Vanishing on 7th Street

Plot synopsis:
We are at a luxurious cinema in Detroit. One of the employees, Paul (John Leguizamo) is carrying a small torch in his helmet, as if he were a miner. He flirts with the girl (Jordan Trovillion) at the concession and returns to the projector room to change reels. All of a sudden, the power goes out. When the emergency lights come on after a few seconds, everyone in the theater but Paul has disappeared. In the attached mall, he runs into another survivor (P.J. Edwards), but he disappears as well when his flashlight goes out. Everyone's clothes, glasses, shoes, etc., are left behind, but there is no clue as to what happened to the bodies.Rosemary (Thandie Newton) is using a light to look around a recently deserted hospital. No one answers her cries for help. She hears soft moans and goes to see who it might be. Illuminated by the lights above the operating table that are connected to emergency power, she sees a man (Hugh Maguire) who was being operated on when the lights went out. His chest is open and it's obvious the anesthesia has worn off. At that moment, the lights go off again and before the emergency power kicks in, he disappears.Luke (Hayden Christensen) wakes up surrounded by candles he lit in anticipation of a night of passion with his girlfriend Paige. The apartment is bright from the morning sun. He realizes she never came home and leaves for work without noticing anything strange. He picks up a newspaper at the foyer hall of his building realizes it's yesterday's issue. He doesn't look up until he steps on somebody's glasses and abandoned clothes. A plane falls to the ground in the distance causing a commotion to which nobody reacts. He runs to his office but no one is there. He hears a noise and goes into the editing room of Action News, it's deserted but he is able to playback the broadcast from the night before when the blackout happened. He sees his girlfriend literally fade away on tape. The power goes out and as the darkness descends, he sees shadowy outlines of people. They appear to be coming after him so he runs to his office and rips the blinds down flooding the room with sunlight. The shadows fade away. He opens a desk drawer and pulls out a photo of his daughter and his wife Anna as the scene fades to black.72 HOURS LATER (3 DAYS)
Luke is running through the darkened streets of the city with a flashlight in his hand and smaller lights strung around his neck. He's hopping in and out of abandoned cars trying to find one that will start. Frustrated, he rests for a moment in the last car. He hears someone yelling and locks the door. A man arrives and begs to be let in the car. His lighter is quickly running out of fluid. As the flame dies, he is claimed by whatever it is that lurks in the darkness. Luke gets out of the car, frisks the man's clothes for supplies and continues his hunt. Unnoticed by Luke, a small girl with a pink flashlight silently watches him as he makes his way through the streets.Luke finally finds a truck that, although it won't start, it still has some juice. With a jump, he could get it running. Just then, he hears music. He moves towards the sound and see's Sonny's, a bar that still has lights and power. Luke enters the bar to see that, like the rest of the city, it's deserted. He looks around and finds a generator in the basement. As he comes back upstairs, a young boy greets him with a loaded shotgun. James (Jacob Latimore) is scared but keeps the gun pointed at Luke. When Luke calls his bluff, James fires a shot in the wall behind him. Luke and James start talking about the situation. James's mother is a bartender at Sonny's and he's waiting for her to return from the church down the street. Someone came by and told her there was power there and other people. It's been a while and she hasn't returned. He's waiting for the sun to come up to go look for her. Luke says that may never happen. He's noticed that the days are getting shorter and shorter. We then find out that, even though it's pitch black outside, it's actually 11:00 AM. Just then, Rosemary arrives. She is freaking out because she can't find her baby. After she left the hospital, she went home to find her nanny and baby had disappeared like everyone else but she's convinced his father took him.They hear someone yelling outside. After arguing about whether or not they should go, Luke takes a flashlight to investigate. He sees Paul lying on the bench at a bus shelter. It was the first of many solar powered shelters the city was planning on implementing. As Luke gets ready to drag Paul back to Sonny's, his flashlight dies. He decides to go for it, grabs Paul and runs like hell. The shadows get close and almost grab them when Luke falls down and hurts his ankle