feelsalike.comSign in
The Vanishing poster

Movies that feel likeThe Vanishing (1988)

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.

If you loved The Vanishing, the closest films we have are Tell No One (2006), Lantana (2001) and The Hidden Face (2011). All three share The Vanishing's twisty feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Kahaani (2012).

🍅 96% Rotten Tomatoes★ 7.6 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. George Sluizertensetwistymelancholy
6 of 12 streaming nowAmazon Prime Video · Hulu · Shudder

Can't choose? Answer three questions and get one movie for tonight.

Not on subscription streaming right now. Rent or buy below.

See it on the Mood Map

If The Vanishing hit the spot, these will too

Tell No One poster
Tell No One
2006 · dir. Guillaume Canet
🍅 93%★ 7.5drama · thriller · crime

Both are working the same pair: grief, disappearance

The difference: Sits closer to drama than The Vanishing does

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.

Lantana poster
Lantana
2001 · dir. Ray Lawrence
🍅 90%★ 7.2crime · drama · mystery

Both are built on the same subject: grief

The difference: Takes it somewhere less tense than The Vanishing does

Plagued with grief over the murder of her daughter, Valerie Somers suspects that her husband John is cheating on her. When Valerie disappears, Detective Leon Zat attempts to solve the mystery of her absence. A complex web of love, sex and deceit emerges -- drawing in four related couples whose various partners are distrustful and suspicious about each other's involvement.

The Hidden Face poster
The Hidden Face
2011 · dir. Andrés Baiz
★ 7.3thriller · mystery

Both keep coming back to the same thing: disappearance

The difference: Easier on the melancholy than The Vanishing

A Spanish orchestra conductor deals with the mysterious disappearance of his girlfriend.

The Guest poster
The Guest
2014 · dir. Adam Wingard
🍅 92%★ 6.7mystery · thriller · action

The same mix in both: tension, then twists

The difference: Leans harder into action than The Vanishing does

A soldier introduces himself to the Peterson family, claiming to be a friend of their son who died in action. After the young man is welcomed into their home, a series of accidental deaths seem to be connected to his presence.

Marnie poster
Marnie
1964 · dir. Alfred Hitchcock
🍅 78%★ 7.1thriller · mystery · romance

Melancholy thriller, and it commits to that

The difference: Made in the 1960s, in a different era of the craft

Marnie is a beautiful but emotionally withdrawn thief, stealing from employers before disappearing under new identities. When her new boss, Mark Rutland, discovers her secret, his fascination turns to obsession, and he blackmails her into marriage, convinced he can cure her. But as he probes deeper into Marnie’s fractured mind, long-buried fears and compulsions begin to surface.

Kahaani poster
Kahaani
2012 · dir. Sujoy Ghosh
🍅 100%★ 8.1mystery · thriller

Mystery with a pulse of tension, in both cases

Pregnant and alone in the city of Kolkata, a woman begins a relentless search for her missing husband, only to find that nothing is what it seems.

Flightplan poster
Flightplan
2005 · dir. Robert Schwentke
🍅 36%★ 6.3thriller · drama · mystery

Both lean on twists more than on thriller

The difference: The scrappier of the two with critics

Flying at 40,000 feet in a state-of-the art aircraft that she helped design, Kyle Pratt's 6-year-old daughter Julia vanishes without a trace. Or did she? No one on the plane believes Julia was ever onboard. And now Kyle, desperate and alone, can only count on her own wits to unravel the mystery and save her daughter.

Solace poster
Solace
2015 · dir. Afonso Poyart
🍅 24%★ 6.4thriller · crime · mysteryPrime Video

Melancholy mystery in both cases

A psychic doctor, John Clancy, works with an FBI special agent in search of a serial killer.

Joint Security Area poster
Joint Security Area
2000 · dir. Park Chan-wook
🍅 88%★ 7.7drama · thriller · mystery

Thriller built on tension, twice over

Two North Korean soldiers are killed in the border area between North and South Korea, prompting an investigation by a neutral body. The lead investigator (Lee Young-ae) receives differing accounts from the two sides.

A Haunting in Venice poster
A Haunting in Venice
2023 · dir. Kenneth Branagh
🍅 75%★ 6.5mystery · thriller · crimeHulu

Mystery with a pulse of twists, in both cases

Celebrated sleuth Hercule Poirot, now retired and living in self-imposed exile in Venice, reluctantly attends a Halloween séance at a decaying, haunted palazzo. When one of the guests is murdered, the detective is thrust into a sinister world of shadows and secrets.

The Tenant poster
The Tenant
1976 · dir. Roman Polanski
🍅 85%★ 7.5thriller · mystery · drama

The shared currency is melancholy

A quiet and inconspicuous man rents an apartment in Paris where he finds himself drawn into a rabbit hole of dangerous paranoia.

Suicide Room poster
Suicide Room
2011 · dir. Jan Komasa
★ 6.6drama · mystery · thrillerRent or buy

The same thriller instincts

Moody, dark, and handsome Dominik is terrorized at school, after video footage of his drunken kiss with classmate Aleksandr goes viral. Grappling with public humiliation, Dominik seeks solace in an avatar based "suicide room," where the pink-haired rebel Sylwia consoles him.

In the mood for more tense?

all tense movies →

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