User reviews

The atmosphere is great, the story captivating, with tension building up. Unfortunately, things get messed up with the main character's backstory. I still didn't get the ending of this movie. Anyone to help me understand who actually did what ? i cannot find any answer online as everyone else seems to be confused...

It supposed to be a thriller about a boy being kidnapped. But it's tonaly all over the place. There's moments I'd swear were going for comedy. The ott magicians are too light for a thriller. The shockingly dodgy wigs and facial hair trying to deage people back to the 90s and then having a young guy playing an old guy in a wheel chair. David Cronnenbergs whole performance was a laughable mess too.

The lead actress is fine though, she does what she can to make it all seem at least coherent, only just though.

Here's a film with great ingredients: unfortunately all of them from different genres and mixed together as if at random.

Essentially a detective story, in which a young woman, returning to her hometown, remembers witnessing a crime when still a child, it quickly takes a series of inexplicable turns until it loses direction and energy and ends as a mess with a truly awful gimmick final scene.

Central to the film's many problems are the inept direction which often entirely fails to explain how the plot gets from A to B, preferring instead to chain-link the dead-ends and anomalies by drawing attention to the psychological and mental problems of its unreliable main character. She's off her head, the movie seems to say, so the details don't matter.

Well, sorry, but they do, or at least they should.

For a movie with a genuinely intriguing and promising first half, it's hard to believe how utterly it has fallen apart by about ten minutes into part two, and, sadly, harder still to care. There's an interesting indie movie here about pressure to conform and perform, about the spiral of mental ill-health and the substitute narratives we weave when the world disappoints us, or we disappoint it. But this is not that movie. Far from it.

There's a cameo by David Cronenberg, some truly great locations, mostly decent acting (and some very hammy acting by the duo playing 90's magicians The Magnificent Moulins), but, unfortunately, a script that shouldn't have been given a second read-through let alone a full production.

In here too, as another viewer points out, is a story about child abuse that, in the movie's gimmicky end, may have been another meaningless illusion or confusion. That cop-out in its own makes this very poor offering a bit of an insult.

Do yourself a favour. Go to bed early with a book instead.

This movie kept my interest and attention for the entire duration so that's a positive thing. However I like mystery movies with a clear ending, an ending where I don't have to guess what really happened. I want clear answers on every question I have and unfortunately this was not the case with this movie. It felt like they couldn't be bothered to make it a nice ending, there were also some elements they completely neglected by the end and you start to wonder why they even brought them up during the movie. So to me whilst it was entertaining it clearly could and should have been better. Mysteries should start with an intriguing beginning, continue with a suspenseful middle, and end with the mystery completely solved, that's how a mystery movie is the most effective and that's how the gems in this genre are made. All in all the acting wasn't bad, the story was interesting, the cinematography was also okay but still it's a missed opportunity to make it a movie that stands out from the rest.

I was really intrigued at first. The beginning scenes were really interesting, and I thought it was going to be a great movie. As it went on, however, I got pretty bored of how the story was unfolding.

Im disappointed because my guesses for how the movie would end, turned out to be more interesting then how it actually ended. I'd recommend watching something else and not wasting your time.

This is an interesting film that you need to really watch. It teaches you to listen to your children, people!!!

AND the ending, which has confused so many people, I found to be crystal clear. And brilliant!! If you think about it, you know exactly who he is and what he's going to do.

I gave it a 7 instead of an 8 or 9 because there was some unnecessary minutia in there that could have easily been left of and strengthened the main story.

Enjoy! It's a thinking person's movie.

In Scandinavia, this movie will pass unnoticed, which is really sad, as I think this is a truly well-crafted thriller that should be seen by everyone who wants to get lost in a mystery for an hour and a half on a rainy evening.

Moody and beautiful.

Disappearance At Clifton Hill: Abby (Tuppence Middleton) returns to her home town on the death of her mother; against her sister's wishes she tries to keep the family motel running. Abby also has dark memories of the kidnapping of a boy she witnessed 25 years before. The problem is that Abby is a pathological liar so unsurprisingly the police and her sister are reluctant to believe this late report. Abby meets up with a local Conspiracy podcaster Walter (David Cronenberg) who believes that a local rich family were behind this and other disappearances. The supposed conspiracy also involves animal trainers. You will begin to question conflicting narratives as this tale unfolds. Some great scenes. we first encounter Cronenberg as he rises from a river pond beneath Niagara Falls, he's also a sort of mudlark diver. Directed/Co-Written by Albert Shin. On Netflix. 7/10.

