“Vanished”: A supernatural puzzle enigma

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A quiet town in the United States, in a suburban neighborhood. At 2:17 a.m., 17 children simultaneously slip out of their family homes and disappear into the night, running, while their parents are asleep. The next day at school, a young boy and the teacher find themselves alone in the classroom where everyone was attending. Around this simple but very gripping mystery, "Evanouis" is a horror film (some very bloody sequences, which a childish voiceover announces from the beginning of the film, and a harrowing death scene), but the fear comes first from this terrible uncertainty of the parents, a month later: what happened to their children?

More than the obligatory passages of a horror film – the "jump scares," those heavy-handed effects that make you jump, fortunately in limited numbers – the way in which "Evanouis" distils the anxiety is very successful. The small suburban world will only reveal its supernatural enigma little by little, in an effective chapter construction. The story evolves like a puzzle, through the eyes of several characters – teacher, police officer, parent, junkie, etc. – revealing to us from other angles passages seen previously. The atmosphere skillfully plays on the nerves: the image of these kids running with their arms strangely spread, their departure captured by surveillance cameras when they vanish into the darkness, strikes the imagination. After the excellent vampire film "Sinners" in April, here is a new fantasy film – here a thriller tinged with welcome black humor – which can appeal beyond genre film aficionados.