Wonderful character development!

Dreadfully Boring

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

A movie like "Disappearance" is in some aspects a real disappointment, but not because it is a really bad movie. There are a lot of good things to be found here; in fact, the movie manages to be good right up to near the very end. The cast give professional performances and make their characters' words and action convincing. It is very well directed by writer/director Walter Klenhard, from the elaborate camera movements to having an atmosphere with real bite; you can feel the isolation, heat, and dust in the air. The production values are really good for what had to have been a limited budget. And the movie, while not scary for people like me who are veteran horror viewers, does manage to be eerie almost in every scene. Unfortunately, all this good stuff doesn't really make up for an ending that is really frustrating. The movie seems to be building to reveal SOME kind of revelation as to what is happening and why it is happening. But despite a number of possible clues presented, no definite explanation is given. Then the movie has the gall to end things on a note that will be very familiar to veteran horror viewers instead of something more original. It's like getting a very fancily wrapped present, but once you remove the gorgeous packaging you find nothing inside. This movie could have been a sleeper of a horror movie had it ended in a better way, but as it is, it's an interesting failure.

Disappearance is set in the Mojave desert as Jim (Harry Hamlin) & Patty Henley (Susan Dey) plus their two kids Katie (Basia A'Hern) & Matt (Jeremey Lelliott) along with Ethan (Jamie Croft) a friend of the family are travelling along, they stop at a roadside diner & ask about an old deserted mining town on the map called Weaver. No-one claims to have heard of it but it's definitely there & the family decide to take a detour in order to check it out & take some pictures. Once at the town they take some pictures & have a look around but when it comes time to leave their car won't start & they have to spend the night there. While looking around they find a camcorder videotape which they play only to discover footage of a scared woman saying all her friends have disappeared, the next morning & their car has disappeared as things take a very sinister turn. What is Weaver's secret? Will the Henley's ever leave there alive...Written, co-executive produced & directed by Walter Klenhard I have to say that Disappearance is one of the most frustrating films I have ever watched. For the first 85 minutes it was a pretty good mysterious mix of thriller & horror film but then we are treated to one of the single worst endings ever in motion picture history. The script suggest lots of different things but never elaborates or confirms & I was sitting there genuinely intrigued about what was going on, from the families car mysterious disappearing, the four recent graves, the thing in the abandoned mines, the supernatural sandstorm, the sudden & unexplained disappearance of Ethan & his just as unexplained reappearance, the Sheriff's sinister motives, the compass in the car going crazy, the crashed plane, the townspeople denying Weaver existed & the possible side effects of a neutron bomb being dropped near Weaver in the 40's but they are all tossed out of the window & for all we know could have been totally separate random events. Everything was coming along nicely & was set up for a big twist revelation but none was forthcoming & instead I was treated to the most ambiguous, strange, surreal & downright frustrating ending possible. If nothing else the ending contradicts much of what has gone before & leaves the viewer with more questions than answers. It's almost as if the makers had these great ideas but then didn't know what to do with them & just made the ending up on the spot. I just felt I put so much effort into watching the film which can be pretty slow at times without any sort of reward & in fact the ending felt more like a kick in the teeth or a good two finger salute!Director Klenhard does a reasonable job here, the old ghost town has a certain atmosphere & the large expansive desert locations give a good sense of isolation. It's well made but what were they thinking with that ending? Nothing fits, nothing makes sense & it's just a huge frustrating mess that after sitting through the thing for nearly an hour & a half leaves you confused & wanting to know more. Despite being a horror film there's no blood or gore although there are one or two creepy moments here & there. The film actually reminds of The Hills Have Eyes (2006) remake for large parts as that is what the film is set-up to be before a bizarre ending which does nothing to bring any closure to the film.Technically the film is good with high production values, good special effects, sets, locations & cinematography. Set in America but filmed in South Australia. The acting is fine from a decent cast.Disappearance is a really odd film, for a long time it shapes up to be a neat little horror mystery thriller but it never explains anything which happens & the truly surreal ending just throws up more questions than answers. I really can't see anyone making head nor tail of this, I really can't.

For the most part 'Disappearance' is a suspenseful and watchable film. I do however, question Harry Hamlin's acting ability on occasion. For me he seems to give a lot of wooden performances, but you can overlook it this time and concentrate on the story itself. The family (father, stepmother, daughter, son and son's best friend) are on a road trip in the Nevada desert They divert about 20-30 miles from the main road to reach a known 'ghost town'. Here some very strange things have happened and they soon realise that they are actually fighting for their lives. If you can imagine something like 'The Hills Have Eyes' meets 'Wrong Turn', you're on the right path. The gradual tension and never seeing the menacing presence is a nice touch. You had to use your imagination near the end, some people don't mind others do. A low budget film with a few highlights...it's worth a watch.

Normally, I have no problem with a movie or story with an ending that leaves you wondering to puzzle out what really happened, when it's done on purpose...But this movie really feels like they got all but the last 15 minutes done, then realized they had $5 left to finish on...I saw it on TBS... I recommend you not spend money on it either. If you catch it on TV, watch all but the last 15 minutes, then walk away and make your own ending in your mind.Really, the movie would have been better if they had simply got away, and come back with the State Poice of Feds only to find that the town and the car graveyard was gone, and by all appearances had never been there..."Wish I had more thumbs, so I could give that movie 4 thumbs down!"