THE VANISHING (1988)

It took me this long to sit down and watch The Vanishing (we’re talking about the 1988 version here, not the ‘90s remake), and Jesus, am I happy I finally did. I hate using cliched phrases, but it’s a triumph. The acting is sublime and the situation unbearably tragic and terrifying (which is a personal nightmare of mine). It exists in a world that swings from flat, bright warmth to the blackest dark — more “normal” than Lynch, but wonderfully saturated in omens and invisible dread, as we witness how two men (the hero and the villain) deal with their individual obsessions. I LOVE this movie.