Disappearances
Metascore
57 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 9 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 9
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 9
  3. Negative: 2 out of 9
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  1. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Michael Wilmington
    88
    The movie looks like far more than a million dollars and it offers the kind of smart, picaresque good time you get from books like "The Reivers" and "Huckleberry Finn" and movies like "Bronco Billy" and "Bonnie and Clyde."
  2. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Lou Lumenick
    75
    Solidly old-fashioned entertainment.
  3. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Walter Addiego
    75
    A heartfelt effort, if at times a bit heavy-handed.
  4. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Jack Mathews
    38
    The film is lovely to look at, but makes not a lick of sense.
  5. Variety
    Reviewed by: Justin Chang
    70
    A frequently mesmerizing if exceedingly strange coming-of-age odyssey.
  6. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Stephen Holden
    50
    The movie, though lovingly handmade by Mr. Craven, has a frustratingly disjunctive rhythm.
  7. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Maitland McDonagh
    63
    The mix of rollicking, family-friendly action and backwoods mysticism is odd, as is the story's progress from larky escapades to increasingly grim consequences, and Craven never quite manages to make it all seem a smoothly integrated piece.
  8. Seattle Post-Intelligencer
    Reviewed by: Bill White
    25
    It is a pretentious and incoherent blend of ghost story and frontier adventure that becomes more preposterous and idiotic with each passing scene.
  9. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: Jonathan Rosenbaum
    50
    Jay Craven's stilted adaptation of a novel by Howard Frank Mosher lacks the urgency, the poetry, or the feeling for period that might have brought the material to life, while the cast seems to be largely squandered.

User Reviews

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User Score
5.0 out of 10

Mixed or average reviews- based on 10 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 4
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 4
  3. Negative: 2 out of 4
  1. FrankL.
    9
    Really interesting and dense take on a sort of New England Western genre. Kristofferson's really good as this sort of force of nature, torpedoes-be-damned whiskey smuggler, and the supporting cast is all strong as well. Some parts seem to come out of nowhere, but overall a very successful film.… Full Review »
  2. AnnaB.
    2
    Incomprehensible and not well put together.
  3. DylanS.
    0
    Saw it at a film fest where I go to school, horribly shot, horribly acted and written even worse. Avoid at all cost, may be the worst piece of trash I've ever seen. The book may be all well and good, but this was not.… Full Review »
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