Dutch couple Rex and Saskia are heading out to a vacation in France. Though the two do have their occasional squabbles, they do truly love one another, and Rex vows to never leave or abandon his girlfriend. After their vehicle runs out of petrol, they make a quick stop at a rest area. Saskia heads inside to buy drinks for their trip, but while her boyfriend remains outside near their car, she never comes back out, and seemingly vanishes into thin air.
Alright, I'm sensing somewhat of a trend now: several of the past week's worth of movies chosen for Unseen Terror are hotly contested as being classified as "horror." Of course, this could bring up the long-standing argument over what truly falls under that banner these days. In the end, I've always said that if any film can chill you to your core or bring out that darker part in you that perhaps you've tried to suppress your whole life, then maybe it can be constituted as a horror flick in at least some capacity. It's something that will never quite be settled, and if you ask me, that makes it all the more fun.
That being said, I don't quite know how to categorize 1988's The Vanishing, as it contains elements of scarier influences from throughout the decades, but plays out far more like a mystery than anything else. The shadow of motion pictures like Nicolas Roeg's Don't Look Now (an early favorite of this marathon!) looms over this production, as does the surprisingly human feel of filmmakers such as Alfred Hitchcock. It's a project based around obsession and the stubborn, if not understandable behavior of refusing to let go and move on. It's also about what one interprets as good or bad; specifically, the latter arguing that perhaps things aren't as black and white as they appear to be for those who divulge in various forms of media, or that we require both to decipher who we really are.
There are no boogiemen or violence-obsessed slashers in this flick, and there are no supernatural elements lurking beneath the surface. Instead, the definition of evil in this world is a far more fascinating one than we would expect. And for that matter, we see it from the very beginning. This isn't spoiling a great deal, but within the first twenty-or-so minutes of The Vanishing, the audience unequivocally realize who kidnapped Saskia. It is during the rest of the film's running time, where we witness Rex's (Gene Bervoets) slight descent into madness over the course of three, agonizing years and the story of how this entire event came to be, that it really shines and even crosses into psychological horror territory. It's very natural to sympathize with our protagonist and I would find it rather unbelievable if nobody did. His unhealthy, tragic fixation on discovering his lover's whereabouts does lend a double meaning to the title of the flick, as we feel that while his humanity still remains, his rationality could be disappearing before our very eyes. The more interesting aspect of The Vanishing comes in the form of Raymond (Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu), who is as gloomy, unconventional, and moralistically bizarre as anyone that you would name a villain. He's sociopathic, but not psychotic. The idea that one individual needs to test themselves by going against predestined outcomes and utilize free will (or even a warped version of "an eye for an eye") is truly disturbing behavior, and when these two opposites finally meet, the outcome leads to a finale that, while spoiled for someone like me in advance (thanks Bravo), was nonetheless stunningly horrifying.
It may be up for debate as to whether The Vanishing can truly be sorted into the horror film pile, but whatever your final take on the film's classification may be, it's an exceptionally well-made piece of cinema. The suspense is there, the acting is nothing short of great, and the final fifteen minutes (specifically its conclusion) are guaranteed to crush your soul. Much like Cronos, this 1988 critical darling is available on a very pristine DVD and Blu-ray, which contains a twenty minute-long interview conducted in 2014 with director George Sluizer, who passed away that very same year. There's also an interview with female star Johanna ter Steege, who I wish had more roles to her name as she just seems like a wonderful person. The picture and audio quality are also outstanding, managing to make The Vanishing look ten years younger than it actually is.
And before you ask: no, I do not plan on watching the 1993 remake.
........not yet at least........
Tomorrow, we head forward into the 1990s with familiar "alien" territory, though this time it's under the direction of an individual that hasn't been seen on Unseen Terror in three years...
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