Legacy of Horror ‘26
11/52

A Dutch couple’s holiday gets interrupted when Saskia mysteriously vanishes at a French rest stop, leaving her partner Rex with no leads and no answers. The story follows Rex in his obsessive pursuit of understanding as well as Saskia's kidnapper as he torments and taunts Rex in the wake of her disappearance.

This kidnapper is not a mystery to the audience, however. We are introduced to Raymond quite early in the film, making us privy to his entire preparatory process. We observe as he assesses how much time he’ll have to carry out his crime by testing chloroform on himself. We observe him jokingly screaming with his family, only for him to later enquire with a neighbor whether he was able to hear screaming from the property. We watch him rehearse his pick-up lines and step-by-step routine for getting a woman into his car to drug her, depicted in a similar manner to someone rehearsing for a play. It sent a chill down my spine watching as this ‘family oriented’ every man prepared to kidnap and murder a woman as casually as one would engage with their hobbies.

The subtly of the script and production is a big part of what makes this hit as hard as it does. It doesn’t need screaming, blood and gore to get its point across. It doesn’t rely on jump scares or intense sound design to evoke fear. The very real human evil at the heart of this film is fear inducing enough.

The Vanishing also expertly conveys the uncertainty that underlies familiarity, serving as a reminder that you never really know what another person is doing in their home and with their time. Even if you are married to them. Even if they are your parent. Even if they have a good job and provide for their family. It's impossible to ever truly know a person—and so many of the scariest people are individuals who would easily blend in with the crowd. Terrifying stuff, portrayed to an uncomfortably realistic degree in this film.

The final sequence of this film made my jaw drop and my blood run cold. An impeccably done piece of horror cinema. I loved this!

Week 39: French Horror (technically Dutch, whoops)