::VANISHED PERSON THRILLERS::
THE GIST OF THE LIST: Tricky thrillers that feature a character who mysteriously vanishes and the sub-sequential denial of that character's existence by others... often leaving the one and only character who knows of that person's existence to ask - am I crazy or is there a conspiracy?
Not to be confused with missing person mysteries or anything of that ilk, this is a list which is very specific in its requirements - a person needs to vanish, at least one person needs to realize that the said person has vanished, and other characters need to deny the character ever existed or was there.
[LISTED IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER]
OTHER LISTS:
CAMMANDO (MEN-ON-A-MISSION) THRILLERS
CON THRILLERS
COURTROOM THRILLERS
CULT EUROPEAN SUPERHERO MOVIES
DARK COMEDIES WITH PESKY CORPSES, BOTCHED KIDNAPPINGS, MURDEROUS BLUNDERS & ACCIDENTAL DEATHS
DEALS WITH THE DEVIL
DINNER PARTIES FROM HELL
DON'T PERFORM THE AUTOPSY! I'M NOT DEAD!
GOTHIC HORROR
HEIST THRILLERS
HEROIC BLOODSHED + BULLET BALLET + GUN-FU
HOLLYWOOD GIALLO (+ ITS OTHERS)
INNOCENT FUGITIVE ON-THE-RUN THRILLERS
ITALIAN GIALLO (+ ITS OTHERS)
LOCKED ROOM MYSTERIES + IMPOSSIBLE CRIMES
LO-FI SCI-FI
ONE ROOM THRILLERS
PARALLEL UNIVERSES, ALTERNATE REALITIES, FEVERISH DREAMS
POLICE PROCEDURALS
PRISON ESCAPE THRILLERS
RURAL-COUNTRY THRILLERS
THEOLOGICAL FILMS
THRILLING SHORT FILMS
THRILLING TV EPISODES
THRILLING TV MOVIES
UNKNOWN + UNAVAILABLE THRILLERS
VANISHED PERSON THRILLERS
Not to be confused with missing person mysteries or anything of that ilk, this is a list which is very specific in its requirements - a person needs to vanish, at least one person needs to realize that the said person has vanished, and other characters need to deny the character ever existed or was there.
[LISTED IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER]
OTHER LISTS:
CAMMANDO (MEN-ON-A-MISSION) THRILLERS
CON THRILLERS
COURTROOM THRILLERS
CULT EUROPEAN SUPERHERO MOVIES
DARK COMEDIES WITH PESKY CORPSES, BOTCHED KIDNAPPINGS, MURDEROUS BLUNDERS & ACCIDENTAL DEATHS
DEALS WITH THE DEVIL
DINNER PARTIES FROM HELL
DON'T PERFORM THE AUTOPSY! I'M NOT DEAD!
GOTHIC HORROR
HEIST THRILLERS
HEROIC BLOODSHED + BULLET BALLET + GUN-FU
HOLLYWOOD GIALLO (+ ITS OTHERS)
INNOCENT FUGITIVE ON-THE-RUN THRILLERS
ITALIAN GIALLO (+ ITS OTHERS)
LOCKED ROOM MYSTERIES + IMPOSSIBLE CRIMES
LO-FI SCI-FI
ONE ROOM THRILLERS
PARALLEL UNIVERSES, ALTERNATE REALITIES, FEVERISH DREAMS
POLICE PROCEDURALS
PRISON ESCAPE THRILLERS
RURAL-COUNTRY THRILLERS
THEOLOGICAL FILMS
THRILLING SHORT FILMS
THRILLING TV EPISODES
THRILLING TV MOVIES
UNKNOWN + UNAVAILABLE THRILLERS
VANISHED PERSON THRILLERS
List activity
15K views
• 7 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
36 titles
- DirectorSpencer Gordon BennetStarsWilliam 'Stage' BoydClaudia DellHuntley GordonGuests at a luxury hotel are horrified when they witness a man literally "disappear into thin air." The vanished man's relatives hire a detective, who goes to the hotel to investigate the disappearance.NOTES: Supposedly, many of these films are loosely based on a real life incident at 1893 Chicago World's Fair where people vanished for no apparent reason. In reality, it was later found out that serial killer H.H. Holmes would kidnap them and kill them in his basement. None of the films offer this solution.
