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After reading several recommendations of Spoorloos (a.k.a. The Vanishing), I went ahead and bought the Criterion DVD release, which, by the way, has no extras. Let me say, I was not disappointed with the movie. If you like well-made, well-directed thrillers, it is definitely worth checking out. The story was simple enough; Rex's girlfriend mysteriously disappears at a gas station they stopped at while on vacation. Cut ahead three years and you still have him searching for her. Due to his persistence, the man responsible finally decides to get involved.

With very little violence and no gore, Spoorloos was able to leave the viewer in a truly depressing state. Some people might call it boring but I found the slow and steady pace to work in favor of the characters, as the acting was top notch. So was the direction of the scenes, which were set up quite nicely. It was interesting to see such attention paid to both the victim and criminal's point of view. You could really understand the desperation, confusion, and obsession that Rex felt with his loss. In turn, you see cold evil in a form that does exist in our world. While maybe not shocking to all viewers, the ending is terrifyingly tragic, made so by the realism and calmness throughout the film. Just ask yourself, how would you feel if that happened to you?

If pushed for a criticism, I would say that some of the symbolism seemed a bit too heavy handed but other then that, this is an intelligent, deep thriller. I have not seen the American remake (oddly enough, both versions are from director George Sluizer) but I can all but guarantee that the original is what you want to go with first. Many people suggest skipping the remake altogether!

It is best not to know much about this movie before seeing it. It is sufficient to know that it is about a women who disappears and a man's obsession to try and find out what happened to her. This is not a sappy love story and it bears little resemblance to the pale American remake. Reading more about the story will ruin how it unfolds. It was well filmed and well acted. The ending is a shocker. I think reviewers who write a synopsis of the movie's plot do a disservice to people reading the review. The movie's story should unfold before a viewer. The enjoyment is in how the story is told. This is all the more true regarding "The Vanishing".

STOP!!!!

Observe these 3 rules if you plan on seeing this film:

Rule #1, AVOID the 1993 remake "The Vanishing" or if you absolutely need to see it, watch the original first.

Rule #2, If you're of a sensative nature and easily depressed, don't watch this.

Rule #3, do NOT read any other comments on this film until you have seen it. This is a love it or hate it type of movie and looking for opinions to decide if you want to see this WILL ruin it for you. See it first, form your own opinion, then check back here. Trust me on this, you'll thank me afterwards.

There aren't too many scenarios like this one. The original version and the Hollywood remake of this film were both directed by the same man, George Sluizer. As I understand from popular opinion, this is one film that was fine the first time round, and not well received on the second go. I cannot fairly compare them, and I have no more desire to see the remake of "Spoorloos" than I do the remake of "La Femme Nikita", namely "The Point Of No Return".

I saw the original version upon the strong recommendation of a newspaper reviewer proclaiming it one of the most disturbing films they'd ever seen. The photograph of a young couple about to be torn apart in the paper reeled me in.

A pleasant holiday excursion goes horribly wrong when a man's lady friend goes missing at a crowded rest stop. He grasps at straws in desperation as very little can be done because few clues or leads exist. The abduction is arbitrary and nearly flawless.

The film was indeed well done and what struck me the most was the focus on that of the villain. It is a portrayal of a normal, respectable family man who trains himself in meticulous detail for an abduction. His cold, calculating approach is probably the most frightening aspect. His inhumanity is difficult to comprehend.

Many film endings can be shocking and may stick with you forever, and for a lot of people that is certainly the case with this film. That's why I was surprised to learn that the TV commercials for this film gave away the ending. However it didn't ruin the film for me.

The suspense and chilling setting of this film makes it hard to forget. The viewer constantly wondering, "What would I do?" or "How would I cope?". Impossible questions we all hope we'll never find the answer to.

Of course, keep a few handy responses in mind should you watch this with your better half when they ask the inevitable, almost rhetorical question, "What would you do if I went missing and you couldn't find me?"

"I'd surely die, dear."

The Vanishing is a movie only those with ice in their veins can ever forget. The direction is absolutely brilliant, from the opening frames until the very end. I felt Saskia's fright when she thought she lost Rex initially, and her description of her dream made me feel chills. When she disappeared, Rex's combination of rage, frustration, anxiety, and grief was torture to watch. A particularly powerful moment was when he slammed the car door shut so hard the window crumbled into pieces.

