The Vanishing(Spoorloos)

Famously calling George Sluizer’s psychological thriller the most terrifying film he had ever seen, Stanley Kubrick knew better than anyone that true horror lies in the danger hidden within the mundane. The film’s unusual structure builds suspense as it unfolds a story of a man who obsessively searches for his girlfriend after she disappears without a trace, and ultimately the abductor appears before him. By taking away the mystery of whodunit, the director forces us to focus on something more disturbing: the inner demon. Unlike the supernatural elements and theatrical madness, it’s a crime committed by a normal family man simply out of cold, mathematical curiosity. This subversion of typical horror tropes – and its notoriously bleak, claustrophobic ending – is precisely why Kubrick found it so much more outstanding than classic thrillers.

20/12(Sun): Film talk with Mimi Wong