Rating: 
Summary: An example of a perfect horror film
Review: Most movies that claim to be horror films nowadays are not that way at all. They are bloody slashfests, where the only real suspense is trying to figure out how many different ways people will die and how much blood will be spent. Most of them are totally unrealistic, so people can simply remove themselves from the possibility of the film actually happening. They can look at the film as pure fantasy. Movies like Friday the Thirteenth or Nightmare on Elm Street feature killers who can't possibly exist.Then, we have movies like The Vanishing. I am not talking about the inferior remade American version from 1993. I mean the original Dutch/French version from 1988. This is the best horror film I have ever seen, even though there is not one drop of blood or one death on screen. The story is pretty simple. Rex (Gene Boerverts) and Saskia (Johanna Ter Steege) are lovers taking a bicycle vacation through France. They have a small catastrophe very early in the film (run out of gas) and Rex chooses to leave her behind in a tunnel to get help. They are both rather upset when he leaves and when he returns, she is not in the car. He puts the gas back into the car and drives through the tunnel, where he sees her at the end. They make up eventually and decide to stop at a gas station for a restroom stop and just to take a break. After coming back from the restroom, Saskia offers to go back to get them something to drink. Right before she goes in, she makes him swear that he will never abandon her again. He swears to it, she goes into the convenience store, and seemingly vanishes into thin air. He never sees her again. At this point, the viewer probably thinks it will be a whodunit, where we try to piece together clues and figure out who the culprit is who would kidnap the girl. But no, we are introduced to the kidnapper immediately. Even more surprising is that he becomes the main focus of the movie for the next 20 minutes, while we learn about his background and his lifestyle. He has a family and is completely normal from the outside. From here, three years pass and Rex is desperately trying to figure out what happened to Saskia. He has a new girlfriend who is sympathetic to the situation, but he can't get Saskia out of his head. He spends all his free time obsessing about her, and where she could be. It makes no sense to him. All the while, the kidnapper sends him letters telling him to meet him at certain places to find out about her. He goes each time, but never actually meets the kidnapper, because the kidnapper stays out of range, he only wants to see how badly Rex wants the answer. Finally, out of desperation, Rex goes on TV and pleads with the kidnapper to reveal himself. He tells him he does not want to hurt him, he just wants to know what happened to Saskia. The kidnapper decides to take him up on it. He goes to Rex's house. What happens from here on is for you to learn yourself. I will say that the reasons for the kidnapping are made clear and the true horror of the movie becomes evident in the last part. The kidnapper is a real person, he could be your next door neighbor. The man has two daughters and teaches chemistry at a local university. Yet in his mind he is able to plan out in intricate detail and execute this crime. Eventually he offers Rex a choice to find out what happened to Saskia. To find out, Rex has to put himself in a vulnerable position. He makes the choice and... He brings the movie to what has to be one of the most blood chilling endings in film history. It is completely logical and goes right along with what has gone before, but the audacity and straightforward nature of it will shock you. I promise, you won't soon forget this ending. It is criminal that the American film chose to change this ending to make it happier. As a result of this, the fates of the characters are completely different. The mystery to me is that the same director did both films. Why would he make such a great first effort and then let it be butchered so badly in this shoddy second telling? No matter. The first film is a horror classic, belonging right up there with the greats. If you have never seen this movie, rent it or find someone with a copy. The DVD is pretty good, but unlike lots of Criterion copies with a boatload of extra features, this is rather stripped down. There is a trailor in French which is okay and an essay in the inside cover of the case, but that's pretty much it. The sound is clear and the subtitles are much better than when the film first hit video in the late eighties. Without a doubt, this is one you can't miss!
Rating: 
Summary: An excellent film, but SO WAS THE REMAKE
Review: OK, first of all, I'd like to agree with most everyone here that this is an excellent movie. It only barely misses getting five stars from me, which I think should be reserved only for the VERY BEST of all time. My problem with most of the reviews is that they're saying that the American remake is a worthless piece of drivel, and that just isn't true. I think that Jeff Bridges gives just as fine a performance playing the sociopath as does Donnadieu in this film, if not slightly better. Kiefer Sutherland is also just as believable as the boyfriend desperate to find out what happened to his vanished lover. And I think that the original version, if you're watching it for the first time without already knowing the story, fails to make it clear to the viewer at first that certain scenes of the sociopath's life are flashbacks leading up to the abduction, instead of occuring immediately afterwards; I saw the remake first, and I didn't have that problem.
