Where I grew up, the meaning of a “horror film” was a movie with several scares, some kind of ghost and/or at least one episode of posession/excorcism. However, according to the Oxford dictionary and my wife (I trust the latter more really), “horror” means an intense feeling of shock, fear or disgust. As such, many films with no ghosts or exorcisms whatsoever fall under this category. On recently learning that Stanley Kubrick claims it’s the most terrifying movie he has watched, we chose ‘The Vanishing’ (“Spoorloos” in Dutch) for our movie night. (Spoliers ahead) We paid $3.99 on Apple TV to rent it and spent a little under two hours experiencing, what I thought, was a brilliant take on a scary abduction.
I enjoyed several parts of the film. First, there is no attempt to make it a whodunnit. Quite early on in the movie, you know who did it. And still, the movie kept me engaged and on the edge of my seat. Second, I found the frames and cinematography to be very artistic. Set in France, the film did a pretty good job of giving me a sense of some French locales without making it look touristic. Third, I thought the way music was used in this film was quite interesting. It had a fine blend of silent montages with sporadic instrumental dramatic tunes. It playded well to build up the tension while still doing justice to the artistic shots. Then, the performances were quite impressive – especially Johanna ter Steege as the lively and vulnerable victim. Although I was listening to foreign languages (Dutch and French), their performances transcended the language barrier and I didn’t have to rely too heavily on the subtititles. Finally, what drove it home for me was the excellent use of metaphor. Two golden eggs floating in space. You’ll know it when you watch it.
We felt a sense of heaviness once we finished watching and I can say that this one will stay with us for a bit. Kudos to the entire team of this wonderful 1988 “horror” thriller.