Bunny Lake Is Missing

I can only marginally fault the predictable twist with a cast and camerawork of this level. Has that unusual atmosphere you only get from these 60/70s sleeper hits.

With an atmosphere and some camera work that seems to place Preminger's film ahead of its time, Bunny Lake is absolutely a film worth seeking out. The ending, love it or hate it, dominates the discussion around the film which is a shame because there is a lot to enjoy in the first and second acts.

Very boring in between a few scenes that manage to make you curious, though only mildly. It wasn't until the inspector started to suspect Bunny wasn't real that I actually became engaged, but it was about another 40 minutes for things to become actually suspenseful again. The ending wasn't overly predictable, but neither was it extremely clever or executed very well. Not exactly a hidden gem, but overall just above the line of decent.

A very well-made mystery/thriller. The ending, which some have deemed corny, is also somewhat bizarre, for better or worse, but altogether this is effectively fascinating and mysterious.

Slow burn at first and then gets very creepy at the end. Did not see that coming, which I suppose could be a cheap twist. Maybe it would have been more understandable if they leaned more heavily into making us question whether Bunny Lake was real. Fav scene: playing and singing nursery rhymes with brother in the end who was very creepy.

Some interesting camerawork... Some intense moments... But it didn't coalesce into something more than a curiosity for me.

I love stories where you can't trust the characters, and so you don't actually know what the truth is. Great style, great suspense. Some have complained about the predictable "twist" at the end, but I don't really fault the film for that, as there were 2 or 3 other possible twists they could have worked just as well. I do think the last part went off the rails in terms of believability, which sorta broke the suspense for me, and made this merely a very good movie, instead of a great one.

It takes a long time for any considerable dramatic or psychological weight to settle in, and by then it begins to telegraph. It doesn't help that Preminger shoots it like a hack, every exaggerated sweep of the camera calling attention to itself. The acting is mediocre, with the notable exception of Olivier. It skirts by on morbid curiosity until that god awful final sequence.

This feels like a 2 hour Twilight Zone episode. With that in mind, yeah, it gets a bit corny (especially the final moments), but it's also extremely entertaining. Carol Lynley, Keir Dullea and Laurence Oliver all have solid performances. There's a lot of nice photography too, which was unexpected.

Engaging mystery right up until the big revelation. I find it unbelievable that the brother, who is a level-headed guy through the first two acts, suddenly regresses to the mental age of a six year-old. It just seemed lazy. Ditch the child's play and wrap it up with an age-appropriate finale, and you have a great flick. As it is however, completely forgettable.

Now, let me get this straight: during the first half of this film, I was mesmerized, thinking "what a flawless masterpiece!". Then, things changed to a dual point of view. SPOILER: Then, a predictable plot twist came by, then another, and there ya go: a would-have-been-perfect movie is almost ruined by an awful ending. But, it got a lot of style, anyway anyhow.

The twist ending's too bizarre for its own good and the audio is a little shaky at times, but the photography, music, and performances more than make up for it, although it's hard to see Keir Dullea as anyone other than Dave Bowman after all these years.

Unfortunately Carol Lynley is about the lamest actress there ever was...and Dullea isn't too many rungs up the ladder, talent-wise. Of course, one can only do so much with what one is given (and the book seems to have been altered quite a bit). Olivier at least provides a nicely low-key presence, while Coward is rather overbearing in his role as the Red Herring. All of which leads to the thoroughly ludicrous finale (nut that I am, I would've just walloped the guy over the head with a skillet).

a great case for the fact not everything needs an explanation

I'm giving this a slightly-above average score, even though I guessed the right ending (with all its odd ways of getting there). The reason I liked it was because I would love to have spin-offs made from all the bizarre secondary characters: the wildly bureaucratic school admins, the batty spinster in the attic, the narcissistic flagellant.... I bet even the ol' inspector has a sordid past.

A very good psychological thriller about a woman whose daughter cause missing the first day at a new school. It kept on my figurative toes in guessing at what happened and what the truth is. It undermines this ambiguity in the finale, but still that finale is immensely suspenseful and unsettling. The camerawork reminded me very much of Preminger's Anatomy of a Murder, which also has many excellent long takes. Which are often disorientating ,suiting this plot perfectly

Perhaps not as convincing in the final act, but it is uniquely clever and surprised me even with the use of its score.

Although it has its flaws, this psychological thriller mystery, which was obviously heavily influenced by Hitchcock, has enough plus-points to make it good - principal among which are the extremely fine performances - and enough twists and turns to keep things interesting.

The film was, for me, unlike others, UNpredictable, but until the solution, everything was a bit boring. Maybe not boring so much as repetitive. Inherent for mystery films, though.

Solid mystery-thriller--child is missing. Who took her? It hooked me from the start and kept stringing me along. Not great perhaps, but satisfying if you're in the mood for this type of movie. ps68

A difficult film to score. The central mystery is engaging enough and the crisp black-and-white photography is lovely to look at, but the abrupt shift in tone and character two-thirds of the way through is hard to take seriously. Once the twist comes, you have to reconsider everything that came before and it comes off as a bit contrived. The final scene, though, is so fucking bizarre I actually found it quite unsettling.

Before Jodie Foster lost her daughter in "Flightplan" and after, too a lesser degree, "The Lady Vanishes", Bunny Lake went missing. What do these films all have in common besides their plots? Not one of them know how to end this premise. Great cinematography, iffy acting by Keir Dullea and annoying cameo by the Zombies.

This has a strangely flimsy middle, but the beginning excellently sets up the dark, nightmarish plot and the ending turns incredibly and lovably bizarre and exciting. Carol Lynley is great, but I don't think Olivier gets much to do. His presence is barely felt. There's also some fascinating, occasionally great camerawork and appearances by The Zombies that are worth noting.

I liked it, even despite the bizarre ending and strong similarities to The Lady Vanishes.

Very inventive for its time (and risque), Bunny Lake is Missing provides a taut and tense story which takes some creepy and unexpected turns.

watched: 2012, 2020

Effective thriller. Carol Lynley is surprisingly good, Kierr Dullea is fine also, and Olivier of course steals the show.

There's a plot turn later in the movie that's a total howler, but this is an absorbing and unique motion picture. Great cast and welcome musical interludes by The Zombies