Vanishing on 7th Street 2010

James Rocchi, MSN Movies: A little more polish in the writing could have made it a must-see, but as it stands, it's a fairly solid B-movie matinee with a nicely calibrated mix of intellectual dread and visceral shock. Read more

Manohla Dargis, New York Times: Working from a script with diminishing returns by Anthony Jaswinski, Mr. Anderson smartly frontloads the movie, drawing you in with long shots of deserted cityscapes, the quiet punctured by periodic bird calls and dog barks. Read more

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out: The movie begins to feel like a grad-school thesis masquerading as entertainment. So what's the metaphor? It's way too vague to tell. Read more

Noel Murray, AV Club: After a promising start with a nearly wordless opening 15 minutes, Vanishing becomes awfully talky, with far more time spent on the characters' bickering than on them racing to escape the encroaching darkness. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: Brad Anderson's supernatural thriller is stacked to keep us guessing. Initially, this makes it watchably atmospheric. But the inconclusive hints lead to the sense that he's withholding too much. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: Prediction: Vanishing on 7th St. will vanish from theaters very quickly. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: Mostly, we're left staring blankly at a quartet of victimized ciphers. Read more

Kirk Honeycutt, Hollywood Reporter: All the trappings of a horror film without any real horror or jolts. Read more

Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: Anderson spends most of his energy creating a mood - making "Vanishing" more cerebral than white-knuckle, though a few more shrieks (mine) might have been nice. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: Anderson does a lot with very little - a wavering light, a patch of darkness - and Jaswinski's script tries to break up the stage-bound monotony with a few well-timed (if not particularly informative) flashbacks. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: The complete lack of explanation suggests Jaswinski forgot to finish his script. But Anderson tries hard to compensate, distracting us with suitably ghostly atmospherics. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: Brad Anderson's creepily effective low-budget thriller may not have a punch line worthy of your typical "Twilight Zone" episode, but it otherwise gets the job done in under an hour and a half with a good cast. Read more

Rex Reed, New York Observer: Mr. Anderson has evidently watched a lot of old Twilight Zone reruns. So much of the film's dense, murky palette evokes menace without mayhem, but the wrap-up at the end by Rod Serling is sadly missed. Read more

Tirdad Derakhshani, Philadelphia Inquirer: This is The Twilight Zone as written by Jean Paul Sartre. What audacity! What vision! And, alas, what a failure. Read more

Chuck Wilson, Village Voice: It is creepy enough to make you hope the theater parking lot is brightly lit. Read more