13-14. Bunny Lake Is Missing (1965), Flightplan (2005)
In Bunny Lake Is Missing—directed by suspense master Otto Preminger—American transplant Ann Lake (Carol Lynley, never better) goes to pick her daughter up from her first day at her new London school, but no one has a record of the child ever existing. Since the audience has never seen Bunny Lake, viewers are left to wonder: Is the girl a figment of Lake’s imagination, or is her maternal terror over her abducted child real? Her search for her daughter results in a satisfying, creepy climax—unlike Flightplan, which reused the idea 40 years later on an airplane. Removing the ambiguity right away, the film shows Kyle Pratt (Jodie Foster) boarding the plane with her daughter, Julia, who helpfully traces a heart in a window so that viewers know she actually exists. Julia disappears on the plane, but it just so happens that Kyle designed it. After getting the runaround from the plane’s staff, Kyle goes into full Schwarzenegger mode, tearing out circuitry and slinking through baggage holds to search for her daughter. Gripping psychological drama or mommy action movie? In this missing-daughter category, it’s not even a contest. [Gwen Ihnat]