Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Bookmark this pageThe Disappeared (2008)
Director: Johnny Kervorkian
Movie review
From Time Out London
A drab, mostly uninhabited high-rise estate in London’s Docklands is the fitting backdrop for this passable British supernatural chiller in which themes of parental apathy and wavering sanity play out over a proficiently directed genre yarn. The film opens on Harry Treadaway’s surly Matt being discharged from hospital. We discover in flashback that he’s been depressed since his younger brother was kidnapped while he and his friends got soused in his father’s flat. While Matt is plagued by visions of the missing sibling, he also strikes up a relationship with his mysterious, pale-faced neighbour, Amy (Ros Leeming), who helps out with his investigation.Treadaway’s performance is mostly effective but suffers from numerous jarring pitch changes: one minute he’s conversing with pals in a lairy street cockney accent, the next he’s switching to a frenzied posh-boy mumbling that smacks of overacting. Director Johnny Kervorkian sets up the film nicely, but by the end, your worst fears are realised when it climaxes in the most anodyne way possible.
Author: David Jenkins
Time Out London issue 2026, June 18 - 24, 2008
Cast & crew
Director: Johnny Kervorkian
Cast: Harry Treadaway, Greg Wise, Tom Felton, Alex Jennings full cast
Genre(s): Horror
Duration: 97 mins
UK Release: Jun 19 2009
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
Review: Penélope Cruz more raunchy than ever in 'Nine'
Dave Calhoun reports on Rob Marshall's Oscar-touted musical with Daniel Day-Lewis playing a troubled director
Time Out's 101 Films of the Decade
Ten years, thousands of movies and millions of dollars in international box office, and it all boils down to this
Jim Jarmusch on 'The Limits of Control'
Jim Jarmusch has followed ‘Broken Flowers’ with an esoteric crime mystery. Dave Calhoun speaks to him from his New York office
Richard Linklater on 'Me and Orson Welles'
Dave Calhoun meets the 49-year-old, Houston-born filmmaker Richard Linklater to discuss his new comedy
Our verdict on Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones
Peter Jackson ends a triumphant decade with a sentimental misfire with this lush Alice Sebold adaptation
On the set of Ken Loach's 'Route Irish'
Dave Calhoun meets Ken Loach on the set of his forthcoming Iraq war movie
Is 'Paranormal Activity' the new 'Blair Witch'?
How does a film go from DIY experiment to box-office smash? 'Paranormal Activity' director Oren Peli explains
A gateway to all things 'New Moon'
In anticipation of 'The Twilight Saga: New Moon', Time Out is offering the chance to pick up a limited edition pack with three exclusive magazines and a free poster.
The films that deserve a TV spin-off
With Roland Emmerich suggesting he'd like to make a '2012' TV spin-off, we propose some more movie-to-TV serialisations
Time Out's 50 greatest animated films with commentary by Terry Gilliam
In celebration of the release of Pixar's 'Up' and Wes Anderson's 'Fantastic Mr Fox', read our rundown of fifty classic feature length animations
What do you think?
Post your review now