but Rosemary opens the door to the bar and enough light shines into the street to keep the darkness at bay.Paul (John Leguizamo) says that his light went off, and that he was hit by something. He felt himself being taken someplace when his light came back on and he woke up in the street. He dragged himself to the bus shelter and started calling for help.Over the course of the film, it's revealed that the reason they're still around is because they were still lit when the power first went out. Paul by his headlamp, Rosemary was lighting her cigarette and Luke fell asleep with a dozen or so candles lit around him.They begin to argue about what might have caused this phenomenon and various ideas are tossed around when Paul begins to tell the true story of the lost colony on the island of Roanoke. According to Wikipedia - "The Roanoke Colony on Roanoke Island in Dare County, present-day North Carolina, United States, was a late 16th-century attempt by Queen Elizabeth I to establish a permanent English settlement. Colonists thrived for years until one day, a supply ship landed there to find the group of colonists had disappeared without a trace." Paul says the word "Croatoan" had been carved into a tree. This was the name of a native American tribe the colonists had butted heads with during their time on the island. He's insinuating that there may not be a reason as to why this happened or maybe it's because we pissed someone or something off and we're being "reset". Paul also states the reason they are still there is simply because they are aware they "exist". As the argument heats up, the lights start to flicker so everyone goes to check on the generator. It's failing and they only have a short time left before it goes out. They notice a locked door next to the generator and James says he was told that's where you go when things get bad. They assume it's an old bomb shelter. Suddenly, Paul collapses and they drag him to the pool table and put ice and cold clothes on his head.Since they know the generator is failing, Luke is determined to leave the bar. He reveals that while he was at the news studio, a live transmission came through from a Chicago reporter, (Neal Huff), who says he heard his brother who died eight years ago calling him from the darkness. He says that the people in the shadows can trick you, and advises everybody to trust only the light they are holding. He also tells anyone who can see this to come to Chicago and find him. Luke thinks they should all go to Chicago and he wants to push the truck he found to the bar and use the generator to give it the extra juice it needs to start. Rosemary says that Paul needs to go to the hospital and she doesn't want to leave until she finds her baby. Although James doesn't want to leave without his mom, Luke tells him they'll stop by the church on the way. James agrees and eventually, they convince Rosemary.Luke and Rosemary put some lights around their necks and bodies and go after the truck. Before she leaves Rosemary puts a glow stick necklace around James's neck.Paul is in a lot of pain and asks James turns the juke box back on so he can hear one last song. He does it and then goes to the bathroom to get a cold compress for Paul. The lights go out for a couple of seconds.When they come back on, Paul is still on the pool table but James doesn't respond when he calls for him. He gets up to go look for him and finds the bathroom empty. The door to the basement is open so he goes down there and sees the bomb shelter door is unlocked and open.Outside, Rosemary keeps on reminiscing about her lost daughter. Her flashlight flickers and goes out. She mentions that she just put new batteries in it. Luke says he's noticed that, with the exception of solar powered energy, the electricity that still exists seems to be getting weaker and weaker and requires much more power. She and Luke almost make it to the truck when all of their lights go out. The darkness moves in to take them when the little girl reappears. She shines her flashlight on them and gives them enough time to make it to the truck. Luke tries to go after the girl, but his injured ankle causes him to fall down. Rosemary turns on the lights of a car, which saves them both from the dark. They start to push the truck back to Sonny's but they need more light.Back at the bar, Paul enters the shelter door. He hears James calling to him from the other end and moves towards his voice. He runs down a huge corridor lit by round lights. He reaches the door at the end only to find it opens to a brick wall. He collapses on the floor and watches the lights go off one by one and as the darkness takes him, it's revealed that he's actually still on the pool table upstairs. As soon as Paul disappears, the lights