(2001)
6-7-03 |
Starring: Harry Hamlin, Jeremy Lelliott, Susan Dey, Basia A'hern, Jamie Croft |
We rented this movie thinking it would be 7th Heaven meets Tremors. The cover, as you can see above, makes this look like so much "horror" cheese. Gladly, we were disappointed by Disappearance actually being somewhat good, and interesting. When the family initially explores the house, they find skin with strange markings stretched on a wall. Later on, Jim (Hamlin) finds their car among those of many other victims, these cars laid out in the same pattern as the design on the skin. While wandering through the desert, Jim and Ethan (a friend of his son's) come across an area of glass formed by weapon testing. These events all seem like they're going to be tied together in some elaborate explanation, but, to our surprise, they are not. This is one of the very, very few movies that will set you up, throwing different story elements at you, and never bring them together. Instead, we view the events as if we were passing through the town ourselves. This is not a movie for those who must have everything explained nice and neatly for them. What's truly going on is left to the imagination of the viewer. If you were pissed they didn't show the witch in Blair Witch, definitely don't see Disappearance. More good things about this movie: We actually get to see an SUV go off-road! I think this is a first. For a horror movie, the people are pretty rational (mostly). Shirley Walker does the score. And last, but best, there's Evilcam! (Evilcam will be explained...sometime). The Bad: that damn Matt kid. He's a headstrong little punk who ignores good reason, like when Patty falls down a hole and he insists on going down there by rope. Why in God's fruitful crotch would he need to go down? As soon as he reaches the bottom he turns around and climbs back up. As the one stupid guy in this movie, he sucks enough for everyone. For a made-for-TV movie starring the Brady Bunch, Disappearance is pretty damn good. It offers us some cool conspiracy setup, but leaves it a mystery. If you want to, you can make up your own ending, or you can let the movie just be. Either way, Disappearance is a different kind of film, one that shouldn't sink into obscurity as it inevitably will. |
