Sadly, I have to give this movie a THUMBS DOWN. I don't recommend you watch it.This movie has many good aspects. There are noteworthy things in the writing, acting, and directing. It is surprisingly good for a TV movie. (I saw it on the Lifetime Network in Nov-2008.) Some of the comments on IMDb accuse the movie of being cliché. I don't think that's fair. It certainly echoes and builds upon other horror movies. I thought it had a great deal in common with The Hills Have Eyes. There is an Invasion of the Body Snatchers aspect, and maybe a slight Poltergeist aspect. But it wasn't cliché.Actually, I think this movie is superior to The Hills Have Eyes. It manages to build a greater level of suspense, and it does so with virtually zero gore. That is a notable achievement. You can let older children watch this movie without worrying about scarring them psychologically, but mature fans of horror will still be on the edge of their seats the whole time.Another great thing about this movie is that, whereas in most horror movies the characters always make the WRONG choices (which is frustrating to the audience), in this movie the characters contemplate the wrong choices but then end up making the RIGHT choices. This adds to the suspense, and makes it all the more surprising when those choices go wrong. I found that refreshing. (An example: neat the end of the movie, the father decides to drive to a neighboring town instead of staying in the possessed town. From the audience's point of view, the father makes the right choice, but then everything goes wrong anyways.)HOWEVER... although there are good things in this movie, the ending sucks. It sucks just as badly as all the comments on IMDb say it does.The ending sucks because a) there are too many unanswered questions, and b) there is not a sufficient explanation for who the villain was, and what the actual fate of the family was.As for the unanswered questions... we never knew how the boy disappeared in the desert, or what happened to him while he was gone. We never found out who was stealing belongings and sorting them into piles in the mine shaft, or why. We never found out if there was a supernatural aspect to the sand storms. We never found out exactly what happened in the ghost town. We never found out how the father walked in a straight line but still ended up back at the ghost town.The movie suggests three possible explanations for the mysterious antagonist:1- Descendants of neutron bomb victims who refused to evacuate.2- Angry Native American spirits -- the ghost town having been built on a grave.3- Aliens.These are the three theories that the guy in the jail cell tells the father.But the movie gives clues that are at odds with each other.=> The glass bomb site and the snorting creature in the mine shaft suggest MUTANTS.=> The symbolic layout of the abandoned cars and the raven suggest Indian SPIRITS.=> The Stepford town, the woman from the video working at the fast food place, and the ultimate possession of the family suggest ALIENS.This is confusing and frustrating for the audience.The movie is good enough that it makes you really want a resolution. But the answers cannot be found within the movie itself, nor can you extrapolate the answers from the given clues. Therefore, despite the good aspects of the script, the direction, and the acting, the experience of watching this movie is ultimately highly dissatisfying.

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.

I caught this film today on a slow Sunday before Bank Holiday and was pleasantly surprised. For the bulk of this film you go along expecting run of the mill Stephen King-eseque 'clone' fare, then Disappearance suddenly hits you with a curve ball ending that is very enigmatic and gives you absolutely no answers. (never-mind answers on a plate). In an age where identi-kit movies trundle off the Hollywood assembly line, thats a brave step for any film, for a made-for-TV effort its positively audacious.**MIld Spoiler Alert**Having perused the comments already made here, the almost brutal way the writers curtailed this movie seems to generate considerable ire and indignation in some viewers, resulting in, IMO, harsh scores. At the end of this film the family are caught in the middle of an on-going mystery and atypically the viewer is caught there with them. More so, the intentionally vague final scene when the daughter feeds the crow, leaves you feeling you now know even less than they do. You almost expect the continuity voice-over to announce part II next week. It's unsatisfying and vaguely irritating and in an almost perverse way, I kind of like it all the more, for it. It lifts the movie from the hum-drum and fits very well with the understated unease that pervades the film throughout.If you're the kind of person who hated the 60's TV series 'The Prisoner' for failing to conclude with pat-answers then you're going to abhor this film for the same reason. If you're the kind of person who enjoys the prospect of having their imagination stimulated by a made-for-TV movie you fully expected was going to be the usual 2nd rate pap, then you're going to enjoy this film. A far from perfect movie, but one deserving of more credit than it garners on these pages.

I'm going to offer an opinion somewhat different from everyone else's. My opinion ranks somewhere between those who thought the movie was wonderful despite the ending, and those who think the ending (or lack thereof) stank.The other reviewers are correct in telling you that director/writer Walter Klenhard generates some wonderful suspense. If this is the kind of horror story that Klenhard can tell, then he should do more of it -- he just needs someone to help him sharpen his focus.Everywhere you look, Klenhard defies horror movie convention. The idea of the family being stuck in a ghost town in the middle of nowhere is wonderfully creepy. While not completely original ("The Hills Have Eyes"), it's a nice alternative to all those thrillers that take place in enclosed places like ghost ships, haunted houses, and even spaceships. So one point there.Another point for having the characters behave in a level-headed manner. For the most part, Klenhard manages to avoid the trap of having horror movie characters act in idiotic ways such as wandering off alone. That DOES happen in this movie, but more often than not, faced with a choice of doing the smart thing or something reckless, they choose to do the smart thing, such as staying together in one room, or getting out of Dodge altogether.Also, Klenhard has a knack for creating wonderfully suspenseful moments. The tension involved in knowing that there is something in the town but NOT being able to see it is just terrific. The movie builds wonderfully from a feeling of uneasiness to one of constant, impending danger.Where the movie falls down is the ending. For some reason, in the last 30 minutes Klenhard sees fit to throw in every scary movie cliché, including the local authorities who are a part of the horror; previously-disappeared people who reappear as some kind of zombies; and the one lone guy in town who seems to know what's going on. This last one is the most annoying, because we are looking for an explanation for the weird goings-on and he babbles on about atomic mutations, Indian burial grounds AND aliens and Area 51. For crying out loud, it can't be ALL THREE! We're left with the impression that the guy is nuts and not much help.It's okay to offer minimal information and let people fill in the blanks, but here it looks like Klenhard just didn't know how to end this thing. I remember reading a review which asked the question, "How understated can a story be before it becomes UNSTATED?" That question applies here.Still, a movie that is so good for 90% of it and only falls apart at the end is (to me) worth watching. Frankly, you will enjoy 90% of this film. And about that ending...it's so inconclusive, so open-ended, that it practically cries out, "SEQUEL!!!" I know if they came out with "Disappearance 2" that I'd watch it.But they better tell me what the hell is going on in that town.