The Vanishing Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		2.5

The Vanishing Blu-ray Movie Review

If only it had.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman October 28, 2014

William Wyler famously revisited his 1936 film These Three in 1961 under its original stage title The Children's Hour, Frank Capra did much the same with his 1933 Lady for a Day and 1961 Pocketful of Miracles, and perhaps more saliently, Alfred Hitchcock made The Man Who Knew Too Much in 1934 and 1956. Still, George Sluizer’s re-do of his original Dutch The Vanishing (just released by Criterion) is one of the few times a director has redone his material for a different market, in this case the English speaking world, when Sluizer brought out The Vanishing in 1993, some five years after the original version detailing the horrors of a kidnapped woman whose disappearance haunts her boyfriend took the Art House world by storm. Unfortunately this remake stands as a parable for just about everything that can go wrong when good intentions lead almost directly to cinematic Hell, courtesy of Hollywood’s tendency to manhandle square pegs into round holes. While initially quite disturbing (how could this subject matter be anything else, frankly?), The Vanishing is a rather flaccid attempt at spreading Sluizer’s gospel of evil masquerading as the guy next door, and instead is one of the more boneheaded remakes in contemporary cinematic history.

The usually resilient Dutch are not typically thought of as being in the same nihilist category as Germans, but Sluizer’s original film was a bleak, hope deflating piece that pitted a distraught lover against the sociopath who had kidnapped his girlfriend. The original film played brilliantly on the idea of compulsion, both that of the kidnapper and that of the frantic boyfriend, a guy who spends years trying to figure out how and why his love simply disappeared at a gas station one day, without leaving behind a shred of evidence as to her fate.

The remake does what Hollywood thinks it does best, namely offer a big star (Jeff Bridges) the chance to go bat guano crazy on screen with a tic filled performance, while also delivering tried and true horror tropes that were virtually nowhere to be seen in the original iteration. Here the romantic couple is Jeff Harriman (Kiefer Sutherland) and Diane Shaver (Sandra Bullock in an early role which is more or less a glorified bit part). When Diane disappears one day at a gas station, Jeff becomes a haunted individual, trying to figure out what happened and why. He’s still at it several years later, even though he’s now involved with spunky Rita Baker (Nancy Travis), who kind of traverses both tolerance and impatience with her new boyfriend’s obvious obsession.

Ultimately the film winds back upon itself once Jeff gets involved with the Ted Bundy-esque Barney Cousins (Jeff Bridges). Barney is of course the reason why Diane disappeared, and he toys with Jeff’s curiosity like a cat with a helpless mouse. That leads to the remake’s biggest misstep, a cataclysmically misconceived third act that features a showdown that would be more at home in a C level (or worse) horror film. The original’s bristling psychological subtext is almost completely jettisoned in the remake in favor of genre tropes that are not even executed that well to begin with.

Sluizer may simply not have had the Hollywood bona fides (or, frankly, cojones) to rein in Bridges, who is mannered to the extreme in this film. Sutherland does much better as the afflicted lover who can’t quite escape the devastating memory of a seemingly perfect day suddenly scarred by the inexplicable. Travis is also a surprising amount of fun as the new girlfriend, even if Sluizer contributes a series of shockingly inconsistent behaviors to the character. Fans of the original version often cite the character of Rita as one of the two major flaws in the film (the other being the patently absurd ending), but there's actually some nice development for Jeff's character due to Rita's involvement in this version. It's not revelatory by any stretch of the imagination, but it offers some additional insight into Jeff's inescapable obsession and how it colors his troubled persona.

The ending is indeed where The Vanishing jumps the shark (and/or grave) into ridiculousness. Why Sluizer decided to completely rethink the climax of the film is unknown (sadly Sluizer passed away recently), but one can easily imagine some Hollywood “know it all” arguing for a less devastating ending than that of the original. Unfortunately the remake’s ending tends to undercut whatever already small amount of tension and unease has been built up.

The Vanishing Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Vanishing is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Twilight Time with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. This is a somewhat modest but generally satisfying looking transfer, one that never really pops in any meaningful way, but which offers above average levels of detail and accurate if not especially mind boggling color. Elements reveal occasional minor issues like speckling and flecks of dirt and/or dust, but there's nothing very egregious to worry about. The grain field is natural looking, spiking appreciably in the many darker scenes as should be expected. The brightly lit daytime scenes offer substantial depth of field and clarity, and a very healthy bitrate helps to support detail in the many darker, shrouded sequences. There are no issues with compression artifacts or other anomalies.

The Vanishing Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Vanishing features DTS-HD Master Audio tracks in both 5.1 and 2.0. The 5.1 track is weighted fairly heavily to the front channels, with the exception of Jerry Goldsmith's score and occasional sound effects. Both tracks offer sterling fidelity, with good reproduction and prioritization of dialogue, score and effects. There are no issues of any kind to report.

The Vanishing Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Original Theatrical Trailer (480i; 2:24)


• Isolated Score Track is presented in DTS-HD Master Audio 5.0.

The Vanishing Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Bridges may have been the supposed selling point for this American remake, but it's actually Sutherland who delivers the goods in this problematic domestic version. Sluizer probably couldn't resist the siren call of Hollywood, but as with Circe of old, sirens are rarely the harbingers of good luck, and this Vanishing probably never should have appeared to begin with. There are fans of this version, and those folks will be happy to know that technical merits are very good if not stellar.