This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

The acting in this movie is really good.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

With disregard to the major flaws of this film - the one shining light is it's plot. The ending and the rather large list of unanswered questions leave the final scenes of the film totally to the imagination, and subsequently, gets far more appreciation from me - for getting me to think, and for creating a deal of hype surrounding what was going on.I do believe the neutron bomb happened in '48 and that the town of Weaver, possibly even the neighboring town was vaporized in the blast.Some strong symbolism and the "sign" that is tattooed/painted to the skin on the wall, as well as strategic car parking at the ravine, lead me to believe the ramblings of Lester that Weaver could indeed have been built on an old Indian burial ground. I have a feeling that whatever normality was in place prior to the neutron bomb, it was clearly affected the miners hiding out underneath Weaver.I agree with other posters who have thought similar ideas about the old man "nice car" and the daughter "nice bike". We're lead to believe that the old man has swapped bodies with the young girl in some kind of periodic regeneration of either a) Indians or b) mutants from the bomb site. Fresh graves indicate that once regenerated, the instigators require to hide the evidence to avoid suspicion...Although that would seem a moot point, considering the sheriff is either one of them, or working within his powers to co-operate and appease them. If the "regular" people of the neighboring town are aware of what is going on, then clearly the are co-conspirators like the sheriff, or just the incumbents themselves.The sand cloud remained a puzzle for me for a while, as it almost became sentient by the end of the film, chasing Henley's group first to the town then into the desert, maybe it is part of the transition process, or just something spiritual, awoken by the neutron bomb? The good thing about the ending is that it left either option open - and allows the viewer to come to their own conclusion what is really going on in the town. My personal take is that the bomb or the miners' attempts to hide from it, resulted in them discovering more than they bargained for in the mine shafts. A spirit or tradition, that since allowed them to continue existence, despite being infected by radiation in the first instance after the explosion.Certainly the crow - lends to this notion, and that despite the "disappearance" of the family, the boy lives on in the crow at the end (taking pictures) while previously "obvious" personalities of the diner waitress/old man, are now living on in his physical family. Strange then, that the boy wasn't killed - but was moved into the crow. Apart from that i'm comfortable with this explanation.

Sadly, I have to give this movie a THUMBS DOWN. I don't recommend you watch it.This movie has many good aspects. There are noteworthy things in the writing, acting, and directing. It is surprisingly good for a TV movie. (I saw it on the Lifetime Network in Nov-2008.) Some of the comments on IMDb accuse the movie of being cliché. I don't think that's fair. It certainly echoes and builds upon other horror movies. I thought it had a great deal in common with The Hills Have Eyes. There is an Invasion of the Body Snatchers aspect, and maybe a slight Poltergeist aspect. But it wasn't cliché.Actually, I think this movie is superior to The Hills Have Eyes. It manages to build a greater level of suspense, and it does so with virtually zero gore. That is a notable achievement. You can let older children watch this movie without worrying about scarring them psychologically, but mature fans of horror will still be on the edge of their seats the whole time.Another great thing about this movie is that, whereas in most horror movies the characters always make the WRONG choices (which is frustrating to the audience), in this movie the characters contemplate the wrong choices but then end up making the RIGHT choices. This adds to the suspense, and makes it all the more surprising when those choices go wrong. I found that refreshing. (An example: neat the end of the movie, the father decides to drive to a neighboring town instead of staying in the possessed town. From the audience's point of view, the father makes the right choice, but then everything goes wrong anyways.)HOWEVER... although there are good things in this movie, the ending sucks. It sucks just as badly as all the comments on IMDb say it does.The ending sucks because a) there are too many unanswered questions, and b) there is not a sufficient explanation for who the villain was, and what the actual fate of the family was.As for the unanswered questions... we never knew how the boy disappeared in the desert, or what happened to him while he was gone. We never found out who was stealing belongings and sorting them into piles in the mine shaft, or why. We never found out if there was a supernatural aspect to the sand storms. We never found out exactly what happened in the ghost town. We never found out how the father walked in a straight line but still ended up back at the ghost town.The movie suggests three possible explanations for the mysterious antagonist:1- Descendants of neutron bomb victims who refused to evacuate.2- Angry Native American spirits -- the ghost town having been built on a grave.3- Aliens.These are the three theories that the guy in the jail cell tells the father.But the movie gives clues that are at odds with each other.=> The glass bomb site and the snorting creature in the mine shaft suggest MUTANTS.=> The symbolic layout of the abandoned cars and the raven suggest Indian SPIRITS.=> The Stepford town, the woman from the video working at the fast food place, and the ultimate possession of the family suggest ALIENS.This is confusing and frustrating for the audience.The movie is good enough that it makes you really want a resolution. But the answers cannot be found within the movie itself, nor can you extrapolate the answers from the given clues. Therefore, despite the good aspects of the script, the direction, and the acting, the experience of watching this movie is ultimately highly dissatisfying.

I caught this film today on a slow Sunday before Bank Holiday and was pleasantly surprised. For the bulk of this film you go along expecting run of the mill Stephen King-eseque 'clone' fare, then Disappearance suddenly hits you with a curve ball ending that is very enigmatic and gives you absolutely no answers. (never-mind answers on a plate). In an age where identi-kit movies trundle off the Hollywood assembly line, thats a brave step for any film, for a made-for-TV effort its positively audacious.**MIld Spoiler Alert**Having perused the comments already made here, the almost brutal way the writers curtailed this movie seems to generate considerable ire and indignation in some viewers, resulting in, IMO, harsh scores. At the end of this film the family are caught in the middle of an on-going mystery and atypically the viewer is caught there with them. More so, the intentionally vague final scene when the daughter feeds the crow, leaves you feeling you now know even less than they do. You almost expect the continuity voice-over to announce part II next week. It's unsatisfying and vaguely irritating and in an almost perverse way, I kind of like it all the more, for it. It lifts the movie from the hum-drum and fits very well with the understated unease that pervades the film throughout.If you're the kind of person who hated the 60's TV series 'The Prisoner' for failing to conclude with pat-answers then you're going to abhor this film for the same reason. If you're the kind of person who enjoys the prospect of having their imagination stimulated by a made-for-TV movie you fully expected was going to be the usual 2nd rate pap, then you're going to enjoy this film. A far from perfect movie, but one deserving of more credit than it garners on these pages.

This film is reminiscent of the radio days when peoples imagination was required to complete the story. This film is not for anyone who likes to have a defined ending with all of the answers being given Like most of these types of stories, there are a number of situations where you can't understand the families complacency, but this aside, the story line encourages the viewer to see it through to it's conclusion. This is one of those story lines that ends with the beginning of yet another story. From start to finish there are many suggestions for the identity of the phenomenon which is causing the family to worry, but as the best "monsters" are those from your imagination,that's where this film takes you. If you have an imagination I'm confident you will enjoy this one.