George Sluizer Movies

Five strangers from various parts of the Iberian Peninsula experience an outbreak of seemingly unrelated supernatural phenomena that only later take on greater significance in veteran director George Sluizer's 2002 seriocomic fantasy The Stoneraft. Joana (Ana Padrao), Jose (Gabino Diego), Maria (Iciar Bollain), and Joaquim (Diogo Infante) are all experiencing events they cannot logically explain: A flock of starlings follows Jose everywhere he goes, while Joana creates small fault lines with her walking stick; Joaquim not only raises an impossibly large stone with only his hands but also throws it out to sea; while unraveling one sock, Maria discovers the thread has no end. Pedro's (Federico Luppi) -- the fifth stranger -- experience is the most significant, as he alone feels a bizarre tremor that eventually leads to the entirety of Iberia dislodging itself from the rest of the European continent. As the new island begins to drift toward North America and a catastrophic collision appears imminent, the majority of the Spanish and Portuguese populations begin to abandon the renegade land mass. The five prophets, however, seek an answer to all of these puzzling events and are thus drawn together on their mutual quest for truth while preparing for what seems to be an approaching apocalypse. ~ Ryan Shriver, All Movie Guide

In this romantic European comedy, an expatriate ghost longs to leave the Dutch cemetery where he is interred and return to his native Portugal so that his weary spirit may finally rest. Dutch immigrant Manuel Espirito Santo met his demise when a tree filled with bees accidentally fell upon him and his motorcycle. Once ensconced in an Amsterdam grave, he encounters the lonely spirit of Kootchi-Tung, a Chinese immigrant who informs Manuel of his fate. Determined to not to remain an eternal specter, Manuel makes a dreamland visit to Julia, his sister back in Portugal. He has not been in touch with her for over 15 years. Later she learns that when he died, Manuel left her a small pub and a yacht. Excitedly, she heads north only to find both places in sad disrepair. But Julia is plucky and so transforms the bar into a successful restaurant. She then falls in love with Amsterdam native Max. After that happens, Manuel steps up his dream campaign to somehow convince them to take his body home. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

George Sluizer's 1992 English-language remake of his 1988 Dutch thriller The Vanishing follows the same plot-line as the original film, yet with one important difference. The film details a young man's (Kiefer Sutherland) search for his girlfriend (Sandra Bullock), who disappeared at a gas station after the couple had a fight. Where the original film didn't reveal what happened to the girlfriend until late into the movie, the 1992 version opens with her kidnapper (Jeff Bridges) plotting his abduction. Over the course of the film, Sutherland's search for Bullock is intercut with footage of Bridges that illustrates his mental illness and his repeated attempts to abduct women. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide

Based on Time Krabbe's The Golden Egg, The Vanishing is a deeply disturbing psychological thriller about a young man's search for his girlfriend after she disappears at a rest stop during a short trip. Over the course of three years, the man obsessively searches for her, using his spare time to put up posters and leave handbills, hoping that someone will give him a clue to the mystery surrounding her disappearance. The kidnapper, having watched the man for some time, is intrigued by his increasing obsession and finally contacts him. He then gives the man the opportunity to learn firsthand of his girlfriend's fate. The film, frightening and moving with a chilling conclusion, is a small masterpiece as director George Sluizer confronts and examines the true nature of evil and obsession. Sluizer remade The Vanishing in an American version four years after the release of the original Dutch film, inexplicably changing the shocking ending which gave the original film such power. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide

This parody of B-films turns around on itself more than once to come up with twists that out-twist B-film plots. A producer (George Sluizer, also the director) hikes his cast and crew out to a remote desert location to start filming a saga called the Red Desert Penitentiary -- supposedly based on an autobiography by a certain James Gagan (Will Rose). The story tells of Gagan's 20-year imprisonment in a one-room cell in the desert (two over-sexed young women held him captive). The truth is that Gagan's 20-year imprisonment was spent in a very traditional penitentiary with the traditionally barred cells. And then reality takes another jump off the high-dive board and the star of the film, Dan McMan (played by country and western singer James Michael Taylor) is confused for the character (Gagan) he is playing. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

This unpretentious Dutch film was the handiwork of Bert Haanstra, Holland's foremost postwar director. As Haanstra's first feature-length effort (he'd built his reputation on a series of shorts dealing with famous Flemish painters), Fanfare displays no awkwardness with its extended length. The story takes place in the tiny village of Giethorn, where two amateur brass bands vie for one government grant. The film's satire of small-town pretentiousness is leavened somewhat by a romance involving a saucy lass and the village's only policeman. Fanfare was completed with the help and moral support of British director Alexander Mackendrick, who'd previously helmed such similarly provincial comedies as Whisky Galore and The Maggie. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide