Vanishing on 7th Street (2011)

Directed by Brad Anderson and written by Anthony Jaswinski. It stars Hayden Christensen, Thandie Newton, John Leguizamo and Jacop Latimore. Music is by Lucas Vidal and cinematography by Uta Briesewitz.Detroit falls dark and silent and people are disappearing into thin air. A tiny group of survivors "exist"...Well it went down like a lead balloon! Critics and horror fans alike can't find much to like about it. It's certainly a tricky film to have confidence in recommending to anyone, for it's a bit short on answers and scares, sort of? However, considering the budget there's some technical guile here, and if giving the makers some credit, there's possibly intelligence of thought in the writing as well. Religio observations, a sly incorporation of the Roanoke colony disappearance and an existential undercurrent.Yet it's such a frustrating picture, especially if you are a fan of Anderson's best works, or even if you rock up expecting the scarer that the adverts and plot synopsis' suggested. Cast are by the numbers wasted due to being hamstrung by the plot's attempt at blending chills with deeper thought, rendering the characterisations as unfleshed, while the ending feels like a cheat of unfinished business.Personally I'm glad I didn't pay at the cinema to see it, but with that comes the fact that in my darkened living room the other night I enjoyed it to a point. But here's a thing, it probably needs a second viewing for it to breathe better, but I'm not sure I could ever sit through it again... 6/10

What we have here is a tragically underrated film of great artistic and philosophical value. Fifty thousand arguments regarding the films meaning and its antagonist have been made. This fact alone proves the films importance. Some people will hate the ambiguity and "shadiness" of this movie... as it is very ambiguous and "shady". These people will despise not having a light shown on the answers that they hungrily anticipate will be fed to them. These people are frustrated. Rather than appreciate what has been given for them to chew on, they react with disappointment. I appreciate that the movie is really well written, the story is solid and highly intriguing, the acting and dialogue are quite good, and the visual effects are well done. I initially viewed it closer to the time of its' release, perhaps 2011- 2012. I enjoyed it a lot, but it vanished from my mind after I finished pondering on it. I found it again, and watched it again only realizing that I'd already seen it before about 1/3 through. Fortunely, it was fresh again to me. This is one of those types of films that I desperately want to have in my collection so that I can revisit them in the future and still be intrigued. It is also valuable to my collection so that I can watch it with another person and use it as sort of a litmus test to gauge their particular belief systems. Some may interpret the event in scientific terms, some on religious terms, some as something else. I think it's an analogy for death and maybe the thereafter. Who can say for sure what awaits us after the darkness consumes us? It is life's greatest mystery. It occurred to me that they may be dying characters in a dead world. Maybe it's then truly hiding in the shadows. It's up to the viewer to decide.

Why is it that most of the time, when ideas are there that could prove really constructive in the world of cinema today, they often goes wasted? This film's basic ideas are not bad, and the first few minutes really gripped me in it's potential when the weird things started happening. The Vaninshing pushes the buttons of basic human fears, and does it so well in the beginning. Then all of a sudden the characters, the story and overall reason for things to happen starts to deteriorate. Dumb, silly ideas from the characters being carried out, outright insane actions and the one thing that really bothered me: the strange calm of the characters in spite of what has just happened, and keeps happening. They start talking feelings in the middle of very dangerous situations and on a whole doesn't even reflect on what has happened. No, this was a sad try at what could've been a marvelous movie.

This is actually a decent horror film. Unlike other reviewers I like that nothing is really explained, because let's face it, if there was an explanation, it would almost certainly be stupid. That's not to say it establishes a truly compelling sense of dread, but it does have an atmosphere and menace hangs in the air. The link to the real story of Roanoke colony and "croatoan" could have perhaps been explored a little more. The fact the film doesn't look for naive solutions and an easy finale works in its favour, though I think it should have ended a couple of minutes earlier, at the church.There is something to be said about the arbitrary nature of its premises, like why does solar power work and batteries or electricity don't, or how do you explain the sun, but in such a story you can accept such stuff. What is harder to understand is why it takes these people most of the film and apparently around 4 days to remember that long ago humans discovered fire. As anyone who's read Isaac Asimov's Nightfall can tell you, fire is Man's instinctive way to hold back the darkness.