam couple and feel caught up in their dreamworld which intermingles with their real-life. A film that is very much in the Hitchcock suspense mode.

After reading several recommendations of Spoorloos (a.k.a. The Vanishing), I went ahead and bought the Criterion DVD release, which, by the way, has no extras. Let me say, I was not disappointed with the movie. If you like well-made, well-directed thrillers, it is definitely worth checking out. The story was simple enough; Rex's girlfriend mysteriously disappears at a gas station they stopped at while on vacation. Cut ahead three years and you still have him searching for her. Due to his persistence, the man responsible finally decides to get involved.

With very little violence and no gore, Spoorloos was able to leave the viewer in a truly depressing state. Some people might call it boring but I found the slow and steady pace to work in favor of the characters, as the acting was top notch. So was the direction of the scenes, which were set up quite nicely. It was interesting to see such attention paid to both the victim and criminal's point of view. You could really understand the desperation, confusion, and obsession that Rex felt with his loss. In turn, you see cold evil in a form that does exist in our world. While maybe not shocking to all viewers, the ending is terrifyingly tragic, made so by the realism and calmness throughout the film. Just ask yourself, how would you feel if that happened to you?

If pushed for a criticism, I would say that some of the symbolism seemed a bit too heavy handed but other then that, this is an intelligent, deep thriller. I have not seen the American remake (oddly enough, both versions are from director George Sluizer) but I can all but guarantee that the original is what you want to go with first. Many people suggest skipping the remake altogether!