This wasn't very good. The acting was fine. The beginning was good and had me expecting something great but it went downhill. It was a little confusing, very unbelievable, comical and I'm not sure if it was meant to be.

The twist made no sense either.

Watching this film reminds me intensely of an supposed quote from Herodotos about the Spartans. The Samians sent a delegation to Sparta to plead for help and assistance with a very long, rather dull speech. The Spartans told the delegation that the speech had been so long that they forgot the first half of the speech and could thus make no sense of the second half.

That's what this movie was like for me. I kept fading in and out of attention during much of the first half of this movie, sometimes having to rewind several minutes just to catch myself back up, but I could still make no sense of whatever the hell was supposed to be happening here.

A young woman, Abby, seemingly witnessed a child abduction when she was 7. 25 years later as an adult, she suddenly remembers this, and goes to the police to report it. The officer listening to her is pointlessly belligerent and dismissive, and seems to only be listening to her because her stepbrother is there with her, as if she were a child needing an adult sponsor to be taken seriously.

From there, she goes on a bizarre hunt that has many different twists and turns that either go nowhere or make no sense. At one point, she is openly antagonizing some guy named Charles Lake III to such a degree that he's making almost cartoon villain threats against her and she just casually ignores them as if he weren't a rich and powerful land-owning guy who could get her arrested for literally committing actual crimes like fraud and breaking and entering and trespassing.

As well, few of the character actions here make sense, and at one point a major plot swerve is thrown which comes out of nowhere, seems to discredit the protagonist, only to be promptly ignored.

With a whole bunch of seemingly random twists and turns, a vaguely Nine Inch Nails sounding soundtrack, and low levels of dialogue to maintain an atmosphere of moodiness and discomfort, all the mystery doesn't really amount to much of anything. It's not fully clear why certain things are happening or why Abby keeps committing crimes and harassing people.

So incoherent were the events that the ending came almost out of nowhere and proceeded to just give us an expo-dump explaining it all to us in the form of news reports and David Cronenberg's podcast narration.

Watching this the first time around fading in and out like I did I feel like I missed out on some important, but going back and reading the entire plot on wikipedia and re-watching certain scenes, I realize I did not miss anything. I don't know what this was supposed to be.

Nifty little thriller from canada. a woman is haunted by a kidnapping she witnessed as a child. much better than the 5 rating it's getting. see for yourself.

The film is set to very atmospheric and tense setting from the very beginning. The trouble is that it never moves forward from the first 10 minutes of the story and then becomes iterating, boring and confusing. The film dives faster than falling over Niagara Falls edge.

The story is thin on excitement and logic, although it is well acted in parts. Avoid for your own sanity and save yourself the confusion that this film causes.

Having moved away from Niagara Falls, Abbey returns in adulthood, to confront a childhood memory.

It's quite a good movie, it's an interesting premise, and nicely executed. It's almost very good, but it's let down by some muddled strands and a less than great ending.

I really did enjoy the music, some enjoyable tracks throughout, giving it a bit of a vintage vibe. Some of the eighties VHS segments look a little bit naff.

It's boosted by some good acting, Tuppence Middleton is excellent, what a talented actress she is.

Nicely shot, atmospheric, I'd recommend it, 6/10.

Started off well, loved the premise but meandered all over the place and never really felt like it reached a satisfying conclusion and still not really sure what happened. After about half an hour I was fed up, but kept going until the end because I felt I'd invested. Disappointing and a little stupid.

This film is nicely acted, richly atmospheric, memorably scored and often very dull.

The opening scenes are effective, but not really intriguing enough to hang 1 hour and 40 minutes of anyone's time onto. David Cronenberg makes a rare acting appearance as Walter. The performance isn't memorable, unlike Tuppence Middleton as main character Abby, who is the most consistently good reason to keep watching. For its slowness, there's also a chaos about the way in which the thin story is told, possibly to engage our interest.

The incidental score by Alex Sowinski and Leland Whitty has attracted comment. A mixture of minimalist ambience and a jazzy cacophony, it reminded me in parts of Yvon Garault's music for French director Jean Rollin's early films. An acquired taste for sure, but I really enjoyed it.