Watching Rex become consumed in every way by his quest to find Saskia was also extremely difficult to watch, although it was certainly inevitable. I found the professor's description of his actions appalling in many cases, the most notable one being when he fixates on Saskia and we see his POV. Seeing Saskia warmly respond to him was devastating, knowing what would happen. Throughout the film there was an overwhelming sense of doom and isolation, like this was a cruel world where even in the most idyllic settings evil lurked everywhere and attempting to fight it was futile. Rex undergoes one of the most harrowing emotional ordeals of any movie character ever, and when he is at the end of his rope his crucial decision would seem so insane out of context but viewers understand that it really is his only choice. The shock ending, especially the way it was done, almost made me scream, and I will never forget the final shot. The Vanishing could be shown in any film class on direction, as an example of perfection. Material that could have been turned into just a mediocre thriller with would have seemed like a lame twist was turned by George Sluizer into an utterly harrowing filmgoing experience. And that is the right word, because a movie like The Vanishing is not just watched-it is experienced.

I estimate I have seen around 700 movies in my life, and horror is my favorite genre. I have only seen two films that left me so scared that after they ended I couldn't even move. One was Psycho, which I saw 10 years ago when I was only 12. The other one was just this year-The Vanishing.

This is a most unsettling and haunting film which vividly depicts the banality of evil. American filmgoers who are too lazy to settle in to the ambiance and mood of foreign films will probably not be patient enough for it, though. I went to see it not knowing at all what to expect, and really got a jolt. One factor that made it so powerful was the everyday reality of it all. These are seemingly normal people you'd see on the street anywhere. I thought it was a masterful depiction of what would probably actually happen when someone you loved just disappeared out of the blue, and the turmoil of emotions that would be unleashed. If you are at all susceptible, the ending will absolutely chill you to the bone, and is the perfect topper to a great film. Please do yourself a favor, and DON'T make the mistake of seeing the American remake instead of the original!

A married couple stops on holiday at a gas station during a busy summer's day.It's warm and sunny.However the woman vanishes without trace.For the next three years her partner lives in turmoil without knowing what happened on that fateful day.That changes when the abductor contacts him and promises to reveal what happened on that day.Be careful what you wish for, because a mild-mannered chemistry professor hides a terrible secret.Eerie and slow-moving thriller in the vein of Robert Fuest memorable "And Soon the Darkness".I remember seeing it during early 90's on Polish television.The final revelation is genuinely chilling.The main performances are genuinely brilliant and the plot unfolds with intense precision.9 out of 10.

Just saw this for the first time and have to say it is a good film for what it is, but seems to be over-hyped to be greater than what it was. There is really nothing that suspense, thriller, and horror fans may not have already seen before and probably better in some cases.

The problem is mainly with the character of. Hoffman being fairly unlikeable and something of an idiot. There are a couple of odd over-acting type moments with him in this that felt forced by the direction, or script, if not him. By the end of the film, I felt I did not care what happened to him and he deserved what he got.

That stated, when you realize that what does happen happened to the character of Saskia, you do feel sympathy for her.

I find you have to care why a character is a villain to care about him in any way, but Lemorne is almost forgettable soon after the story ends. You might remember his beard more than the personality it's attached to. On top of being fairly ordinary - "it's always the quiet ones" - he might have been made too clinical and matter-of-fact to to be of any real interest. He is a sociopath - nothing more nothing less - and that's why he does what he does. No real reason for the choice of victim and none for the manner in how he deals with them in the end. He does it just to do it and that supposedly makes him one cold bastard, but I do not think the direction, script, and/or Donnadieu, the actor, pulls it off all that well to make him as horrific as he may have been meant to be. The family the character had did not really help in any way and were sort of just there.

There was no police involvement in this story. You kind of get they had nothing to really go on, so they skipped over the investigation leading to that conclusion.

What bothered me more was there was no mention of Saskia's family (that I noticed) or other friends wondering what happened making her disappearance more superficial and perhaps meaningless in getting the viewer to know and/or care more about her. I also did not get that Hoffman was deeply in love with her enough to care himself. We only spend a short time with them and they mainly had a fight when the car runs out of gas before they make up again at the road stop. Again, his emotions all seemed forced for the story.

It's not a great film nor is it a bad one. Boring? Maybe. Watch it so you can say you have seen it, at least, and if you love it, fine, but in today's modern world where it may be harder to frighten or shock you, be prepared to be let down, as Hoffman was.