flicker again and it's revealed that James, with his glowing necklace is still in the bathroom. He brings water back for Paul but finds only his clothes.Luke tries to make a torch using a metal rod, cloth and some gas from a nearby vehicle. Rosemary says it will burn too quickly and, while they still have a little light, they should try to find something else to use. They are right by a methadone clinic where Rosemary used to be a patient and she knows they have alcohol there. She finds the alcohol and they fix the torch. Rosemary hears the sound of a crying baby. She drops her last glow stick and takes off. Luke chases after her but it's too late. She's running towards a baby stroller in a circle of bright light. As soon as Rosemary reaches it and realizes the stroller is empty, the lights go off. Her empty clothes fall to the ground while Luke watches helplessly.Luke makes it back to Sonny's with the truck. He and James are able to hook it up to the generator and get it running. They drive a short distance and Luke gets out to move a car out of the way. He tells James to move to the driver's seat and keep his foot on the gas or the truck will stall. While Luke it moving the car, James sees light coming from the church where his mom is supposed to be. Disregarding Luke's instructions, he jumps out of the truck and takes off for the church. Luke barely makes it back to the truck to prevent it from stalling. Inside the church, James sees a circle of candles on the floor, with a lump of clothing in the middle. He calls out for his mother but when he reaches it, no one is there. He hears his mother calling him from the surrounding darkness. James doesn't want to go to her but the candles are blowing out and the shadows are moving in. Luke crashes the car into the church and the headlights push the darkness back once again. He gets out to go to James. With no one holding the gas, the truck dies and the headlights go out. Luke is caught in the middle, trying to run after James and he is taken. James stays with the remaining candles, until they all vanish. repeating over and over "I am James. I exist".The sun comes up. James wakes up in the church surrounded by unlit candles. The little girl walks up and tells him her name is Briana and that he is in her bed. She says that the things he saw at the church - which he took for his mother's - are hers. Briana and James leave the church, and they see a horse eating some apples. Both James and Briana leave Detroit on the horse.When night arrives, they have reached the outskirts, and they are on the road out.

Tags: paranormal, flashback

Review:
This movie is really mysterious and starts with great promise - people disappearing in the darkness - well, this is frightening.
An unexplained blackout plunges the city of Detroit into total darkness, and by the time the sun rises, only a few people remain-surrounded by heaps of empty clothing, abandoned cars and lengthening shadows.
-- (C) MagnoliaI hate to use something from RUBBER, a film I loathed, but it fits so well here: VANISHING uses the plot of "no reason," a plot that raises many questions but doesn't answer them by the time the credits roll.
Yes, as human beings, we often want to make sense of events that occur, especially in films, yet we need to realize things in life just happen.
Jacob Latimore, the kid actor, plays quite an annoying character at first, which shouldn't be a surprise, but I got to eventually warm up to him in the middle point of the film.Overall, VANISHING impressed me.
Although I was surprised by one event close to the end which I wont ruin by revealing here.Unless you have some reason to watch this film I wouldn't waste the time.
'VANISHING ON 7TH STREET': Two and a Half Stars (Out of Five) Brad Anderson directs this apocalyptic horror film about an unknown darkness falling on mankind and devouring everything in it's path.
Christensen stars as a TV anchorman named Luke, Leguizamo co-stars as a movie theater projectionist named Paul, Newton also co-stars as a mother desperately looking for her lost child and Latimore plays a young boy first camped out in the bar hopelessly waiting for his mom to return.The film is interesting at first but none of it's puzzling questions are really answered.
Not a complete waste of time for horror and suspense thriller fans but ultimately forgettable.Watch our review show 'MOVIE TALK' at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aotBOLCP-Yg. Better than its getting credit for.
But, I didn't get a chance to write down the name of the thing allegedly leaving the message, and so haven't followed up on it yet.The feeling I had watching the movie was that I was watching one of the writers of The Outer Limits' short stories put into a feature-length film.
