Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11112 in DVD
• Released on: 2002-07-22
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: PAL, Widescreen, Colour, Subtitled
• Original language: Dutch, French
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 102 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
It's not unusual for Hollywood to remake European hits. What is unusual is the director of the original getting the chance to helm the new version with an American cast, which is what happened with this film based on an intensely creepy Dutch film of the same name (both directed by George Sluizer). Kiefer Sutherland and Sandra Bullock are on vacation when, while stopped at a crowded rest area, she disappears. He devotes the next several years to discovering what happened to her, ruining his life in the process. When he does get a clue, it leads him to Jeff Bridges, who plays a bizarre and highly organized individual whose motives are almost as strange as he is. Bridges is spooky, but Sluizer ultimately is undone by Hollywood's demand for a happy ending, which makes this film affecting but far less unsettling than the original. --Marshall Fine

Amazon.co.uk Review
Forget Hitchcock, forget Brian De Palma, The Vanishing is one of the scariest, most disturbing thrillers ever made. Yet there's not a knife, a gun, or a drop of blood in sight. The terror in George Sluizer's film is wholly psychological, insidiously uncoiling itself before our incredulous eyes.

A young Dutch couple on holiday in France stop at a motorway service station, where the girl inexplicably vanishes. Desperately her boyfriend searches for her. Meanwhile, we're introduced to a dull, respectable French paterfamilias who, we gradually come to realise, is the man responsible for the girl's disappearance. But we don't know why, nor--yet more tantalisingly--what he's done with her. Neither does the boyfriend, for whom her disappearance becomes an obsession (the film's French title is L'Homme qui voulait savoir--"The Man Who Wanted to Know".) Finally, horribly, he finds out.

Operating quietly and cunningly, Sluizer keeps us constantly on edge. There's the unconventional plot structure, dropping us unexpectedly into what turns out to be an extended flashback; the twitchy disorientation of the hero, adrift in an alien language and culture (a shrewd use of the film's joint French/Dutch parentage); and above all the chillingly downbeat performance of Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu as the abductor, a living demonstration of the banality of evil.

The Vanishing is one of those rare movies that insinuates itself under the skin of the mind and cannot be dislodged. Ill-advisedly, Sluizer let himself be tempted to Hollywood to direct an English-language remake that jettisoned all the subtlety of the original and tacked on an inane happy ending. Shun that version; this is the one to go for.

On the DVD: The Vanishing comes to DVD with these slim pickings: the theatrical trailer, a filmography for Sluizer and a gallery of stills. But the transfer, digitally remastered in the original widescreen ratio, looks good and the sound matches it. --Philip Kemp

Video Description
DVD Special Features
Original theatrical trailer
Director’s filmography
Picture gallery
Chapter points

Original French/Dutch language with English subtitles 102 mins approx

Customer Reviews

Sorry guys, original is best!
For those wishing to share a debate that has obviously aroused strong feelings on both sides, there's a simple way to resolve this issue: watch both the original and the remake, then it will be quite apparent that the remake is not a good film. Quite apart from stretching credulity beyond all known limits to support Hollywood's desire for a clean ending with all loose ends tied and the hero coming out smelling of roses (almost literally here!), it lacks the freshness, vivacity and suspense crafted so beautifully in the first filming, the acting seems stale and the actors seem uncomfortable. I didn't believe in the remake, where the original made me jump out of my skin!

In short, nothing whatever to do with subtitles or being pretentious - one is a great film, the other is a poor imitation. Remakes are seldom if ever a good idea, and I say so more through sorrow, not anger.

Look carefully...
Please notice that some of the reviews included here are actually of the poor American remake. This is the Dutch original, set in France, and is one of my favourite films. Take out the mistakenly included reviews and this film would presumably get the 5 stars it definitely deserves...

A high class thriller
Don't confuse this with the rather poor remake. It's hard to believe that the two were made by the same director. The remake has all the flaws you'd expect of a hollywood version of a quality european film and pretty much misses the point entirely.

The original is dark and pessimistic, the characters are believeable, portrayed with conviction, so it's easy to get involved. There's little violence, but the atmosphere does it all. The director and lead convey the passing of time and the increasing isolation, desperation and determination of the husband with considerable eloquence.

I first saw this film several years ago and it has lodged itself in my memory, so I think that once seen it's not easily forgotten. For all the right reasons!