George Sluizer directed the brilliant, unforgettable Dutch/French suspense flick Spoorloos aka The Vanishing (not to be confused with the wretched 1993 American remake, which he was also directed--difficult as that is to fathom), a potent, haunting, and impressively nuanced thriller. . As for the original, it remains a remarkably effective psychological thriller and an obvious influence on films as diverse as Breakdown, Joy Ride and With a Friend Like Harry. Not to mention, the theme of disappearance has been attempted by many great directors (Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes), but it has never been done as spooky as it is here. It belies how strange life is and how relevant our dreams are.

The film begins with a young Amsterdam couple on vacation in the south of France. They have apparently not been together for a long time as they are still getting to know each other, getting in tune with each other's rhythms. At one point Saskia relates to Rex a terrifying recurring dream she can't explain, which really haunts her when their car runs out of gas in the middle of a deep tunnel. Later, they stop at a park for a short time, and Saskia decides to go into a convenience store to get drinks. But she never returns. After awhile, Rex naturally becomes frantic and goes to the police.

Suddenly the film shifts its focus to the story of Raymond, an ordinary family man, a teacher who is also a self-absorbed intellectual. He is obsessed with the idea of good vs. evil and sets out to experiment with the possibility that he might have an evil side he has never tapped. How Raymond's experiments tie into Saskia's disappearance makes for a fascinating game that eventually takes on cat-and-mouse proportions — but does not go down the roads you will expect.

This film is so well-crafted, that it is easy to get carried away and think that more is being said than what has transpired. But in the simplicity of its story, it becomes easy to identify with the Amsterdam couple and feel caught up in their dreamworld which intermingles with their real-life. A film that is very much in the Hitchcock suspense mode.

"The Vanishing" is one of my favorite movies, probably in my top ten. I first saw it in 1990 in San Francisco. Without giving anything away, the end of this Dutch/French film contains an extraordinarily diabolical twist, and at the theater at which I saw it, the projector crapped out with about 15 minutes left. Everyone was issued a free pass to come back, which I did the next day, having barely been able to get the creepy story out of my head. I couldn't wait to see what happened at the film's conclusion. Fifteen years later, it still makes me shudder sometimes. The American remake with Jeff Bridges and Kiefer Sutherland should, in my opinion, be avoided at all cost; the ending was changed, no doubt to suit the bottom-line aspirations of some brain-dead producer. But the European original is full of great acting (particularly from the villain, Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu), a tight storyline, and, of course, a wickedly brilliant ending. It's a film worthy of Hitchcock.

When I searched for "The Vanishing," all I could find was that abysmal "Americanized" version of the film starring Jeff Bridges. What a horrible mistake of a movie that was. Let's consider, instead, the original film in which a fellow and his girlfriend are on an outing when she vanishes without a trace. He becomes obsessed with discovering what happened to her. Whether he can be completely successful in his quest is the whole point of the movie. Why the original director would remake this little masterpiece in English with a Hollywood ending is completely beyond me. See the original. You won't soon forget it.

Horror is probably my favourite genre, and I have seen a lot of horror movies. There were only a few movies that really left me as paralyzed and disturbed as this one.

In the very beginning, the director masterfully lets you know that something is wrong, but you don't know exactly what and how bad it really is. You are left as clueless as the main character and through your own uncertainty you might get involved more than you think you would. The story is simple and the evil in it is banal, everything is so normal and so horrible at the same time. And it surely is the banality of evil and the tormenting uncertainty that make this movie almost unbearably creepy. The ending is absolutely, absolutely shocking and I still really don't like to think about it.

If you don't like monsters, blood and pornographic violence and if you are looking for a smart, really creepy psycho-horror movie, this movie is for you. In my opinion, Spoorloos is what good horror is all about.

The mark of a great film thriller is that it keeps you guessing until the very end and questioning whether, under the same circumstances, you would behave in the same way - either as the villain or the victim - great film!

I saw it with a friend when it was released. Then I went home and told my husband about it, and how impressed I was. He's not much of a moviegoer, but he's certainly sensitive to film: His favorites are The Third Man, Maltese Falcon, The Conversation-- all biggies. And when I rented "My Life as a Dog" and he started to watch it with me, he had to leave the room after the first ten minutes or so, saying, "This movie is going to be much too sad." Which, if you've seen that Lasse Hallstrom film, you know he pegged it.

Anyway, he asked about the plot of "The Vanishing." I told him, he listened, and that was the end of it. Or so I thought.

We're at a dinner party later that week, and I mention the movie. Someone asks about it, I start to describe it-- and my husband stops me. He says, "It's too disturbing to even hear the plot again."

