Most horrifying movies about kidnapped/murdered/exploited/abused children

Travanti and Williams give such powerful performances of horrified parents that it was their viewpoint alone that kept me in tears. For nearly 3 decades this case went sadly unsolved due to police ineptitude. Toole's photos give me the impression that he was inbred. No matter what kind of childhood he suffered, he made the choice, and we must live with our choices.

Nelligan and Hirsch are awesome in this inspired but not fact based story about a youngster who vanishes on his way to school. Alex Selky and his single mom live in Brooklyn, and suddenly Alex is gone. Nelligan's performance is almost robotically dignified, but never nonemotional. This story is rumoured to be loosely based on the Etan Patz case, but sadly, that case has never been resolved either.

People have ragged on Rohm since L&O and I think it's ridiculous. She's no Streep, but she does a wonderful job as an anguished single mom whose 9 year old daughter is ripped off her bicycle and thrown into a dirty black pickup. There is only one elderly eyewitness, but he did all that he could. The second half has a separate story about the abduction of 10 yr old Nicole Timmons by Glen Park, a man who has a creepy obsession with Nicole. Nicole's story ends much more happily than Amber's, but as her Mom always says when someone is saved, "We did it again, baby girl."

It takes a hell of an actor to make you despise and abhor him. Tucci is one of my favorites. I was so creeped out and enraged at him that I had to watch Julie & Julia just to calm my nerves. Suzie Salmon (Ronan) is a beautiful, intelligent, gifted and loving 14 year old who does not know she is being watched by an evil force so empty that only killing satisfies it. Once she was lured down into that creepy "playhouse", she was doomed. Arguably uplifting and depressing simultaneously.

A sequel that I didn't bother watching until recent years because I thought that the story had been told adequately and that I'd shed enough tears already, but just this past few months, I've rewatched this dynamic continuation of John, Reve, Adam and Meghan's story, and realised that the story was far from over. Again, I was moved to tears by the performance of Travanti and Williams as the courageous parents, who must continue the fight for America's missing children. The part where their second son, Callahan is born but quickly suffers from complications was very frightening, but uplifting because of John's prayer/talk with Adam. "Please help your little brother." Later in the film, a Florida girl, Staci Jazvac goes missing, and the film becomes as terrifying as the first film was. Finally the meaning of, "If his song is to continue, we must do the singing" is clear. The song is loud and sometimes rude, but people who care do what it takes to make sure the song is heard, because the voiceless are the ones being sung for.