The plot have been described many times before but here it is again in a view sentences: During an evening in a crowded city, pretty much everyone seem to vanish during a blackout, seemingly taken by some things lurking in the darkness or the shadows themselves.
But those who are too lazy or uninspired to come up with on theories and answers about the movie and especially the movie's ending (he, the whole "Roanoke"-case was never solved as well) should avoid this one like the group in the movie avoid dark corners!.
The acting was pretty good too and the meaning that popped up in the end was decent as well.A one star review to this movie just isn't cool.
A ten is not acceptable unless you only liked the films darkness and storyline and completely avoided the bad execution.I think that the best way the director and the writer could have fixed this was to show what went on when the survivors (Hayden Christensen, The black chick from Riddick, John Leguizamo (not sure if that's spelled right) and some kid) were learning about what was going on with the whole darkness thing.
For example, I'd like to think that the idea of using candles or making torches would occur to me before the start of the movie's third act.Christensen, Newton, and Leguizamo did a pretty good job considering the plot and script, but the kid was an example of bad casting.
I was very interested in watching Vanishing on 7th Street, because director Brad Anderson's previous filmography includes the excellent films Session 9 and The Machinist, which besides of both being mature and intelligent movies from the fantastic genre, did not necessarily rely on supernatural elements in order to provoke an impact on the spectator.
However, I think that this movie's main fail comes from there...the emphasis on the fantastic aspect leaves aside the human element, which ends up feeling like a nuisance for not being well integrated...something which is exacerbated by the poor performances.The first 20 minutes from Vanishing on 7th Street are pretty good, because they raise the situation with the correct grade of reservation in order to create curiosity in us.
On the positive side, I liked the audio design, Lucas Vidal's music and Anderson's direction style.In conclusion, I think Vanishing on 7th Street deserves a slight recommendation because of its concept, a few good moments of suspense, the atmosphere and the fact that it generally did not bore me.
I totally think the idea was a cool one, and think that if a Stephen King had worked on the script and a brighter, fresh low budget director had gotten his hands on the project and had showed it some love and compassion, this film would have been a very creepy and memorable movie.
This small band of bickering survivors find their way to a bar, which has a generator that keeps the lights running as well as food and drink.When night falls the darkness is coming for them especially as the lights begin to flicker and one by one they are in danger of disappearing.The film is less of a horror film more of an eerie psychological thriller that leaves a lot of things unexplained.
Realising that it's the shadows themselves that are making people disappear, James and Luke are soon joined by fellow survivors nurse Rosemary (Thandie Newton) and conspiracy-theorist film projectionist Paul (John Leguizamo) who has been injured by the shadows.
But as the bar's power begins to fade, their dwindling light sources are the only things keeping the darkness at bay Once you gotten over the irony of Anakin Skywalker playing a character called Luke, "Vanishing On 7th Street" is actually a disappointing waste of a good concept.
Not to mention inconsistent – nearly everyone we see disappears the second the lights go out and yet when our heroes are dashing through the streets to safety, the shadows kindly take their time and allow them to escape, as though the darkness is toying with them.
The effects are also pretty poor but at least they do what is required of them, which is more than can be said for Anakin.Yet despite all these problems, the movie might have been a success if screenwriter Anthony Jaswinski hadn't given up on the idea halfway through the film.
A better leading man, tighter script work and a bit more thought would have turned "Vanishing On 7th Street" into an alright atmospheric chiller of a movie but as it is, I can't really recommend it.
This movie was awesome, original, and had a great start, I loved it and actually jumped in some scenes (that says a lot these days, with the brainless trash out there).1: The effects: plenty good enough.2: The story ORIGINAL 3: Great camera work 4: NOT ONE DUMB ZOMBIE IN SIGHT!
5: Great to have movies from the first person perspective and no stupid brain-dead soldiers running around blowing things up.6: Just seems any movie that has a 'church' or some religious undertones gets slated, too many motor-mouth narrow minded atheists out there, I'm no Christain but I do have an open mind, if you have an IQ in the double digits this movie isn't for you, best stick with Iron Man or Hell Boy.Vanishing on 7th Street was worth every minute, I love a movie that keeps you guessing..
