Customer Reviews

Disappearance

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

The thing that amazed me most about this DVD is that the film was a made for TV thriller starring Harry Hamlin and Susan Dey (best known for their performances on L.A. Law) and although the plot may seem contrived to some viewers, I found it to be chilling, entertaining and well acted. Some viewers, I understand, were confused and unhappy with the conclusion (which I will not give away) but I believe the director's idea was to put you into this family's struggle and see it from their viewpoint, so maybe it's fair to say, all questions should not be answered. In the tradition of the older, thinking-man's films, this movie leaves much room for discussion, which is sadly missing from a lot of today's supernatural thrillers where people always want set answers and happy endings. If you want this in this movie, then don't bother. If you are looking for something that is entertaining and leaves room for debate , this is YOUR type of thriller. Plot wise, all I'll say in synopsis is: Harry Hamlin plays a father of two whom has lost his wife five years previously. In an attempt to help with a bonding relationship with his children and his new wife (Dey) they embark on a vacation out west. Hamlin's son, an avid photographer has an interest in stopping in a "Ghost town" of Weaver to shoot some photos. But no one in the neighboring town of Stepford people claim to have never heard of the town.Well, they find Weaver ...or does Weaver find them?

Some critics may shun this movie for it's Stephen King/Twilight Zone overtones. There are many to be found here, throw in a sprinkle of Blair Witch for good measure. Harry Hamlin is great as the protective father and Susan Dey, sadly missing from today's films is a great highly underrated actress and does well as the protective stepmom whose expectations of bonding with her two new stepchildren are taken to a much higher level. You may remember Dey as Laurie Partridge from ABC's Partridge Family or as the tough but sexy DA Grace Van Owen from L.A. Law.

Overall, I thought the movie had many chilling moments and suspense which will undoubtably earn it cult status if even only for it's "Partridge Family", "LA Law" and "7th Heaven" alumni. In the tradition of Stephen King, Twilight Zone and Night Gallery, this movie scores! Definately worth your time!

I just saw Disappearance with Harry Hamlin and Susan Dey. That is 91 minuets of my life I will never ever get back and I fear God will comdemn me to hell for wasting those precious minuets.I thank God I got this thing at the library for FREE......even then the price was to high. This movie had no plot, no logic and no ending. When my TV screen went black, I sat on my sofa with my mouth open and the little man in my brain was screaming....."What the hell just happened"?!I'm not going to wast our time telling you any more about this movie...but I will tell you one thing. If you see this DVD at the video store or at Wallmart for sale....RUN! Run like hell! At least the sprint will be more exciting.

Although there were some incongruities in the movie, it could have been a good one - the suspense was there and I watched it with interest but you kind of want to know the explanation at the end of the movie and it wasn't even something one could figure out. Two possible explanations were given:
1. the ghost town was built on Indian burial grounds and those responsible for the problems encountered there were spirits
2. they detonated a neutron bomb there in 1948 - the people got away and hid and their kids were mutants.
But neither of these work for the end of the movie where the protagonists were apparently unharmed but we are not sure what is going on with them - maybe made into stepford people but very uncertain. They are now living in the neighboring town (the one they first stopped at before they went to the ghost town). No hint at what happened except a vague mention of aliens. It's just like recording a movie and having it cut off just before the ending only you see the ending in "Disappearance" but it's a non ending with not so much as a hint about what is going on. Too bad, it could have been a good movie - it definitely had its moments. However, in my opinion, writing a good ending is an important part of the film and a film like Disappearance which gets sloppy with the ending is not worth watching.

Disappearance looked good on the shelf at the video rental store. Disappearance looked pretty good for the first 15 minutes. Somewhere along the way, Disappearance started to disappear.

The acting delivered by Harry Hamlin, Susan Dey, and Jeremy Lelliot is solid. Jeremy did an especially good job. His character took charge in certain scenes. The photography and sets were good, very authentic and believable.

The unseen, unknown "stalkers" were a part of the problem. They are never seen and we are asked to believe that they might be a cloud of dust. They breathe heavy and are apparently color blind, or perhaps possess a built in night vision.

Lastly, the movie ends terribly. We're all so used to a happy ending that this one really disappoints. Perhaps a little credit is due for a unique although disappointing ending.

Entertaining, but don't set all of your evenings entertainment hopes on this one.

I could say many good things about this move--I enjoyed most of it--but it was a "cheat." What I mean by that is the writers seemed to have come up with about a dozen ideas, wrote some dialog around that--then quit!

A movie doesn't have to have a "Hollywood" ending but, once a situation has been set up, it should have some consistent logic to it. In other words, no matter how weird or seemingly impossible a situtation may be (and I can accept everything this movie implied), the consequences should not be ignored.

Example: 20-some families have disappeared in the same area over a period of years. Wouldn't that have drawn LOTS of attention? And wouldn't searchers recognize the missing people who had been "converted" (or whatever.)
Most of the residents acted almost zombi-like. But the sheriff could easily pass for "normal" (even though he obviously was not.)

I could give many other examples. The best movies are those that make one think. But this movie took the lazy approach to that goal. They simply combined some elements of a scary movie, left out TONS of logic then quit--hoping that viewers would somehow connect the proper dots into a good movie.

The acting was good. The writing started out being good, but then... Hu?

I don't seem to recall going out for a beer during the last ten minutes or so. Disappearance has a wonderful build-up, but ultimately went nowhere.

What a shame, I really wanted to like it, but it all fell flat.

This movie is pretty good up until the last 15 minutes or so of it.

I saw this part of this movie in a hotel room about a month ago, but had to leave before it was over. I came on Amazon to buy it, and after reading the reviews, I was reluctant to buy it. But I figured for under $10, it was worth it.

**Possible spoilers below**

As other reviewers have said, the ending is terrible. It explains nothing about what happened during the movie. If the ending was better, I would probably give this movie a 5 out of 5 star rating.

I think this movie was really good. But the part
that confuses me is the ending. I loved the whole
idea of the movie. But i agree with other reviews
i read above that it should have been more put
together. More explained The things that happen
are really scary. The plot is a family goes into a
ghost town. They go in a run down building and
when they come out to leave, they're car doesnt
start. They decide to camp out in the run down
building. When the family wakes up their car is
missing. So now they are stranded in the middle
of a desert. The nearest gas shop is 35 miles
away. It excites you cause you know the "thing"
is doing this. You can see from his eye point
of view and you can hear his breathing whenever
he is on the screen. You never see him though. ...

I really thought that the idea of the story was okay, but it made no sense at all. It just kind of ended very suddenly. You never find out what the heck is going on. You never figure out the mystery. It's supposed to be suspense but it makes no sense! I only give it two stars because it's really disappointing that you don't find out what the problem/mystery is, what happens to the characters, and why everybody's all messed up. It's a good idea, but somebody needs to make a new version of it.

A simple spooky thriller type movie. Loved it.
What I did not like was that my seller sent me a version with big YELLOW SPANISH subtitles. And there was no mention of this in the description. Really irritating trying to watch.