The first scene that bothered me and I could see it beginning to classify as a horror film is when Raymond is practicing abducting random girls and drugging them. The fact that he bought a house, made sure people couldn't hear anyone scream, practiced luring women into his car and drugging them, and then asking women and getting more comfortable with it before he actually makes his move. In the article "The Horrific in Sluizer's the Vanishing", the author makes an argument that Raymond isn't a monster. Just by the fact that he is practicing what he wants to do before he makes his move, that classifies him as a monster to me.
The last scene of the film where Raymond is showing Rex what he did to Saskia creates the feeling of a horror film. He is casually burying someone alive! He hears Rex screaming and he just continues to bury him. The fact that he lets his family live on the land where he buried two people alive is sickening.
Ultimately, I think people find situations that are completely plausible to be some of the best horror films. Psycho, even though it's a bit of a stretch, is completely plausible and it was one of the best horror films in my opinion. Another film that follows under the reality factor is a film called The Strangers.
This film is about a couple out at there cabin home and three people decide to terrorize them. They destroy the car, burn the cell phones, and there is no one around to hear them scream. At the end of the film the couple asks why they did this and one of the "strangers" simply says, "Because you were home".
Many films that have this reality factor seem to bother people more than something like Halloween with Michael Myers. When exiting a film like Halloween, you can exit safely thinking it was just a movie. But a film like The Vanishing and The Strangers have that "It could happen to me" factor that chills everyone down to the bones.
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