Rating: 
Summary: A Great Movie
Review: The plot is well described above so I won't repeat except to say that it is one of the creepiest, scariest movies that I have ever seen and I'm a movie buff. Greatly enhancing the movie is the atmosphere created by the subtitles and the setting in France and the Netherlands. Don't waste your time with the wooden 1993 US English language version with Jeff Bridges, Keifer Sutherland and the always bland Sandra Bullock. They're no match and miscast in comparison with the European cast. Why Hollywood won't make a movie with big names is beyond me. Anyway, a really excellent mmovie you'll watch more than once.
Rating: 
Summary: Boy Loses Girl
Review: The Vanishing is a terrifyingly dark allegory of life and death and lost love. Raymond Lemorne (morne is the French word for gloomy, dismal) is death. Rex and Saskia are Everyman/woman caught in what is simply an artfully speeded up version of the life cycle. Think about that symbolic tunnel they pass through at the beginning. On the other side death awaits, inexplicable, ordinary and inevitable--just like Lemorne. And like Rex, we all deny the obvious and search for the lost loved one only to be eventually snatched away by Him ourselves. What is so unsettling to the viewer is the film's relentless subliminal message: the inescapable outcome of life and love is death and loss.
Rating:
Summary: The Vanishing has an ending worthy of Poe.
Review: The Vanishing starts out tamely enough with a dutch couple, Rex and Saskia, driving to France to do some cycling. They decide to stop for gas and refreshments and something extraordinary happens. Saskia inexplicably disappears. Rex looks everywhere for her, but she is not to be found. We think we know what has happened to Saskia because we have been introduced to an eccentric frenchman, Raymond, whom we have seen rehearsing his plan to abduct a woman selected randomly at a highway gas station and convenience store. Initially, we don't see him kidnap Saskia, but we are quite certain he has been successful in taking her away. Where we don't know, and to what fate we are not certain. Rex never gives up his search for his missing girlfriend. It becomes an obsession for him. He has posters made up and goes on television to appeal for help from the public. Eventually Raymond decides to send Rex clues and begins to lay a trap for him. While this film is a mystery and suspense plays a part in the interest the viewer takes in the action, it is much more upsetting than the typical Hollywood murder mystery. If we don't know why Raymond, the kidnapper, does what he does, we at least expect Rex to do what is necessary to bring him to justice. Yet no Hollywood ending is in store for us in this deeply disturbing film. Rex appears powerless to change the course of events that Raymond has set in motion and that lead to a horrific conclusion that rivals the best works of Edgar Allan Poe.
Rating:
Summary: spinechilling
Review: There is no comparsion between this movie and the Hollywood version. Avoid the latter! This movie is riviting from the very beginning to the end. It is relentless in it suspense. A woman disappears from a rest stop and her husband goes to extrordinary means to find out what had happened to her. Eventually he meets the kidnapper and decides to get the answer he so despertly wants - What happened to her? What happens will grab you by the throat and not let go. The acting is superb. The scariest thing is - There are people out there right now just like this kidnapper. Keep a close eye on your loved ones.
Rating:
Summary: HORRIFIC
Review: This film is one of the most exceptionally disturbing horror films of all time. The lean, psychologically terrifying premise is played out with clever, revealing twists and turns that result in one of the most shocking and mind-bending finales ever. The performances in this Dutch thriller are exceptional; the tension and real anguish of the lead character's predicament -- he lost his girlfriend at a highway truck stop -- is palpable, and you will want closure along with him. As with every other reviewer below, I agree wholeheartedly that the skillful artistry of this mesmerizing, involving movie is all but gone from the same director's Hollywood-ized version of the same script, which exemplifies the dumbing down of American audiences. Rent or buy this original classic instead; if you have a taste for terror, this will be appealing to you, even in its horrifying conclusion.
Rating:
Summary: not for the timid
Review: This film starts slowly, with many flashbacks. You find yourself sympathizing with the protagonist and developing an intense distaste for the villain, both of whom are played excellently. The ending is traumatic and is worth the wait. However, it is an extremely disquieting film and will stay with the viewer for days.
Rating: 
Summary: It is a good movie; however, the remake is more exiting
Review: This is a good movie; however, i find the remake by far more exciting. If the director concentrsted on the music in a better way, he would have added more suspense to the movie. If you are a movie fanatic, get both this one and the remake. If you are looking for suspense and exitment, get the ramke only.
Rating:
Summary: Haunting!
Review: This is an amazing film! Far superior to the remake, this film is absolutely haunting and frightening, as it follows how obsession can be your worst enemy. I had seen this film years ago, after the remake came out and was just blown away. Even after purchasing this excellent DVD (though a few extras would have been called for) and watching it again, knowing the outcome, the film still proves very disturbing. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Not as Scary as I was hoping, but still terrifying!
Review: This is definately a top 50 horror film. haven't seen the 1993 remake of The Vanishing, starring Kiefer Sutherland, Jeff Bridges, and Sandra Bullock. After watching the genuinely chilling Dutch original made only five years prior, I don't want to. I have a good idea of how the remake was Hollywoodized and dumbed down for American audiences who, movie studios insist, like their movies neatly packaged into familiar formulas. Well, the original is anything but formulaic, though I've been told the remake screws up and changes everything that made The Vanishing such a memorable, effective thriller in the first place. And to think that the same director, George Sluizer, is at the helm of both the Dutch original and the Hollywood remake. This is terrifying, but definately not for those "Scream" fans. This is for thinking people only! Watch it alone in the dark.
Rating:
Summary: A masterful tale that truly chills the viewer to the bone.
Review: This is one of my favorite films( which says a lot considering that I have seen almost every movie made)! It is rare that a film can flesh out real characters and take us somewhere we don not want to go. Two lovers on a road trip. At a gas station she disappears. Her lover becomes obsessed with what has happened and he spends years and falls into financial ruin searching ...searching. One day, years after she has disappeared he appears on television as a followup news program begging one last time to know what happened to his lover. He informs everyone that if someone knows what became of the woman please contact him. Even in secrecy because not knowing what happened to her is driving him insane. The killer and the young man meet and the killer puts a sedative in the coffee and asks the man to drink. Drink and you shall know exactly what the girl felt. The ending is truly shocking. Sadly the inferior American version with Jeff Bridges and Keifer Sutherland trashes this masterpiece because American audiences want a happy ending. I am sure most reviewers will not remember this version so watch the original version that is subtitled. I cannot believe that the same director helmed both pictures.
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