I didn't know which exact movie are you talking about, so I asked AI bot to answer to you description and here are the titles it suggested:

1) The Dark Hour / La hora fría (2006)

The Plot: A low-budget Spanish sci-fi horror film set in a post-apocalyptic facility where survivors hide from an entity/cold darkness that sweeps through the corridors. Released straight-to-video around that timeframe with no big-name American stars.

2) The Mist (2007)

The Plot: A strange mist/fog envelopes a town while people are trapped inside a supermarket. (Though it's fog rather than complete darkness, the "trapped in a store" premise fits very closely).

3) Darkness (2002)

The Plot: Forty years after a dark ritual vanished a group of children, an American family moves into a house in Spain where an ancient force—a pitch-black, enveloping darkness—is trying to complete the ritual and swallow the world during a lunar eclipse.

The Details: It fits the early 2000s timeframe perfectly and definitely has a dark, pitch-black void vibe, though it focuses more on a family/house setting than public places or bars. It was a lower-budget production with direct-to-video/VHS releases in many regions.

For me the movie from 2002 suits the best to the described detail.

4) Vanishing on 7th Street (2010)

The Plot: An unexplained, almost sentient darkness gradually envelopes the entire world, making people disappear into thin air and leaving only their clothes behind.

The Location: The surviving characters gather inside a bar running on a backup generator to stay in the light, while others get trapped in public places early on.

Note: It came out slightly later than the early 2000s and has a couple of known actors (Hayden Christensen, John Leguizamo), but it heavily feels like a low-budget B-movie.

5) Phantoms (1998)

The Plot: An ancient entity/black void wipes out an entire town. A small group of survivors moves through deserted public places, shops, and bars trying to figure out what is happening while staying alive.

Note: Fits the late '90s/early 2000s VHS era and B-movie atmosphere.

That's the one - thank you for your help.
I have to learn to use the Internet. I was using search words like night, dark, void etc. I never used the word vanish.
Also, btw, anyone reading this and thinking about finding it somewhere and watching it, don't waste your time, it sucks. It has a well-deserved rating of 4.9 on IMDb, where anything below 6.5 is iffy. I had no particular reason for wanting to find it, other than to satisfy some unexplained hair up my ass.
Here's the IMDb listing, which includes a trailer.
Hey, it's actually on Tubi right now.

Vanishing on 7th Street (2010): The population of Detroit has almost completely disappeared, but a few remain. As daylight disappears they realize that the Dark is coming for them.
My Comment: Having watched this again now, after about 15 years, it turns out that the creeping darkness are shadows of dead people who kind of come together into a big blob. The only way to keep it/them away is to stay within a source of light at night. It's a somewhat intriguing concept, but the film just doesn't lead anywhere, or explain anything.
A small group of people huddle for a night in a bar that has a failing electrical generator in the basement that barely keeps the lights on. The main protagonist decides that they need to escape out of the city, although it is never explained how that would solve their dilemma regarding the ever-encroaching darkness. Some die, some survive, at least for that night - standard Hollywood boilerplate. Other than the concept of an inescapable, encroaching darkness that causes people to vanish/die, there is nothing memorable about this film and in my opinion is not worth the hour-and-a-half.
Bad (1-4)
Watched on Tubi.

Identity (2003) 8/10.

It was a disaster. Like you know everyone's going to have a bad time cos that's the whole point of the movie. It was really well done (and funny at times) and it was only 90 minutes long.

I think that so much happened an in only 90 mins and that it still made sense makes it an impressive movie. I find that a lot of movies now are just really long for being long or for vibes. But I think they've just forgotten how timing works and when they just need to end the story.

I agree with this rating and also gave it a 8/10 on page 26 of this thread. IMDb also rates it high, at 7.3, and deservedly so.


So, it was a disaster, but really well done? I don't understand.


I don't understand what you're saying here.

The movies I recently watched for the first time are:

Ice Age 2: The Meltdown (2006)(DVD)
I seen the 1st Ice Age, when it came. I did not watch part 2 when it came out because I did not see a need or reason for them to have a second part. When Hollywood start making sequels, I often feel that they are cash grabs, so I don't support it.

