Vanishing on 7th Street
Director: Brad Anderson
Actors: Hayden Christensen, Thandie Newton, John Leguizamo, Jacob Latimore
Do you remember Roanoke? It was the first English settlement in America. But, when an English ship with supplies comes to the colony, there is nobody there. The people have left their clothes, food, and livestock. Many speculations were given about their location but it remains a mystery to this day. The only clue the English found was a word written on a tree. That word was CROATOAN.
If you have heard that story, then you could guess what this film is about. The movie starts out with Paul (John Leguizamo), a movie theater projectionist, reading a book about the colony. The lights mysteriously go out and no one is left. Just their clothes. Luke Ryder (Hayden Christensen), a television reporter, goes out one day and notices everyone is gone. A plane crashes behind him. Rosemary (Thandie Newton), a hospital nurse, is working one day when the lights go out and everyone in the hospital disappears. After three days, Luke goes to a bar that somehow still has power. It is there that he meets James Leary (Jacob Latimore), a boy whose mother was a bartender at the bar and has gone to check a light in the church. Luke takes it upon himself to try and take Luke with him to get out of the city until Rosemary comes in looking for her baby. Later, they hear screams outside. They go to see what it is and find Paul. They all go back to the bar. The rest of the movie becomes a fight to survive against the shadows of the night with dwindling lights being their only source of hope and survival.
Brad Anderson has truly done an amazing job creating the world you see in this movie. He has made a world where light, something I realized people might take for granted after watching this, is the only way to avoid being "taken". The creatures are also very creative. Whatever they are actually trying to run away from are not huge monsters or some sort of alien. It is just shadows. A normal shadow a anyone might see of themselves on a wall. But the point is is that it is creepy. I believe the less you see in films like this, the better. Take Jaws for instance. The scariest part of the shark was not what you saw but what you didn't see. In the first scene when Chrissie goes for a swim, she is being pulled down by the shark yet the audience sees nothing. It is just an entity pulling her down. A monster. That is a tool Anderson beautifully utilizes in this film.
For the acting, I do not believe anyone in this film was that good except for Jacob Latimore, even though he had nothing to work with. Hayden Christensen (hold for sigh) is just a guy who got "famous" for playing Anakin Skywalker in the prequel Star Wars films. I don't even understand how he got popular from that since those movies completely bombed. Though, this is the only film I like him in so far. Thandie Newton is good but, just like Latimore, is really unused in this film. John Leguizamo is just there to be there.
So even though the acting bothered me, it wasn't a big deal. The film is so crazy and ecstatic in what it does it draws focus away from the characters which is good.
All in all, the film is not bad. Vanishing on 7th Street is suspenseful. It reminded me of an eeriness I loved from watching The Twilight Zone. Brad Anderson has done a good job making a low budget, exciting film that enticed me till the end.
Rating: 2.5
Matt
If you have heard that story, then you could guess what this film is about. The movie starts out with Paul (John Leguizamo), a movie theater projectionist, reading a book about the colony. The lights mysteriously go out and no one is left. Just their clothes. Luke Ryder (Hayden Christensen), a television reporter, goes out one day and notices everyone is gone. A plane crashes behind him. Rosemary (Thandie Newton), a hospital nurse, is working one day when the lights go out and everyone in the hospital disappears. After three days, Luke goes to a bar that somehow still has power. It is there that he meets James Leary (Jacob Latimore), a boy whose mother was a bartender at the bar and has gone to check a light in the church. Luke takes it upon himself to try and take Luke with him to get out of the city until Rosemary comes in looking for her baby. Later, they hear screams outside. They go to see what it is and find Paul. They all go back to the bar. The rest of the movie becomes a fight to survive against the shadows of the night with dwindling lights being their only source of hope and survival.
Brad Anderson has truly done an amazing job creating the world you see in this movie. He has made a world where light, something I realized people might take for granted after watching this, is the only way to avoid being "taken". The creatures are also very creative. Whatever they are actually trying to run away from are not huge monsters or some sort of alien. It is just shadows. A normal shadow a anyone might see of themselves on a wall. But the point is is that it is creepy. I believe the less you see in films like this, the better. Take Jaws for instance. The scariest part of the shark was not what you saw but what you didn't see. In the first scene when Chrissie goes for a swim, she is being pulled down by the shark yet the audience sees nothing. It is just an entity pulling her down. A monster. That is a tool Anderson beautifully utilizes in this film.
For the acting, I do not believe anyone in this film was that good except for Jacob Latimore, even though he had nothing to work with. Hayden Christensen (hold for sigh) is just a guy who got "famous" for playing Anakin Skywalker in the prequel Star Wars films. I don't even understand how he got popular from that since those movies completely bombed. Though, this is the only film I like him in so far. Thandie Newton is good but, just like Latimore, is really unused in this film. John Leguizamo is just there to be there.
So even though the acting bothered me, it wasn't a big deal. The film is so crazy and ecstatic in what it does it draws focus away from the characters which is good.
All in all, the film is not bad. Vanishing on 7th Street is suspenseful. It reminded me of an eeriness I loved from watching The Twilight Zone. Brad Anderson has done a good job making a low budget, exciting film that enticed me till the end.
Rating: 2.5
Matt
