User reviews

Rented this film with no expectations at all. For the largest part of the film I did not regret one second to have rented it. Well, perhaps because it was too scary... The way it is filmed and the music along with it makes it a very good thriller. This is a perfect example I believe of the difference between an American film and a European film. And in this case I definitely prefer the latter. The grim atmosphere and the constant pressure keep you on the edge of your seat throughout the whole movie. But unfortunately, all good things come to an end and in Los sin nombre, this is before the end of the film. I can't spoil anything of course, but I personally was very disappointed with the end of this film. It left me with an unsatisfied feeling.

Good and unsettling Catalan terror/thriller by expert filmmaker Jaume Balaguero and based on the British novel "The Nameless" by Ramsey Campbell . More spine-tingling from the director of ¨Darkness¨ , a convincing sense of impeding dread and essential to any effective Horror-Thriller . Some years after a little girl was killed when her mummy named Claudia (Emma Villarasau) , addicted to tranquilizers , seemed to have started to recover , but a phone call once again shatters her existence : "Mummy, it's me... come and get me". Helped by an ex-cop named Massera(Karra Elejalde) and a parapsychology journalist named Quiroga (Tristan Ulloa) who is expert in the supernatural, she sets out on a desperate search for encounter her daughter . Other mysterious clues appear , indicating that the daughter is indeed still alive , and very much in risk . Later on , they discover incredible deeds : a sect of the occult with conceal things and dark secrets which rejects its own name , called ¨Nameless¨ and wishes the essence of pure evil.

The official English title is The Nameless -but the correct translation is "Los Sin Nombre", which to me is far more creepy- lives up to Jaume Balaguero's reputation . This suspenseful and frightening movie was produced by the successful Catalan producers Julio and Carlos Fernandez from Fantastic factory ; it displays relentless horror , thrills , intrigue , shocks , hard-edged drama , plot twists , creepy images and some gore when crime takes place . Director Jaume Balagueró (Rec, Rec 2, Fragiles , Darkness and the recent "while you sleep" or Mientras Duermes) uses that uneasy non-knowledge for both horror and occultism , introducing brief psychological observations . Interesting writing credits by the same director/writer Balaguero based on a story by Ramsey Campbell . ¨Nameless¨ is a motion picture that balances precariously over the terror and occultism . The overall result is chilling proof that Balagueró can take a little budget while delivering a completely different scare . Extraordinary performance by Emma Villarasau , she plays a real tour-de-force in one of his best acting of his career as a solitary and unhappy mother , unsettling for past records and disturbing future . Furthermore , excellent Karra Elejalde as a run-down ex-'policeman . The picture packs a thrilling and intriguing musical score by Carles Cases . Furthermore , a cold and appropriate cinematography by Xavi Gimenez , Balaguero's usual .

'The Nameless' demonstrates director Balagueró's versatility , resulting to be a sublime thriller that every genre buff should be excited for . Rating : Good , better than average . The movie will appeal to thriller and terror fans . Worthwhile watching .

You're walking through an amusement park. All the rides around you look wonderfully scary and thrilling; they taunt you as you pass them, they promise something different, something new, at journey's end.

The final ride is a fiberglass pony in front of the supermarket.

That's the "Los Sin Nombre" experience. You, the viewer, watch as the protagonist follows clues to find her daughter -- a girl supposedly tortured and killed but now, 5 years later, apparently living. With the help of the detective who handled the original case, she stumbles from clue to clue and into...uh...well, it gets hazy. A cult dedicated to "synthesizing the ultimate evil" through "the final atrocity" and "mastering pain", because "evil is a key". A good idea crops up hither and yon, and gets you waiting, waiting for The Big Finish.

After some disturbing imagery, a whole lot of "Oh, yeah?" clues, some confusion as to why this guy named Toni is following Mom around, the overuse of the "choppily-edited-video-is-creepy!" effect and the introduction of a character whom we're asked to care about and then gets whacked, the final reveal arrives...and then...uh...the movie ends.