MY RATING: NOT VIEWED - DirectorVeit HarlanStarsKristina SöderbaumPhilip DornCharlotte SchultzSéraphine and her mother arrive in Paris for the 1867 World Exhibition. As their reservation was lost they must be accommodated in separate hotels. The next day the mother has disappeared and everybody denies having ever met her.NOTES: Another that's supposedly based on the 1893 Chicago World's Fair - at least, inspired by it - this time giving a propagandist reason for the vanishing that involves spy rings.
MY RATING: NOT VIEWED - DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsMargaret LockwoodMichael RedgravePaul LukasWhile travelling in continental Europe, a rich young playgirl realizes that an elderly lady seems to have disappeared from the train.NOTES: This is Hitchcock's definitive take on the sub-genre. Probably the best example of this sort of story. Highly recommended. A true classic.
MY RATING: 9 - DirectorRobert SiodmakStarsFranchot ToneElla RainesAlan CurtisA devoted secretary risks her life to try to find the elusive woman who may prove her boss didn't murder his selfish wife.NOTES: A man is suspected of killing his wife and his alibi - a woman with a prominent hat - seems to have vanished as well as been forgotten by everyone who saw him with her the night of the murder... Collective amnesia? Conspiracy? Is the man simply lying? Crazy?
This is psychological German Expressionism meets Film Noir! Highly recommended!
MY RATING: 8 - DirectorAntony DarnboroughTerence FisherStarsJean SimmonsDirk BogardeDavid TomlinsonVicky Barton visits Paris with her brother Johnny, only to discover the following morning he has gone missing and the hotel staff have no recollection of his presence.NOTES: Terence Fisher directs another adaptation of this supposed World's Fair urban legend and adapts it the best. Its story is about a daughter who checks into a hotel with her mother. The mother isn't feeling well so she stays in the room while her daughter goes to the fair. When she returns, she not only can't find her mother, but her room is no longer there - a wall now stands where her door used to be! To top it all off, everyone says she checked in by herself and her mother never existed! One of the better examples of this sort of film.
MY RATING: 7.5 - DirectorJoseph M. NewmanStarsJeanne CrainMichael RennieMax ShowalterWhen a beautiful bride boards an ocean liner with her new husband, he goes into hiding, and she becomes the target of a murder conspiracy.NOTES: Based upon John Dickson Carr's short story "Cabin B-13" about a woman who can't find her husband on a cruise ship... and everyone thinks she never had a husband and came onto the boat by herself! A rather fun yarn.
The same story was also filmed as an episode of Climax!
MY RATING: 7.5 - DirectorDon MedfordStarsAlfred HitchcockPatricia HitchcockGeoffrey TooneWhen a young woman leaves her ill mother in a Paris hotel room and comes back later, she finds her mother is missing, and all the hotel's employees deny she and her mother were ever there.NOTES: Another adaptation of the World's Fair incident. Remarkably similar to So Long at the Fair... meaning, it basically uses the same script but doesn't give it credit.
It's an effective episode but it's shorter running time, lower production values, and typical TV sensibilities keeps it from being effective as Terence Fisher's film.
MY RATING: 6.5 - DirectorRobert StevensonStarsAlfred HitchcockRuth HusseyVinton HayworthPaula Hudson has a stolen mink coat she tells police she purchased on a recommendation, and when they retrace her steps to find out how she obtained it, everyone denies they ever talked to her about it.NOTES: A woman owns a stolen mink coat which she claims she purchased legally... however, when she investigates with the police everyone seems to not recall the woman nor the mink coat she purchased...
Sure, the stakes aren't high, but it has some clever plotting.
MY RATING: 6 - DirectorMichael AndersonStarsRichard ToddAnne BaxterHerbert LomAt Kimberley Prescott's villa, a stranger shows up and claims he is her brother who supposedly died the previous year in a car accident.NOTES: Everyone thought Kimberly's brother died in a car crash, but sure enough he shows up a year later... but Kimberly says that's not her brother! However, everyone says it is! Is she crazy?
Supposedly remade twice in India - the first in 1963 entitled Shesh Anka (in the Bengali language) and the second in 1964 entitled Pudhiya Paravai (in the Tamil language) - but they changed the narrative around quite a bit, which now concerned a man wanting to marry a woman but runs into complications when his supposed dead ex-wife returns to stop the marital proceedings. Of course, he claims that the woman is not his wife while everyone else does.
