NETFLIX’S latest thriller Vanished Into the Night has bagged seventh place on the U.K. charts — but viewers aren’t impressed.
Streaming fans have been left disappointed by the “terrible twist” in the movie, with many saying that they felt they’d wasted their time watching it.
Vanished into the Night premiered on Netflix earlier this month and has been storming up the streamer’s U.K. movie chart to land the seventh spot.
The movie, which is set in Italy, follows estranged couple Pietro (Riccardo Scamarcio) and Elena (Annabelle Wallis) as they navigate their divorce as the parents of two young children.
Their situation is less than amicable as Elena wants to take the kids back to her native New York, while Riccardo is fighting for them to stay with him in Italy. Meanwhile, their lawyers are going back and forth digging up every secret about their past — from Elena’s history to substance abuse, to Pietro’s substantial debts.
But everything changes when the kids are kidnapped and the perpetrators ask for 150,000 euros in cash within 36 hours.
At Elena’s behest, Pietro seeks out a wealthy criminal he used to work with for a loan. In order to get the money, he has to do a trafficking job for him first.
After he does, he returns to Elena’s apartment to find her having breakfast with the kids like nothing happened — and she has no knowledge of the alleged kidnapping.
It seems like Pietro is going crazy until he realises he was set up; Elena was behind it all.
She planned it all to get proof of her husband’s illegal activities (that were committed all in the name of getting their kids back) to blackmail her into letting her take them back to New York.
But Pietro works out that Elena went so far as to drug her own children, and so confronted her at the airport. He also has proof of her crimes and tells her to board the flight to the States alone.
Netflix fans were left raging after watching Vanished Into the Night, saying that the twist fell flat because it was so predictable.
Taking to X, formerly Twitter, one viewer criticised the movie, writing: “That’s a very shallow twist.”
Another viewer agreed, adding, “Ya seen Vanished Into the Night? That sh*t just pissed me off.” (sic)
“Vanished Into the Night, thanks for wasting 1hr 32m of my life,” commented a third.
While a fourth Netflix fan took issue with the unfinished storyline. “Just watched Vanishing Into the Night. It was giving me gone girl vibes but meh… the storyline was quite expected and the ending was just too rushed,” they wrote.
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After sending Elena away, the movie finishes with Pietro at home with his kids. However, a figure emerges outside the window watching them — it’s clearly Elena, but before Pietro can do anything, the movie ends.
Another viewer commented on the satisfying final scene, writing: “Wtf is that ending?”
Unfortunately for Netflix, critics are in agreement about the thriller, dubbing it “mediocre” at best.
“Vanished Into the Night is one of the more mediocre thrillers you will ever see. The plot is paper-thin, and the script is as shallow as the Trevi Fountain,” one critic wrote on the review aggregator platform Rotten Tomatoes.
“Vanished Into The Night does indeed vanish amidst a sea of more capable and more gripping crime thriller fare,” a second reviewer commented.