Rating: 7/10- I did not like romance/love story they added in between Manny and Ellie. It should have been Manny trying to find other mammoths. When he finds Ellie, who thinks she is a opossum, it should have been about her discovering that she is a mammoth raised by an opossum family (that part of the story was rushed). I do like how the animals had to find a new place to live on because the ice was melting.

They focused on too many things at once. It should have been:
1. The animals need to move to another area on higher ground because the ice is melting.
2. While journeying to a new area Manny realize there are no other mammoths traveling with them, which makes him want to find out if he is the last mammoth.
Meeting Ellie and the journey to finding other mammoths should have been in the next movie.

I guess I better watch Ice Age 3 to see what happens next.

Inside Out 2 (2024)(DVD)
I loved the 1st Inside Out movie.
Rating: 9/10- The storyline was good, but I feel that something was missing. I love how Joy and Anxiety were butting heads, both wanting to be in charge.

The Incredibles 2 (2018)(DVD)
I seen the 1st movie and love it. I did not watch part 2 at the time because it came out 14 years after the first movie. If a sequel doesn't come out within five years of the first movie, I consider it a desperate move and a cash grab.

Rating: 10/10- I loved the movie. I am not to crazy about how they changed Violets character from quiet, mysterious, annoyed to more outgoing. Other than that the movie was great. They did not fool around for 14 years and throw us garbage. They actually took the time to think about the storyline, which is probably why it took 14 years because they did not have a storyline before then.

Sonic the Hedgehog (2020)(DVD) & Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (2022)(DVD)
I was against watching any of these movies because I grew up watching the original Sonic cartoons (1993-1994), so I felt like it was a desperate move and a cash grab.

Rating: 9/10 (both movies)- The movies were great. I love the background story they gave Sonic, in the 1st movie. (For those of you that did not watch the original Sonic cartoons because you were too young or weren't born yet; Sonic is actually a teenager in the original cartoon). Adding humans to the storyline is actually what made the movies. I never seen any of the other Sonic cartoons outside the original, so I am not sure if humans were added in those. Robotnik was the only human that existed in the Sonic world when I was a kid. I just wished Jaleel White did the voice, since he is still alive and is the original voice of Sonic.

Oh I didn't realise I wasn't being clear. I meant that its one of those disaster movies where you know all the characters are going to have a very bad time, but because it's done in a way that isn't disappointing or cringe it ends up being an enjoyable movie.


Bloodsport (1988) 6/10.

Finally sat down to watch the movie I'd only ever seen snippets of over the years. The fight scenes? Iconic. The music? Absolute vibe. The acting? A no from me because I don't think Jean-Claude can act enough to be a main character.

The Son's Room (2001, Italy, subtitled): A psychoanalyst and his family go through profound emotional trauma when their son dies in a scuba-diving accident.
My Comment: What is almost more interesting than the main plot, are the antics of the shrink's patients.
Mediocre (4-6)
Watched here: https://ok.ru/video/3382195980807

Swordfish (2001) 6/10

Very 90s 00s hacking

Would watch again even if I wasn't a fan of several scenes and the music was fun (Planet Rock remix is iconic)

The Thing From Another World (1951): After retrieving a body from a crashed flying saucer, scientists fend off a bloodthirsty alien organism at a remote research facility in the Arctic.
My Comment: Early 1950's sci-fi and not as good as Them, or The Incredible Shrinking Man, which I think might be the best of the genre.
Mediocre (4-6)
Watched on Tubi

The Monolith Monsters (1957): Rocks from a meteor which grow when in contact with water threaten a sleepy Southwestern desert community.
Mediocre (4-6)
Watched on Tubi

The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957): After Scott Carey begins to shrink because of exposure to a combination of radiation and insecticide, medical science is powerless to help him.
My Comment: One of my favorite 1950's sci-fi films and I think one of the best of the genre.
Very Good (8-10)
Watched here: https://ok.ru/video/16582524144196