MY RATING: 7 - DirectorOtto PremingerStarsKeir DulleaCarol LynleyLaurence OlivierA woman reports that her young daughter is missing, but there seems to be no evidence that she ever existed.NOTES: A woman moves to the UK with her brother. She takes her daughter to school one day, but when she goes to pick her up she isn't there. To top it all off, the school says her daughter isn't even registered! The police begin to think the mother is crazy! Is she? A rather fun yarn.
MY RATING: 7.5 - DirectorJohn PeyserStarsJanet LeighRossano BrazziCesare DanovaWhile vacationing with her husband in Italy, a middle-aged woman wakes up one morning to find that the man in bed with her is an impostor. He, however, claims that he is her husband, and she cannot get anyone to believe her.NOTES: Based on the play by Robert Thomas, a woman wakes up next to a man who is not her husband! However, everyone claims that the man is indeed her husband! Is she crazy or was her husband really kidnapped and swapped with another?
A rather dry affair. The later two TV remakes of the stage play are exponentially better.
MY RATING: 5 - DirectorJack SmightStarsOlivia de HavillandEd NelsonLaraine StephensA wealthy former mental patient goes home to her estate to rest and recuperate. While walking the grounds one day she hears the screams of a woman coming from underneath the ground who has been buried alive. Her family, however, refuses to believe her story, and sees the incident as an opportunity to prove the woman's mind has snapped so they can take control of her money.NOTES: Okay, this one somewhat challenges the requirements of being a "vanished person" thriller as no one technically vanishes - both the hero and the audience knows the woman's fate - but it still provokes the same feeling as only our hero knows someone is missing and no one seems to believe her (because she just so happened to have been released recently from an insane asylum).
The short story by Ray Bradbury takes about a third of the time to read and is exponentially better so do yourself a favor and just read that instead.
MY RATING: 5 - DirectorPhilip LeacockStarsCloris LeachmanRoss MartinNed BeattyStranded at a roadside diner in the desert, Jean Mitchell searches for her husband Bob who has mysteriously disappeared from the property while she was in the ladies' restroom.NOTES: A woman stops at a diner in the middle of nowhere with her husband. She goes to the bathroom but when she comes out her husband is gone. The workers say they don't know what happened to him. How could her husband just vanish?
The legendary Richard Matheson ("I Am Legend") wrote this twisty gem, which happens to be one of the better examples of this sub-genre.
MY RATING: 7.5 - DirectorJames GoldstoneStarsJohn ForsytheEarl HollimanRalph MeekerA man accidentally runs over and kills a pedestrian outside a small town. He begins to suspect that the locals, including the sheriff, are keeping secrets about the victim.NOTES: An interesting twist on the sub-genre - a man accidentally runs over another man with a car. He calls the police but when the police arrive the body is gone with no trace of an accident. The police think the man didn't hit anyone. The neighbors say they didn't see or hear anything. It's tempting to let something like this go, but the man *knows* he hit someone... or is he crazy?
MY RATING: NOT VIEWED - 1973–19761h 3mTV-147.4 (199)TV EpisodeDirectorJohn SichelStarsLynda Day GeorgePeter JeffreyJohn CarsonAt breakfast in a country hotel, American tourist Cathy More inquires about the whereabouts of her cousin Jane, who has been traveling with her. The proprietors, Mr. and Mrs. Lewis, insist Cathy was the only person to check in the night before, and Jane's room shows no sign of having been occupied. The police are called to investigate, but they began to suspect that Jane may be merely a figment of Cathy's disturbed mind.NOTES: A woman checks into a hotel with her sister. The next morning, she can't find her sister anywhere. When she asks the hotel workers, everyone says the woman checked in by herself! Is she going crazy or is there a conspiracy at work? The resolution to this one is one of the more surprising for this sub-genre.
MY RATING: 7 - DirectorGlenn JordanStarsJack KlugmanElizabeth AshleyJames FranciscusDaniel Corban's wife Elizabeth disappeared after they had a fight. Then she shows up, yet he insists that the woman isn't actually his wife.NOTES: Another adaptation of the play by Robert Thomas by the great Peter Stone. It is an incredibly twisty tale about a man who can't find his wife... and when the police find her and return her to him, he claims that the woman is not his wife! Probably the most unpredictable of the lot and therefore one of the best - too bad it's direction is incredibly flat. That said, the plotting makes this highly recommended.
