Vanishing on 7th Street

Movie Name: Vanishing on 7th Street
Year of Release: 2010
Director: Brad Anderson
Starring: Hayden Christensen, Thandie Newton, John Leguizamo, Jacob Latimore, Taylor Groothuis, Jordan Trovillion
Genre: Horror, Mystery
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 6
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Synopsis and Review

Director Brad Anderson made a name for himself in the late 90s with the Hope Davis starring independent film "Next Stop Wonderland", and since then has dabbled in independent films mixed with bigger budget ones, mixed with prestige television shows (amongst his films are "The Machinist" and "Beirut", and amongst his TV work are episodes of "Boardwalk Empire", "Fringe", and "Peacemaker"). "Vanishing on 7th Street" follows the story of a small group of characters, all in Detroit, who suddenly find themselves trapped in a situation beyond their control, and more so, one that is lethal and that wipes people out of existence without any explanation or reasoning. Paul is a projectionist who takes a break, and upon returning to the movie session he was overseeing, notices the power goes out, and when he gets out of the projection booth, there are no people in sight, just people's clothes on the floor. A security guard shows up, but he soon disappears as well, with only his clothes left behind. Rosemary, a nurse at a hospital, also notices people's disappearance, including ones that are in the operating table. She calls out for her child Manny in despair, since she fears for the worst. Luke Ryder is a TV reporter who wakes up in his apartment only to realize the power is out. He seeks out the woman he was with, but she's nowhere in sight. Upon leaving the building where he lives, he realizes all streets are empty and all caras are abandoned. There are people's clothes simply on the ground. He eventually makes it to the television station only to catch a live feed from Chicago informing people to always keep a light on themselves. A few days later as Luke is scavenging for batteries, he notices a young boy in a bar that is being powered by a portable generator. The boy, named James, states he is waiting for his mother who is at a church nearby, however Luke informs him that darkness has set in, and that no one seems to have survived. All these characters converge on the bar and Luke eventually suggests they all find a way to go to Chicago, based on the live feed he previously listened to. 

Brad Anderson's "Vanishing on 7th Street" came out in 2010 after a decade of independent films that garnered him consistent attention, even if none of those films ever became a breakout hit. "The Machinist" is well known for Christian Bale's transformative performance, while "Session 9" featured a great cast and has since become a cult horror film. One of the most successful aspects of "Vanishing on 7th Street" is the fact that it many ways it feels like an extended premise/concept from "Twilight Zone", similarly to some episodes of the show, never surrendering an explanation for what is happening, nor providing a happy ending type of scenario. The director smartly progressively discloses how this horrifying darkness is taking people away, but never volunteers an exact explanation for what it is, where its goal lies, its reasoning, and how far it has reached (there are hints, but nothing further). It makes for an unsettling scenario, one where he drops different characters, all of them confronting this new reality very differently. Luke, the reporter with a shattered personal life, is attempting to survive without tying himself to anyone, while Rosemary is haunted by guilt and fear that she failed to protect her child. Her need to help, is a path for redemption for what she thinks she has failed to do for her child. Paul is simply trying to outlive the situation, whereas the young James is fearful for his mother, and for the fact that he is alone in this new world. While these characters don't have much in terms of background, they are very similar to the characters one finds in zombie films, in the sense their motivation is of course to stay alive by avoiding this all encompassing darkness that surrounds them (in this particular case, literal darkness). This apparent straightforwardness of the script, darkness enveloping the world without explanation or reasoning, could have taken the events of the feature in many different directions (for instance, Fernando Meirelles' adaptation of Jose Saramago's "Blindness", tackled a scenario where a considerable amount of people in the world became blind, inexplicably, and how that changed relationships, dynamics, politics, etc.), however this script is modest in its ambition, and focuses on a survival point of view. And these characters want to survive more than anything, even more so than they want to understand what is happening. The film could have benefitted from a bit more character development, and also a bit more context development, but it does manage to be effective illustrating the growth of the darkness. The cast of the film is competent, the same going for the production team, particularly Uta Briesewitz's cinematography. It's a watchable and entertaining film.