That said, because I'm a true horror fan, I DO prefer the original's ending over the remake's. BUT - and this is a very significant BUT - it's not that the remake CHANGES the ending, it ADDS TO the ending, leading to a "happy" (if you could call it that) conclusion. And I don't think that these added scenes are pointless afterthoughts to reach a more Hollywood ending - I get the feeling that, no matter how the novel The Golden Egg ended (which I can't seem to find anywhere), Sluizer intended this to be the ending all along. Without this ending, the relationship between the sociopath and his youngest daughter, as well as a significant element of the plotline introduced in the first version, is never fully explored, and the obsessive boyfriend's new love is never more than a throwaway character.
If you've never seen either version of this movie, here is my advice : buy the original (DEFINITELY at least see it first, to more fully take in and enjoy THAT ending), then rent the remake to see the LONGER ending. It may not be the best, but it IS worth seeing.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating characters and an amazing ending!
Review: One of the best movies I've ever seen, I've been telling everybody who'll listen to SEE THIS NOW! The Vanishing contains 3 or 4 of the most chilling scenes in film history, the characters are well developed and interesting, words fail to describe this movie. I haven't seen the American version with Jeff Bridges and Keifer Sutherland, but I hear that the ending is different (if that's the case, don't bother with the Amer. version) as perfection should not be tampered with! SEE THIS FILM!
Rating: 
Summary: Vanishing
Review: People rave about this French movie. I saw the American version first starring Sandra Bullock, Keiffer Sutherland & Jeff Bridges. The US version has been slammed by everyone, although it's not as bad as you think. This French version is good too but not overly better than the American. In fact, I'm willing to bet that the suspense is more effectively tackled in the American version. I'm not sure if it is because I saw it first, I just found the French abductor not very scary, whereas Jeff Bridges portrayed this strange character very well. The subtitles on the French version reduce any tension to the film because you have to concentrate on the words, then the vision and the mood.
I'm not sure why the American version has been criticised so unfairly because it is quite a decent film and holds up well.
Rating:
Summary: Horrifying film that still gives me nightmares....
Review: Perhaps I would have been better off if I had never seen this film. I don't usually watch horror films. I was scared out of my wits by "Psycho" when it came out in theater's (it's hard for younger people who grew up with Freddie Kruger to imagine it, but there was a time when you didn't see blood all over the screen.) This film does't show any blood and I don't remember much violence, however, it's a psychologically terrifying movie like "Diabolique" so if you have a weak heart don't watch it. "The Vanishing" has a fine cast and was shot somewhere in the Netherlands--I believe the cast is Dutch. Johanna ter Steage(?), the fine actress who played Theo's wife in "Vincent" and Frau Beethoven in "Immortal Beloved" plays a young woman who becomes the victim of a mentally unhinged stalker. The man's derangement is demonstated by his lifelong willingness to "experience" things like deliberately falling off a balcony so he can see what it feels like to break an arm. Johanna's boyfriend cannot overcome the loss of his girlfriend. Her memory ruins opportunities to form a realationship with a new person. The crime drives the boyfriend to acquire the attributes of the man who 'stole' his girlfriend. First he becomes obsessed about establishing a link with a particular person, just as the stalker became obsessed about finding a woman he could kidnap. Second he stalks the kidnapper in a variety of ways, just as the kidnapper used a variety of ways to lure a woman into his car. Third, he says he is willing to 'experience' what the kidnapper demands so that he can discover what happened to his girlfriend. In the end, I was left "unhinged."
Rating:
Summary: Horrifying film that still gives me nightmares....
