The Vanishing (1988/1993)
THE VANISHING (SPOORLOOS) (15)
D: George Sluizer
Metro/Golden Egg Film/Ingrid/MGS (Anne Lordo & George
Sluizer)
The Netherlands/France 1988
106 mins
Mystery/Thriller
W: Tim Krabbé [based on his novel "The Golden
Egg"]
DP: Toni Kuhn
Ed: George Sluizer & Lin Friedman
Mus: Henry Vrienten
Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu (Raymond Lemorne), Gene Bervoets (Rex
Hofman), Johanna Ter Steege (Saskia Wagter), Gwen Eckhaus (Lieneke)
•••SPOILER WARNING•••
The Netherlands' finest export of 1988.
The story is about the obsessions of two men. One who wishes
to commit the perfect murder and another who becomes obsessed with the disappearance of his girlfriend during a road trip. After a year of searching to no avail, he is contacted by her abductor
on the anniversary of her vanishing without trace. He is offered a chance to solve the mystery, but only if he follows in the path which she took.
The Vanishing is a bleak, but nail-bitingly thrilling horror
film with no redemption and a particularly sadistic villain. The ending is terrifyingly downbeat but this is what makes the film impossible to forget.
Avoid the 1993 American version and give this a watch instead.
Guaranteed to give you nightmares.
8/10
THE VANISHING (15)
D: George Sluizer
20th Century Fox (Larry Brezner & Paul
Schiff)
US 1993
110 mins
Mystery/Thriller
W: Todd Graff [based on the novel "The Golden Egg" by
Tim Krabbé]
DP: Peter Suschitzky
Ed: Bruce Green
Mus: Jerry Goldsmith
Jeff Bridges (Barney Cousins), Kiefer Sutherland (Jeff
Harriman), Nancy Travis (Rita Baker), Sandra Bullock (Diane Shaver), Lisa Eichhorn (Helene Cousins)
Based on a 1988 Dutch thriller of the same name by the
same director, this remake is in stark contrast to the original movie which was both disturbing, scary and sadistically realistic, this takes the original concept of a man possessed on
finding the wearabouts of his missing girlfriend and just makes it laughable.
Jeff Bridges is a great actor, but his performance in this
is absolutely terrible. Kiefer Sutherland & Sandra Bullock do okay, but Nancy Travis is also terrible and there was no real need for her character to exist at all, except to provide an
out of place love interest that didn't exist in the original film.
One negative thing about Hollywood horror movies is that
they always need to tack on a happy ending - completely unnecessary in this film and only serves to dilute the entire point of the original film.
If you want a good freak out, watch Spoorloos (The
Vanishing) and allow this pathetic remake to disappear without trace.
2/10
