THE VANISHING: RECUT (Released)

Poster - https://78.media.tumblr.com/ae83693ad4c73d6106622566483f7db7/tumblr_p45ijl05Vx1urlrbdo1_1280.png

Trailer - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZV1pHtEKQM

I’m a big fan of Tim Krabbe’s horror novel The Golden Egg and George Sluizer’s 1988 movie adaptation Spoorloos. That shocking ending gave me nightmares for weeks. The 1993 american remake didn’t work. The story is too blunt and tragic for the Hollywood standards, and to change that is to kill the most terrifying aspect of the film. I do think the US version has a lot going for it tho. Jeff Bridges is completely terrifying and Kiefer is a more likeable lead (which would make the character’s fate even more painful to watch).
That’s why I decided to recut the film, removing the dumb changes and preserving the essence of the story and its terrifying conclusion. I’m pretty sure it’s been done before, but I decided to do my own version and share it with whoever might be interested.

Changes:

• Decided to follow the original film’s structure, so my cut starts with the disappearence and then we’re introduced to Barney.
• A lot of ‘relationship’ scenes between Jeff and Rita were cut since Rita is not a crucial character here.
• Rita disappears from the story after she leaves Jeff for good.
• Cut out the scene of Barney following Rita to the apartment and approaching from behind while she changes the message on the answering machine. It seems careless to me that the character would try to kidnap her right there. I believe that was only included to add more tension to the film.
• And of course, the whole Hollywood ending was removed and I tried to recreate the original ending the best way I could.