Hayden Christensen is the main culprit, but even generally good actors like Thandie Newton and John Leguizamo give poor performances thanks to the miserable script.
The characters spend all the film freaking out, attempting to destroy valuable equipment, running around in the dark screaming, arguing and basically doing every last thing that you'd avoid doing in a situation like theirs.
Cast are by the numbers wasted due to being hamstrung by the plot's attempt at blending chills with deeper thought, rendering the characterisations as unfleshed, while the ending feels like a cheat of unfinished business.Personally I'm glad I didn't pay at the cinema to see it, but with that comes the fact that in my darkened living room the other night I enjoyed it to a point.
Although, I did have to watch it more than once to really feel it.John Leguizamo,Hayden Christensen, and Thandie Newton are the only ones left when some sort of dark force takes everyone in the city.
Leguizamo also gives, hands down the best performance of all the three adult actors playing a man not fully happy with his lonely existence making him more accessible to be taken by the shadows.Three people along with a boy, trapped in a bar that has the only one light source in the city, trying to figure out what's going on, and attempting to find a new light source in a desperate attempt to see if their love ones still exist.
Vanishing on 7th StreetAn excellent Sci-Fi thriller yet with many questions that have no answers to certain questions a viewer may pose and the ambiguous message behind the story makes this movie a ''what should not be done in film making''.Now, as for answers on why everyone on earth vanished except a select group and why they have survived has yet to be explained only to have a hint from a newspaper cut-out mentioning the nuclear war possibility that Luke Ryder (Hayden Christensen) finds on the bar's wall that even as the story develops the characters give it a try in order to explain it like , the extraterrestrial phenomenon or the innuendo on the rapture and finally the CROATOAN hypothesis..
I mean if I'm to pay $15 to see a movie, as a client, I need to have my money's worth such to be entitled to have a story that can make me go further than just having seen a film...
The fact the film doesn't look for naive solutions and an easy finale works in its favour, though I think it should have ended a couple of minutes earlier, at the church.There is something to be said about the arbitrary nature of its premises, like why does solar power work and batteries or electricity don't, or how do you explain the sun, but in such a story you can accept such stuff.
These four people must ponder such questions as why this has happened and why it's the four of them that are left, in addition to struggling to survive.Anderson creates such spooky atmosphere and tension that it's a shame that the film doesn't work better than it does.
This viewer would agree with others that it does feel like an unfinished script, and it leaves people wanting to know what comes next.
Vanishing on 7th Street (2010)I thought this was very decent.I actually liked the plot of the movie, with darkness that tries to find you and you vanish.I wasn't really on edge of your the seat however there were some really good tense moment that I really enjoyed.But nothing in this movie was scary or creepy but some-how I could not stop watching.I didn't think the movie was that bad at all but I thought worth a watch, Until very the ending, Which I kind of fell flat..
Ending leaves you angry for having watched the movie wondering whats going on, then leaves you completely in limbo....kind of like the characters ha ha.
It starts out good enough and as a viewer I really wanted to get into this movie but the story is so flat it makes it really hard.
There is very little character and story development and about forty minutes into the movie I became really frustrated with the "try-hard suspense" scene after scene with absolutely no climax.
Although I did like the very very very small surprise ending (I'm making that sound a lot more interesting then what it actually is).If you decide to watch this movie expect it to be the worst movie you've ever seen, because that might be the only way that this bore ends up surprising you a little....by being the second worst.
Yes, there are unfortunately way worse movies out there but that is the only positive thing I can say about Vanishing On 7th Street: Could have been OK if the story actually went somewhere...
A movie like "Vanishing on 7th street" has two things that can work for it: firstly it has to be character driven, building upon the relationships of the people stuck within its dark premise.
