SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?

Overrated

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Vanishing on 7th Street could make a great episode of The Twilight Zone. In fact its thunder was rather stolen by an episode of Doctor Who in 2009, Silence in the Library.It is an apocalyptic thriller where an unexplained blackout plunges the city of Detroit into total darkness and people just disappear.The next day only a few people have survived surrounded by heaps of empty clothing and abandoned cars. This small band of bickering survivors find their way to a bar, which has a generator that keeps the lights running as well as food and drink.When night falls the darkness is coming for them especially as the lights begin to flicker and one by one they are in danger of disappearing.The film is less of a horror film more of an eerie psychological thriller that leaves a lot of things unexplained. Where has this 'darkness' come from? How can it manifest the visions on the survivors?The film provides no answers because the central story is too slim but it still maintains your interest.

In short, this was a disappointment. Other reviews have captured the lack of a plot "pay-off" as you never really learn what is going on. There was another well-thought-out review that asked to view the movie with some understanding of subtext. I admittedly agreed with the gist of that review. However, there is nothing in the movie to really suggest to the viewer that there is a deeper meaning, if there really is. That said, what you are left with is unending suspense that has been perpetuated by a suspension of disbelief that awaits an answer. Unfortunately, you never get the answer. So, you end the movie feeling unsatisfied. Just to counter the goal of the subtext, if it was deliberate...I find it confusing that the solutions to the problem (which is our dependence on oil, technology, etc which make us a shadow of ourselves) end up being Promethean fire and (dwindling?) solar energy (which is a technological advancement)? Hmmm...the mixed message gets lost as you wait for the cool M Night Shamylan-esque twist that you never get.

I have to give this film high marks for theme and atmosphere, but less for the execution of the theme and the formulaic conventions that detracted from both theme and atmosphere. The set-up for the opening, a blackout followed by reaching shadows and mysterious disappearances, is well done, a movie projectionist prophetically reading about the real-life vanishing of the Roanoke Colony while he eats a fruit long associated with the Biblical Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The character is well delineated in a few minutes, made memorable, which is good, because although he is absent most of the film, he later plays a key role in giving the audience the clues that will help them make sense of what is happening, a knowledge denied to the characters themselves. The situation and theme seemed, to me, very Lovecraftian in the sense that we have ordinary folks subjected to an incursion by the unknowable, victimized by a cosmos devoid of good or evil, an impersonal universe that takes lives without either malice or compassion. The effect is cheapened somewhat by the artificiality of dramatic flickering lights, and the overblown theatrics of the other characters, both against the encroaching shadows and with each other. The Lovecraftian theme is also weakened by an ending that is much too optimistic in light of what has gone before; the eeriness and the terror, even though not as sustained as they should have been, would have been intensified by a more pessimistic closing, thoroughly steeped in irony and menace. It was a good try, well-intentioned, but, ultimately, flawed.

The film is set in Detroit in modern times. Paul handles the technical end of a movie theatre. Luke had a nice job at a television studio. Young John was with his mom. Rosemary was a nurse. One day darkness falls, so to speak. People disappear, with their clothes left behind. The period that the sun shines decreases rapidly.Three days later, almost everyone is gone. The four have found each other, and are trying to save Paul. They have figured out that they need to stay in some sort of light. Batteries that work are getting harder and harder to find. Luke locates a truck that might still work.The darkness comes after them. Will any of them survive?------Scores------Cinematography: 6/10 It's a dark subject. The camera work is pretty good for the trying situation.Sound: 6/10 No particular problems, but the creepy music is not all that creepy.Acting: 5/10 Hayden Christenson, Thandie Newton, and John Leguizamo all gave reasonable performances, but I have seen each of them do better in better films. The script did not give them much interesting to do or to say.Screenplay: 4/10 Short on ideas, useless ending. The references to Roanoke Island did not seem to lead anywhere.