n a family vacation, Jim Henley (Hamlin) and his new wife, Patty (Dey), are traveling with his children, Matt and Kate, and his son's friend, Ethan (Jamie Croft), through the Nevada desert. Places to stop are few and far between, so they stop at the first gas station and diner they find along the road.
Matt (Lelliott) wants them to take a side trip to a nearby ghost town he found on an old map so he can take pictures. However, the mining town of Weaver hasn't shown up on a map since the 1940s. Jim asks the locals about it, but no one seems to have heard about Weaver. As the family sets off, they
find the turnoff on the old map and decide they have time for the excursion.
When the family gets to Weaver, they discover a ghost town that looks as if the town's people just left one day without taking anything with them. The town is actually a strip of wooden buildings, beat up by time and surrounded by the desert. The general store seems stocked with dusty goods and the
restaurant looks like it's in between meals. They take a good look around, but when they get in the car to leave, it won't start. Patty's cell phone won't work, and with dusk approaching, Jim decides they'll have to spend the night in Weaver.
That evening, Ethan finds a video camera with a tape that features another group of travelers. The tape begins innocently enough, but ends in Weaver with the last member of the group terrified because everyone else is missing and something or someone is now after her. Jim tells them that they're safe,
because even if the tape is real, whoever was after those people is long gone.
The next morning, they head toward the car only to find it missing. They are 35 miles from the main road and Jim and Patty know they are in deep trouble. However, the trouble is far deeper than they could ever imagine, because something or someone in the town of Weaver doesn't want to let them go.
Talent alone can't make this horror story fly
Disappearance is a spooky story that has lots of potential, some nice moments and a couple of edge-of-your-seat scares. However, the television movie is all set-up and no pay-off, which is a shame, because it has the talent to do the job right.
It's fun to see Hamlin and Dey together again so long after their L.A. Law days, but their characters really aren't worthy of them. Oh, they do their best, but the characters of Jim and Patty are so busy tiptoeing around the kids and each other trying not to act afraid, we don't really get to know them. Ditto with the kids, with the exception of Basia A'Hern as Kate, who has the best moment in the film. Even though Jim doesn't believe they're in danger, when Kate pleads with him to do something that will get them out of harm's way, it's one of the best moments of the film, because her terror is genuinely felt.
As far as the stupid-horror-movie quotient goes, the characters do have one or two of those moments. What idiot would decide to cross a desert rather than take a road they knew would lead to a main highway, even if they believe they're going to have fewer miles to walk? But overall, writer and director Klenhard keeps the stupid bits to a minimum.
That doesn't keep the characters from being thinly developed, which is nothing new for a horror movie. Still, the biggest problem with Disappearance is the lack of a satisfying ending. That's unforgivable, since it'd be a lot easier to dismiss this film if it didn't have an interesting premise. The actual idea behind the movie went in an unexpected direction. Unfortunately, the ending is so murky, there are never enough answers to make the movie work on any level, and with the average TV-movie production values and few special effects, there's little reason to recommend this film.