Review: Perhaps I would have been better off if I had never seen this film. I don't usually watch horror films. I was scared out of my wits by "Psycho" when it came out in theater's (it's hard for younger people who grew up with Freddie Kruger to imagine it, but there was a time when you didn't see blood all over the screen.) This film does't show any blood and I don't remember much violence, however, it's a psychologically terrifying movie like "Diabolique" so if you have a weak heart don't watch it. "The Vanishing" has a fine cast and was shot somewhere in the Netherlands--I believe the cast is Dutch. Johanna ter Steage(?), the fine actress who played Theo's wife in "Vincent" and Frau Beethoven in "Immortal Beloved" plays a young woman who becomes the victim of a mentally unhinged stalker. The man's derangement is demonstated by his lifelong willingness to "experience" things like deliberately falling off a balcony so he can see what it feels like to break an arm. Johanna's boyfriend cannot overcome the loss of his girlfriend. Her memory ruins opportunities to form a realationship with a new person. The crime drives the boyfriend to acquire the attributes of the man who 'stole' his girlfriend. First he becomes obsessed about establishing a link with a particular person, just as the stalker became obsessed about finding a woman he could kidnap. Second he stalks the kidnapper in a variety of ways, just as the kidnapper used a variety of ways to lure a woman into his car. Third, he says he is willing to 'experience' what the kidnapper demands so that he can discover what happened to his girlfriend. In the end, I was left "unhinged."
Rating:
Summary: SUPERB NIGHTMARE INDUCING THRILLER
Review: Psychological thrillers don't come any more gripping and disturbing than "THE VANISHING." No blood or gore in this Dutch masterpiece from 1988. A man hunts for his wife who disappeared during their return to Holland after a bicycling trip in France. An extreme cat and mouse game of intense and increasing dread ensues between the man and the kidnapper until the unexpected, horrifying but inevitable climax. You will never forget this one. Don't be confused by the inferior 1993 American remake with Kiefer Sutherland and Jeff Bridges by George Sluizer, who made the original.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Film
Review: See this and not the remade americanized version.
It just can't hold a candle it, even though it was directed by the same guy...odd
Anyways..When Saskia mysteriously disappears, her devoted boyfriend Rex is undying in his determination to discover the truth. Even years later he has a new girlfriend but she feels she's part of a "trio" Rex's apartment is plastered with missing person posters featuring Saskia. And he has been receiving taunting postcards from Saskia's abductor. He will go to ANY lengths to find out what happened to his beloved Saskia...Very well cast. Gene Bervoets is believable as Rex (and very handsome, I might add ;-) Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu is a perfect selection as Raymond. And Johanna ter Steege is affecting as Saskia.
Rating:
Summary: Take Your Sleeping Pills
Review: Thanks to Criterion for releasing this film ... the picture is very crisp and gorgeous. The package is nicely designed - a very subtle image of the lonely and alienated gas station on the cover which fits perfectly with the film's theme and mood. I made a mistake watching The Vanishing alone at home in the middle of the night because after viewing it, I couldn't shake the film out of my mind. I walked around the house for hours feeling frightened and restless before going to bed. The sleep was interrupted by some images from the film popping in my mind. The Vanishing is a very rare film that succeeds in what most horror films failed. It has no blood, no gore, no guns or knives, no screaming - it's brilliantly subtle and quiet. It moves slowly as we get drawn closer to the soul and mind of the evil teacher and when the film ends, we realize that we're still trapped inside his sick mind. And to get "vanished" from his mind, it's hard. Because the film is so haunting and unsettling. It slowly casts the spell on you and you won't realize that until you get up from the chair. The Criterion Collection didn't include The Vanishing for nothing...it's truly a remarkable and timeless masterpiece.
Rating:
Summary: "The man who wanted to know"...finds out.
Review: The French title (from the original trailer) is "The Man Who Wanted To Know". I suppose this sounds a bit vague for American audiences, hence "The Vanishing", which puts a bit of mystery into it. Others have pretty much covered the plot (and at least one a-hole gave away the ending), so I will not repeat it. I found the movie interesting, and even when you know "who dunnit" early on, you still don't know how he did it till the very end. I consider this more of a "psychological drama" than a "horror" film in a Friday the 13th mode. There is no blood or things popping out of shadows. The ending is creepy, no doubt, but it also seems to be quite logical in the overall scheme of things. The disconcerting part, beyond the outcome however, is the rather non-chalant attitude of the bad guy through out the movie and particularly the very last scene. We never really know what the root of his problem is, but I suppose it is not necessary. For a Criterion Collection DVD, there are very few "extras". A trailer (which does not count), required subtitles in a couple languages, and a 2-page written review. The liner notes tell us this is a new digital transfer (looks good) and the soundtrack was mastered from a 35mm magnetic track (sounded OK to me). Not for everyone, but I'm giving it 3 stars overall - slightly better than average - based on 4-star movie/2-star extras and relatively high price.
| 