MY RATING: 8 - DirectorAnthony PageStarsElliott GouldCybill ShepherdAngela LansburyWhile travelling by rail in interwar Nazi Germany, a young socialite finds that a fellow female passenger has disappeared from the train, but nobody else remembers her having been on board.NOTES: Remake of the Hitchcock classic of the same name... and nowhere near as good if reviews are to be believed!
MY RATING: NOT VIEWED - DirectorJohn HoughStarsSusan GeorgePatrick MowerRichard HefferVicky's ex-husband, John, invites her on a trip to communist Prague. First John disappears, then her passport. Vicky finds herself alone and penniless in Prague and becomes a tragic pawn caught in a web of espionage and murder.NOTES: Similar to but predating Roman Polanski's Frantic by four years, in an eastern European country a woman on vacation with her husband checks into a hotel... but the husband mysteriously disappears, along with his luggage, passport, as well as anyone's recollection of him.
MY RATING: 6.5 - DirectorDavid GreeneStarsMike FarrellMargot KidderFred GwynneA man honeymooning with his new wife in the Rockies reports his wife's disappearance to the police. Hours later, a strange woman escorted by the local priest claims to be his missing wife, despite the man's inability to recognize her.NOTES: Yet another version of the play by Robert Thomas, but this one is based more on Peter Stone's screenplay for One of My Wives Is Missing more than anything else - in fact, it almost seems to be a direct remake of it. It certainly has better acting with more cinematic direction than the earlier version, but the changes in the script - notably the climax - is not quite as effective as Peter Stone's rendition of the tale. As a result, it's not able to replace the other but acts as a very good companion piece.
MY RATING: 7.5 - DirectorRoman PolanskiStarsHarrison FordBetty BuckleyEmmanuelle SeignerIn a hotel room in Paris, a doctor comes out of the shower and finds that his wife has disappeared. He soon finds himself caught up in a world of intrigue, espionage, gangsters, drugs and murder.NOTES: A Roman Polanski film featuring Harrison Ford as a doctor who checks into a hotel room with his wife. He decides to take a shower but when he finishes his wife is gone! The hotel don't recall his wife being there, the police are dubious if his wife is missing - let alone exists.
MY RATING: 7 - DirectorGeorge SluizerStarsBernard-Pierre DonnadieuGene BervoetsJohanna ter SteegeRex and Saskia, a young couple in love, are on vacation. They stop at a busy service station and Saskia is abducted. After three years and no sign of Saskia, Rex begins receiving letters from the abductor.NOTES: This film deviates from the requirements in that no one denies the existence of the vanished person, but the atmosphere generated feels the same. This is a truly remarkable thriller - often cited as one of the quintessential examples of the genre and I can't dispute that claim. Just be forewarned that this is more subdued than usual - the thrills are more psychological.
MY RATING: 9 - DirectorKeshu RamsayStarsRishi KapoorNaseeruddin ShahKimi KatkarRavi gets a call from Father Anthony saying that his missing wife is with him in the Church.But when he meets her claims that she is not his wife. Inspector Balbir finds all the proofs are against Ravi but why is Ravi not ready to face it?NOTES: Once again - for the fourth time - this is a version of the play by Robert Thomas, but this time from Bollywood with singing and dancing... Yes, that's correct, they changed the tense psychological thriller in a melodramatic musical.
MY RATING: NOT VIEWED - DirectorAleksey KorenevStarsNikolay KarachentsovYuriy YakovlevIrina ShmelyovaThe unexpected disappearance of a young wife forced the protagonist to go to the police. The commissioner begins an investigation, and in the meantime, the local curate brings an allegedly repentant wife to the inconsolable husband.NOTES: For the fifth - and hopefully last - time, this is the fifth version of Robery Thomas's play, but this time from Russia and as a comedy! Reviews suggest it's not very funny nor very good.
MY RATING: NOT VIEWED - DirectorTony WharmbyStarsLindsay WagnerAngie DickinsonGrant ShowIn 1947, a passenger on an ocean liner says her husband went missing right after they boarded together, but all evidence shows she's traveling alone.NOTES: Remake of Dangerous Crossing but nowhere near as good (by all appearances).
MY RATING: NOT VIEWED - DirectorGeorge SluizerStarsJeff BridgesKiefer SutherlandNancy TravisThe boyfriend of an abducted woman never gives up the search as the abductor looks on.NOTES: An English-language remake of the 1988 Dutch classic that is woefully misguided in its third act.
MY RATING: 5.5