Stanley Kubrick thought The Vanishing (1988) was the most terrifying film he had seen, even more frightening than The Shining (1980). Kubrick called George Sluizer to discuss some of the editing.
Jeff Bridges uses a fake arm cast to lure women into his vehicle. Ted Bundy used the same method in real life.
In an opinion piece for Dutch magazine De FILMkrant in 1999, director George Sluizer said that he'd initially signed a contractual agreement with 20th Century Fox producer Joe Roth to keep the original ending. When Roth left for Disney during production, the contract was canceled. Negative audience previews during editing led to more changes because viewers had trouble understanding the flashback structure.
The cabin by the lake scenes were filmed at Camp Omache, a Boy Scout summer camp near Monroe, WA.