It is a waste of time.A movie projection operator played by John Leguizamo finds himself suddenly plunged into darkness during his job.
When the lights come on, the people in the movie theater, and apparently, the world, have vanished, leaving nothing behind but their clothes.
it looks like an awful CGI but beside that it continue in a good way telling stories of how it happen and what they where doing when it happens.The good thing the idea even been a not original is exploited in a good way and try to make a good movie out of it.
Even the Acting was a good bit with Hayden doing of the bad hero, Thandie Newton has a mid acting in some parts is good but in others you want to see her dead and John Leguizamo could be more used but is only a middle actor.The mid thing the environment is a good way to show darkness but the Monsters or Shadows was design in a bad way.The bad thing The Ending When i saw it i was please don't happen that please.
1) Ignore all the bad reviews 2) Get some popcorn and some beers in 3) Turn of lights (this is a must) 4) Watch and become involved in this excellent movie - its a real escape from the 'real world' and isn't that why we watch movies???End of...Kind of, but also watch 'They' how that film is not a cult classic I don't know.I've been watching horrors and thrillers since 1980 - this is in my top 10, easy.Enjoy..
This movie was an absolute waste of time - People disappearing and leaving no clues, just clothing.
Literally every single thing in this film was awful, the actors' performances, the story line, the script, the special effects, the concept.
Personally I love movies with story like this one, everyone is gone and no one knows why and what is happening.
Etc. the only thing that was given in the film was when, Leguizamo character Paul, mentioned that he believed this was like when a computer reboots and earth was erasing its inhabitants to start over, but the question still remained!
I have been confused since the beginning but I knew I'll be getting answers by the end which did not happen.I guess who made it this way just wanted to spice things up and it came out totally jumped up.The confusion I have had for 90 minutes, asking myself the same question I have been asking from the beginning "what's going on" ended up with me asking "what's the point?"To be honest the acting performance was nice, somehow I believe the scenario was disappointing for them too..
there is no explanation or reason give in the movie for all the nonsense that takes place and quite frankly its a waste of time to watch the film.
The film focuses on four such survivors.For most of its running time, "Vanishing" functions as a conventional horror movie, content to simply watch as our heroes struggle to avoid shadows and stay within Earth's last few dwindling pockets of light.
"Spoiler Alert!" This review contains spoilers.This movie looks pretty much like "I am legend", 'though it is not as exciting or does not have Will Smith in it, but it is about the same thing, a sort of trying to survive when there are so few people left.
9. The ending, oh my God, the ending : why would two kids ride a horse towards (hopefully) Chicago, when darkness is coming, or is it "working" only in the city ?If you want my advice, don't watch this movie, unless you're curios about it because, guess what, you won't be feeling in any way better after seeing it..
To me this is a great way to tell the story because you can relate and feel what the characters in the movie felt, they didn't know why it happened or have any explanation and we as the audience were able to take a walk in their shoes, not all mysteries can be explained.The musical score in the background was repetitive and after a few times of it looping it lost it's spooky factor.
With most psychological thrillers or horror films like this, creepy/odd things happen & then in the end, an explanation is given for what happened & why.
Finally, expect the usual problem of characters acting stupidly in this movie - when someone is in need of a light source & is desperate, FIRE come to mind especially when surrounded by alcohol in a bar & there is tons of fuel at their disposal from the cars in the streets - too bad no one could take that mental leap.____________________________________________________________**SPOILER WARNING NOW - DO NOT READ IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BE SPOILED**Just to be clear, the idea that it's a reboot or some Adam/Eve scenario which I saw some people trying to sell as answers is NOT an explanation - that is just a potential reason for what happened but still doesn't answer anything about how it happened.
Nothing much is happening throughout the entire movie, except for a small group of people trying to cling to every single source of light in a world of impending darkness, and with the darkness comes something else...With names like John Leguizamo and Hayden Christensen on the list, you would believe yourself in for a somewhat good movie.