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Spoorloos / The Vanishing (SPOILERS)

posted 11 years ago by DonQuichotte
4 replies | jump to latest

+++ CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE RAVEN AND THE MOVIES IN THE TITLE +++

Seriously don't read on, if you haven't watched both The Raven and Spoorloos http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096163/ or its very poor remake The Vanishing http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108473/!

Is it me, or is The Raven heavily referencing Spoorloos? Or are the similarities based on a Poe story? If so, which one?

Similarities:
A man's girlfriend is being kidnapped and buried alive in a coffin. He has to arrange a deal with the kidnapper and agrees to poison himself and ultimately die.

[–] richard-III 11 years ago

O.k., spoilers...

Well, the film 'Spoorloos', its remake 'The Vanishing' and the book they both were based on, Tim Krabbé's 'The Golden Egg', always had an Edgar Allan Poe-ish theme, being buried alive or the fear of it. That's what I love about 'Spoorloos'.
The makers of 'The Raven' might have been inspired by Tim Krabbé's plot.

But have you read Poe's story 'The Premature Burial'? It's more pure than the 1962 Roger Corman movie.

"I don't discriminate between entertainment
and arthouse. A film is a goddam film."

[–] richard-III 11 years ago

I just saw The Raven, it's a well-made film.

And unlike in Spoorloos/The Vanishing, which uses a drug, it has poison, as you wrote. I suppose Spoorloos/The Vanishing ends even more Poe-like.

"I don't discriminate between entertainment
and arthouse. A film is a goddam film."

[–] 11 years ago

[deleted]

[–] TheManInOil 10 years ago

There's an obvious connection, but I wouldn't say that one plot device is 'heavily referencing'.

"I'll book you. I'll book you on something. I'll find something in the book to book you on."