I never mentioned it again. Nor have I watched it again, and don't think I ever could. But I am forever glad that I saw it that first time. A gripping story that demands more emotion from the audience than almost any other film I can name.

This is the original version of "The Vanishing," with the American re-make coming out six years later than this film did.

This version - the original - is considered to be, by far, the better of the two by almost all critics. Having seen both versions, I agree but not as strongly because I don't think this film is all that good, either, at least not as good as I was led to believe.

Instead of a kidnapping-crime story, this was more of a character study of two people: a man obsessed with finding his abducted girlfriend, and a deranged killer, the man who took her. That "study" made this different from the other film and from a lot of crime movies to begin with. The ending here also made this a bit different.

Summary: it's okay, but not anywhere as good as you might be led to believe, but I would still recommend it. I saw it twice.

The plot to this one is simple enough, a very much in-love young man, Rex, takes his eyes off his girlfriend Saskia for a fateful couple of minutes, and she mysteriously vanishes forever.

Fast forward to 3 years later, and the disappearance has taken it's toll on the devastated Rex. He can accept that his girlfriend must be dead by now. But it's the not knowing how it happened which is tearing him apart.

Thus Rex is completely unable to move on with his life, until one day a stranger makes contact with him, offering to show him what happened to Saskia, but only if he is willing to suffer the same fate as she did; whatever that might be.

That such a simple idea works as a movie is down to it's believability; the events of this movie could easily happen to you and your loved ones. After all, hundreds of people disappear in real life everyday, and not always because they bump into a ridiculously over-the-top villain, with a patch over one eye, a scar on his cheek and an evil hissing voice.

Sometimes, as here, the villain of the piece may be a successful but ordinary family man, surrounded by unsuspecting loved ones of his own, who has no great need or motive to inflict suffering on others, but decides to do so anyway, just to see what it feels like. And it is the pointlessness of that act that makes it all the more chilling.

Furthermore the movie works because of the genuine chemistry between the two leading parts, who play the lovestruck Rex and the happy-go-lucky, delightful, but ill-fated Saskia. Not since I watched the death of Laura Palmer in Twin Peaks has film so successfully conveyed such a sense of loss over the disappearance of a bright young life.

In summary, The Vanishing is a very moving picture, which will reward film fans who understand that the everyday evil inherent in mankind is far more believable and haunting than the CGI from any Hollywood creature feature.

This movie was very well made and kept my interest throughout. However, when it was finished, I almost wished I hadn't watched it, as the conclusion was EXTREMELY disturbing. I was pretty much expecting an ending rather like this, but still it left me feeling very unsettled.

This movie is about a man and his girlfriend. They stop at a rest stop, but she never returns. Years pass and he is obsessed with finding out what happened to her. Finally, after going to the media about this, he is contacted by a man who says he can solve this mystery----provided he do EXACTLY what he tells him to do and does not question ANYTHING he has him do.

So, do I recommend you watch it? Well, if you are faint of heart or a child, no. Otherwise, watch it but be forewarned.

1. Since this is a mystery movie so I can't write much, but let me say this is among the best mystery movie I have seen, and I will put it at par with the Gone Girl (2014) movie.

2. If you love cinema, then make sure that you watch this one.

A Dutch couple, Rex Hofman (Gene Bervoets) and Saskia Wagter (Johanna ter Steege), are on vacation, driving through France. They pull over at a busy service station where Saskia goes to the shop for drinks, but she never returns, having been abducted by calculating chemistry teacher Raymond Lemorne (Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu). Three years pass and Rex is still obsessed with finding out what happened to Saskia, so when Raymond contacts him, he agrees to anything in order to learn the truth.

I'd read that the ending to The Vanishing was a real shocker, but to be honest, I saw it coming a mile off and it had very little impact on me other than to make me think how stupid Rex must be to agree to the villain's terms. The rest of the film is a leisurely study of two characters, and is reasonably entertaining, but far from the gripping, creepy and disturbing tale that many claim it to be. Perhaps I've just seen too many really messed-up movies in my time, but I won't be losing any sleep over this one.

This movie from start to finish has really no merits that I could see. The plot unfolds at an almost painfully sluggish pace, and came across as very disjointed and overly drawn out in places. Very little insight was established in terms of what Rex really had to endure with the disappearance of his lover, the film almost makes her disappearance seem trivial in it's execution. The protagonist/the kidnapper was lacking in the character development department too, small insights into his early boyhood behaviors and apparent sociopathic personality are presented, but in my opinion executed very poorly. Overall a pretty uneventful film, I really do not understand the intrigue at all.