The Vanished

Actor turned newb writer and director Peter Facinelli, wore all three hats in this B-grade film, and although flawed, it was still enjoyable. New filmmakers have to start somewhere, right? This was his 3rd full length feature film, and I've seen much worse from seasoned filmmakers lately. My biggest issue was the terrible acting by Anne Heche and especially Thomas Jane and his changing weird voice, but some of that blame also falls on the inexperience of the newb director not directing his cast and scenes effectively. Overall though, the directing was fairly decent as was the camera work. The cinematography and score were on point. The writing did have some plot and technical issues, and the pacing needed to be faster and/or the films 115 min runtime edited or cut down to around 90 mins. But the overall story with its twists and turns and surprise ending was conceived very well - it was worth the slow pacing and long runtime. If you enjoy mystery thrillers with some scary moments, you will enjoy this one. Watching it a second time knowing the ending is like watching a different movie, which is well put together. Ignore the wannabe critics and their ridiculously low ratings... it's a solid and well deserved 7/10 from me.