Vanished into the Night Review

I stumbled upon this movie by chance. While browsing online, the first article I saw was about “Vanished into the Night” on Netflix. This Italian film, described as a gripping thriller and a remake of a Spanish movie, caught my attention. The only thing I knew about it was from Ridhima Raina’s description on SK POP: “a father immersed in a difficult divorce process embarks on a dangerous mission when his children disappear from their isolated country house.” Bored at work, I decided to give it a shot.

The story revolves around a married couple, Elena (Annabelle Wallis) and Pietro (Riccardo Scamarcio), who seem amicable during mediation. Pietro picks up his children, Bianca (Gaia Coletti) and Giovanni (Lorenzo Ferrante), for a weekend at their country house in Italy. They enjoy a day out on the boat and have dinner together. After putting the kids to bed, Pietro watches a soccer game and falls asleep on the sofa.

In the middle of the night, he wakes up and decides to check on the children, only to find their beds empty. Earlier in the movie, it’s clear that the kids love playing hide and seek, so Pietro initially thinks they’re just playing a game. But after searching the area, he realizes they’ve been taken.

He calls his wife and notifies the police, who don’t seem very motivated to find the kids. His wife suspects that the children were taken by men trying to settle Pietro’s debts. Pietro also believes this but doesn’t tell her. He leaves angry voice messages for the men he thinks are responsible and follows up with the police.

The police suspect kidnapping after the parents receive a ransom demand. They set up a sting operation to exchange money for the kids, but when Pietro arrives at the meeting spot, neither the children nor the ransom demander are there. The investigation then focuses on several potential suspects, including people close to the family, revealing cracks in Elena and Pietro’s relationship.

Pietro’s gambling debts and Elena’s substance abuse issues complicate the investigation. Frustrated with the police’s lack of progress, Pietro takes matters into his own hands, becoming a frantic version of Liam Neeson in any of his movies. Determined to find his kids, he even agrees to do something shady for his “friend” Nicola (Massimiliano Gallo), who sends him on a drug transaction.

Pietro is clearly out of his depth, anxious, nervous, and clumsy during these scenes. After completing the task, he goes to his wife’s apartment and finds the kids there, eating breakfast as if nothing happened. Confused, Pietro learns that the kids have been there the whole time. It turns out the wife set him up, recording his confession about the drug transaction to gain full custody of the children and start a new life in New York.

Pietro doesn’t take the blackmail well, but he feels trapped. He leaves, but his mind is racing as he heads back to her apartment, only to find she’s already left with the kids for the airport. As he looks around, he discovers evidence that she orchestrated the whole thing from the start. It was a shocking mess.

I enjoyed this movie and recommend that you check it out. I give this movie 3 out of 5 acorns.