The Disappearance of Alice Creed

Criminals Vic and Danny kidnap Alice Creed, the only child in of a wealthy family. In a secured room, they forcibly strip her naked and tie her to a bed and ball-gag her, forcing her to look at a camera. Dressing her in a tracksuit and hood on her head, the pair leave her. Disposing all three's clothes, Vic sends the pictures to her father to demand ransom.

The pair explain to Alice that she needs to sign when she needs the toilet and strip her lower half in order that she use a bedpan while tied. Neither shows any emotion during her humiliation but Vic mocks Danny's less calm nature.

Vic is the one who leaves Alice in order to make preparations, whilst Danny is left to guard Alice. In his absence, Alice persuades Danny to untie her and turn his back. She attacks him and grabs his pistol, which she fires a warning shot. fearing his life, he reveals his identity to Alice. They were lovers prior to jail sentence, saying he met Vic while inside and chose her as the kidnap victim to get money from the her father.

Telling Alice his plan, Danny would double-cross Vic and to start a new life together with the money. Hearing Vic, Danny points out that even after shooting him, she couldn't stop Vic. Alice agrees to play along with Danny's plan and lets him tie her back up. Later, while Vic is away again, Alice gets Danny to untie her. Seducing him she handcuffs him to the bed. Trying to leave, she finds the front door bolted from inside and can't get out.

Finding a mobile phone, Alice dials 999 but cannot tell the operator where she is. With Danny's gun, she threatens him for the location the front-door keys. Danny tells her they are in his pants pocket. In the attempt to retrieve it he overpowers Alice, retying her unconscious. Vic returns and says the exchange is on. Danny leaves Vic alone with Alice while he prepares the van.

As Vic starts to get Alice ready for the trip, the mobile phone she managed to obtain falls out of her pocket onto the bed. Vic checks it and finds it shows a 999 call. Spotting a bullet hole in the wall, he ungags and threatens her. She screams for Danny, proving his suspicion. She then tells Vic that Danny intended to double-cross him and that she had done a deal with Danny to play along as kidnap victim in exchange for a share of the money.

Vic is shocked at Danny's betrayal. When Danny returns, Vic gives Danny a chance to admit something was amiss by saying he feels something is 'not right'. But Danny does not reveal anything to Vic. They inject Alice with a sedative and move her to a deserted, rural warehouse, chaining her up in a back room. Vic asks Danny for his set of keys to the locks and then drives him to a forest where he says they are to pick up the ransom.

There, Vic confronts Danny about his betrayal, saying he has consigned both himself and Alice to death through it. He says he now intends the hole they had dug for the ransom is for Danny. He flees and Vic shoots at him. Danny, wounded, manages to get away and hide. Vic then retrieves the ransom elsewhere, returning for Alice. He tries to inject her, but the wounded Danny returns to overcome him, getting his gun. In the standoff, Vic reveals to Alice that the they were romantically involved.

He attempts to use the bond between them to persuade the fatally wounded Danny to put the gun down and be taken to hospital. Danny shoots Vic point blank and then, to Alice's horror, leaves the room, switching off the light on his way out. She is still handcuffed to railings next to a dying Vic. However, he revives sufficiently to throw keys to Alice. She manages to unlock her fetters and stagger out through the warehouse.

Outside, she finds car he was leaving in is a short distance up the road, the ransom money on the passenger seat and Danny's corpse in the driver's seat. As she drives away the money the radio play news of her still missing, ironically initiating her titular "disappearance"

• Gemma Arterton as Alice Creed
• Martin Compston as Danny
• Eddie Marsan as Vic

The film was shot on the Isle of Man and was largely filmed over four weeks in chronological order. Arterton insisted on being handcuffed to the bed even when not being filmed to help her performance. She joked that the crew used the gag prop to stop her chatting on set.[5]

The film was screened at the 2009 London Film Festival,[6] the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival,[7] and the Tribeca Film Festival in 2010.

After a well-publicised Facebook campaign to choose a cinema to host the World Premiere of the film, Southampton University Student's Union won the event, which took place on 20 April 2010.[8]

The film was released on DVD in the UK on 4 October 2010.[17]

In 2014 the Dutch-language remake Reckless was the opening film of the Netherlands Film Festival. The film closely follows the plot and structure of The Disappearance of Alice Creed.

In 2019 Netflix released Kidnapping Stella, a German remake of The Disappearance of Alice Creed. The film directed by Thomas Sieben, centers around the abduction of Stella (Jella Haase) by Vic (Clemens Schick) and Tom (Max von der Groeben).

• The Disappearance of Alice Creed at IMDb
• The Disappearance of Alice Creed at AllMovie
• The Disappearance of Alice Creed at Box Office Mojo
• The Disappearance of Alice Creed at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Disappearance of Alice Creed at Metacritic