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Movies that feel like The Vanishing (1988)

If you loved The Vanishing, the closest films we have are The Sixth Sense (1999), Memento (2000) and Identity (2003). All three share The Vanishing's tense and twisty feel, which is what we rank on before quality. 7 of the 12 picks below are included with a subscription right now on Apple TV, Philo and AMC+ Amazon Channel and others, checked against today's data.

Rex and Saskia, a young couple in love, are on vacation when they stop at a busy service station. Saskia is abducted in broad daylight and three years pass with no answers or closure surrounding her disappearance. Rex has nearly given up all hope when he suddenly begins receiving letters from her abductor.

πŸ… 96% Rotten Tomatoesβ˜… 7.7 IMDb β†—TMDB β†—dir. George Sluizertensetwistymelancholyromantic

When is The Vanishing streaming? β†’

If The Vanishing hit the spot, these will too

The Sixth Sense poster
The Sixth Sense
1999 Β· dir. M. Night Shyamalan
πŸ… 86%β˜… 8.2mystery Β· thriller Β· drama

Grief sits at the heart of each

The difference: Leans drama where The Vanishing does not

Following an unexpected tragedy, child psychologist Malcolm Crowe meets a nine year old boy named Cole Sear, who is hiding a dark secret.

Feels alike?
Memento poster
Memento
2000 Β· dir. Christopher Nolan
πŸ… 94%β˜… 8.4mystery Β· thriller

Tense and twisty in the same breath

The difference: Not nearly as romantic as The Vanishing

Leonard Shelby is tracking down the man who raped and murdered his wife. The difficulty of locating his wife's killer, however, is compounded by the fact that he suffers from a rare, untreatable form of short-term memory loss. Although he can recall details of life before his accident, Leonard cannot remember what happened fifteen minutes ago, where he's going, or why.

Feels alike?
Identity poster
Identity
2003 Β· dir. James Mangold
πŸ… 63%β˜… 7.3mystery Β· thriller

Thriller built on tension, twice over

The difference: Critics were much harder on this one

Complete strangers stranded at a remote desert motel during a raging storm soon find themselves the target of a deranged murderer. As their numbers thin out, the travelers begin to turn on each other, as each tries to figure out who the killer is.

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Mystic River poster
Mystic River
2003 Β· dir. Clint Eastwood
πŸ… 89%β˜… 7.9thriller Β· drama Β· mystery

The same preoccupation in both: grief

The lives of three men who were childhood friends are shattered when one of them suffers a family tragedy.

Feels alike?
Tell No One poster
Tell No One
2006 Β· dir. Guillaume Canet
πŸ… 93%β˜… 7.5drama Β· thriller Β· crime

Both built around disappearance

A man receives a mysterious email appearing to be from his wife, who was murdered years earlier. As he frantically tries to find out whether she's alive, he finds himself being implicated in her death.

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The Da Vinci Code poster
The Da Vinci Code
2006 Β· dir. Ron Howard
πŸ… 25%β˜… 6.6thriller Β· mystery

Mystery with a pulse of twists, in both cases

The difference: Missing the melancholy of The Vanishing

A murder in Paris’ Louvre Museum and cryptic clues in some of Leonardo da Vinci’s most famous paintings lead to the discovery of a religious mystery. For 2,000 years a secret society closely guards information that β€” should it come to light β€” could rock the very foundations of Christianity.

Feels alike?
Basic Instinct poster
Basic Instinct
1992 Β· dir. Paul Verhoeven
πŸ… 56%β˜… 7.1thriller Β· mystery

Both trade on tension more than on being thriller

Catherine, a novelist with an insatiable sexual appetite, becomes a prime suspect when her boyfriend is brutally murdered -- a crime she had described in her latest story.

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Red Sparrow poster
Red Sparrow
2018 Β· dir. Francis Lawrence
πŸ… 45%β˜… 6.6thriller Β· mystery

Twisty mystery in both cases

The difference: A 2010s film, from a different era of filmmaking

Prima ballerina Dominika Egorova faces a bleak and uncertain future after she suffers an injury that ends her career. She soon turns to Sparrow School, a secret intelligence service that trains exceptional young people to use their minds and bodies as weapons. Dominika emerges as the most dangerous Sparrow after completing the sadistic training process. As she comes to terms with her new abilities, she meets a CIA agent who tries to convince her that he is the only person she can trust.

Feels alike?
Three Days of the Condor poster
Three Days of the Condor
1975 Β· dir. Sydney Pollack
πŸ… 88%β˜… 7.4thriller Β· mystery

Both are thriller through and through

When bookish CIA researcher Joe Turner finds all his co-workers dead, he, together with a woman he has kidnapped, must work together to outwit those responsible until he determines who he can really trust.

Feels alike?
Oldboy poster
Oldboy
2003 Β· dir. Park Chan-wook
πŸ… 82%β˜… 8.3thriller Β· mystery

Mystery approached the same way

With no clue how he came to be imprisoned, drugged and tortured for 15 years, a desperate man seeks revenge on his captors.

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The Bourne Identity poster
The Bourne Identity
2002 Β· dir. Doug Liman
πŸ… 84%β˜… 7.8action Β· mystery Β· thriller

Romantic thriller, and it commits to that

Wounded to the brink of death and suffering from amnesia, Jason Bourne is rescued at sea by a fisherman. With nothing to go on but a Swiss bank account number, he starts to reconstruct his life, but finds that many people he encounters want him dead. However, Bourne realizes that he has the combat and mental skills of a world-class spyβ€”but who does he work for?

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Mulholland Drive poster
Mulholland Drive
2001 Β· dir. David Lynch
πŸ… 83%β˜… 7.9thriller Β· drama Β· mystery

Melancholy mystery, and it commits to that

Blonde Betty Elms has only just arrived in Hollywood to become a movie star when she meets an enigmatic brunette with amnesia. Meanwhile, as the two set off to solve the second woman's identity, filmmaker Adam Kesher runs into ominous trouble while casting his latest project.

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The best-reviewed films that share The Vanishing's defining feeling.