It seems director and co-writer Albert Shin was aiming for a small-town David Lynchian atmosphere here, but whilst the style is there, the ability to concoct an engaging or eccentric narrative drags a little over the running time. This is a shame, because with about 20 minutes pruning, the quietly effective moments could have been a lot more powerful. For all that, there is an interesting (possible) twist at the end. My score is 6 out of 10.

This is a complete waste of time. Dull, boring, annoying & you just wished it would end. I stuck with it thinking it would liven up. No. It didn't.

Underrated and widely misunderstood. Disappearance at Clifton Hill is an effective, faithful tribute to the great puzzle box mystery movies of the '70s and '80s, such as '72's Sleuth and '82's Deathtrap (coincidentally, both adaptations of stage plays and both co-starring Michael Caine). Against the soundscape of a beautifully rendered 70s-style thriller/mystery score, Clifton Hall employs the unreliable narrator in the protagonist; in fact, the narrative itself is intentionally unreliable. All of this misdirection occurs within the context of multiple conspiracy theories which may hold full, partial, or no credence. There's even a moment of genre misdirection where it feels like the movie might veer into American giallo territory.

I think it is all this misdirection and narrative complexity which many viewers find off-putting, and which accounts for the unjustly low ratings. Those looking for a point A to point B crime thriller with a completely unambiguous, pat solution will be disappointed and / or befuddled. On the other hand, mystery aficionados looking for a challenging movie with a clever script, superb acting, and a conclusion perfectly rooted in the genre tradition from which it hails, the grossly underrated Disappearance from Clifton Hill is a must-see.

Abby West (Tuppence Middleton) returns to her hometown of Niagara Falls after her mother's death. She and her sister Laure inherit the rundown family motel. Laure wants to sell it right away. Abby is dealing with a childhood trauma which is keeping her psychologically stunted. While on a family fishing trip downstream from the falls at the age of seven, she alone witnessed a possible kidnapping. After finding an old photograph, she decides to report it to the police.

This starts with a great premise. The mystery doesn't have enough twists and turns. It's doing a straight line investigation. It doesn't really excite as a mystery film. There is a late reveal twist which should be done earlier in the movie. They could always double back with another twist. It does a bit of paranoid thriller but the audience is not given much doubt about Abby's sanity or motives in the case until it's too late. It tries to be moody but when paired with Canadiana and Niagara Falls kitsch, the atmospheric falls apart. At the end of the day, this movie has some right ideas but it struggles to achieve lift-off.

Average acting, stretched plot. Don't bother. Really, don't...

This movie could have been a thriller...but it sucked! That is time I can never get back. Worst movie in a long time. All of the place. Confusing and just plain dumb.

The third (but first recognized) directional feature by Albert Shin, "Disappearance at Clifton Hill", provides a subtle but effective slow-burning small town mystery / psychological drama / modern noir thriller, albeit one that's potential is only half realized. With great attention for detail (and a little less for the bigger picture), competent performances, intriguing setting & atmospheric cinematography and sound design "Disappearance at Clifton Hill" should please the fans of oddball indie thrillers.

This is, in its structure and essence, more or less, a standard mystery, but a good one, with bonus style points. The small town - faded town backdrop adds another point, and so does the pleasantly complicated and conflicted lead character of Abby, portrayed by Tuppence Middleton. The story is intriguing and compelling enough, but starts to fizzle out a bit towards the end with the screenwriters pulling a minor clutch with the very last scene. Throughout the movie, Abby sometimes connects the dots too easily and some moments in the rather serious and morbid story should have felt a little heavier than they did. You could say "Disappearance at Clifton Hill" pulls a few punches. Nevertheless, director Albert Shin knows how to orchestrate this symphony and every scene feels careful, peculiar, atmosphere-rich. Despite the never dissatisfactory eccentric detail and all the tasty, subtle flavor, the movie frequently tends to get lost in itself, resulting in "the bigger picture" being overly convoluted on surface while actually being relatively flat below. Technical side doesn't disappoint though, the original score by Alex Sowinski and Leland Whitty works wonders and is a major player in achieving the movie's peculiar atmosphere. The cinematography earns a compliment or two as well, "Disappearance at Clifton Hill" manages to excel at visually portraying a historically glowing, but faded and decaying community with a sparkle of unfamiliar nostalgia here and there. The audiovisual and aesthetical work on this movie rests on the level which I simply call top tier indie stuff.

In the end "Disappearance at Clifton Hill" stays above average and just more to impress with than to underwhelm with. Definitely recommended to the fans of indie mysteries, oddball thrillers and small town hurts. My rating: