50 Movies Where Evil Won

Plot: Three years after his girlfriend vanished without a trace, Rex (Gene Bervoets) has a fateful meeting with the man (Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu) who kidnapped her.

Cinematic evil comes in many, many forms, and this harrowing Dutch thriller depicts one of the most terrifying forms of all: the banal kind. 

Raymond comes off as a relaxed, awkward family man, and everything about him is disarmingly matter-of-fact. Of course, as his victim Saskia (Johanna ter Steege) only realizes all too late, he is a sociopath without a conscience who sets out to commit the ultimate evil. 

Unlike most thrillers, The Vanishing devotes just as much time to exploring its villain as it does its hero, so viewers really get to know Raymond. As it should go without saying, this is quite the haunting experience. 

After three years of tormenting Rex, Raymond finally reveals himself and taunts Rex with the knowledge that there's no way to prove he committed the crime. Nevertheless, he also says that he will explain what happens to Saskia, on one condition: Rex must drink some coffee, which is drugged with a sleeping draught. Having been consumed by his desperation to find out what happened to his beloved Saskia, Rex does indeed drink the coffee; big mistake. 

Rex awakens, buried alive, just as Saskia was, and that's how the movie ends, as Rex dies one of the most terrifying deaths imaginable and Raymond returns to his family, who are none the wiser.