But the final reveal is so totally mundane in relation to the rest of the film as to feel as let-down, a waste of energy spent in caring how it will end.

This film is all style -- all tired, overdone style. Oooh, look, everything's bleak and cold-looking! Oooh, look, choppily-edited nightmare imagery! Oooh, look, clues on a videotape! Sounds familiar, doesn't it? Yeah, I know, I said the same thing.

"The Nameless". It's in Spanish. There's some icky stuff and some fodder for your "Call of Cthulhu" game. Your call.

Bring some coins for that pony.

Los Sin Nombre is a truly terrific Spanish horror thriller capable of scaring the viewer unlike the dozen of American late-90s horror boom flicks that have flooded box offices for way too long. Spanish director Jaume Balaguero uses old fashioned lightning tricks as well as modern editing to a good extent. Colors and mood are borrowed from David Fincher and the plot from Roman Polanski's masterpiece - Rosemary's Baby. Taking bits from here and there, Balaguero combines the elements to create a fine piece of cinema, definitely worthy of all it's Hollywood counterparts and more. Now, let's just hope that Balaguero gets invited to do his first Hollywood flick like his colleague Alejandro Amenabar (Tesis, The Others) as there's never enough fresh ideas in the boring US horror industry.

My best friend and I chose this movie to accompany our popcorn and wine for Girls Night! We turned down the lights, poured ourselves a glass and got underneath our blankets for what was sure to be a fright fest!

Okay so the first hour or so went by slowly. Scratch that it went by REALLY freaking slowly.

All of a sudden there is movement beneath the blankets....a tentative head emerges. " Umm do you think something is going to happen soon?" She asks me.

"Sure" I said. "It didn't do too badly on IMDb right?! What was it? 6/10? Something has got to happen soon. Just watch it".

I'm not going to lie...there were points in the remaining hour of the movie where I seriously considered walking over to the corner of my kitchen and banging my head silently against the cold brick wall. Just for some kind of mental stimulation.

Alas, we perservered and reached a point where there is a reveal of sorts between two characters. Lyndsey and I sat bolt upright and she reached over...clutching my hand.

She looked at me. Eyes shining brightly with hope and anticipation. "This is it, she breathed...something is finally happening...."

We turn back to the TV , clutching each other, barely daring to breath.

Surely these last 2 hours of slow, monotonous, Nameless nonsense will be worth it....

Surely the respected, intelligent members of IMDb wouldn't give an average but respectable score of 6 to a Spanish piece of diaper rash?

The credits roll and we sit back. Looking blankly at each other through the sudden stillness.

What a pile of garbage that was!

4/10

"The Nameless" is a Spanish film that blends elements of psychological horror with Italian polizieschi (Italo-crime) while keeping with a traditional, modernistic iconoclasm of sorts. The film focuses on a fringe cult networked throughout the hidden realms of polite society, lurking in the shadows in order to manipulate and nurture the darker elements of fate by heralding in a sort of abysmal chaos that feeds on the sorrows of humanity. This film is directed by Jaume Balagueró and follows Claudia, a mother whom after the death of her daughter, tries desperately to put the pieces of her life back together. On the anniversary of the tragic abduction, and inevitable demise of the daughter, the mother struggles to hold things together as new sinister evidence comes to light that suggest a less fatal fate for the child. Events are brought to light that create an even darker nightmare for Claudia to endure in order gain the answers, and daughter that she desperately seeks.

"The Nameless" begins with a very haunting, somber atmospheric surrealism that creates a hollow since of desperation, which carries strongly throughout the whole film. There is coldness and loss emanating in this film that pulls at the viewer emotionally. Unfortunately it is also meet with almost dull, humdrum-ness as the somber becomes numbness, which pulses into an almost boredom for the viewer as we long for some more thrilling material to give rise, and shed a darkened excitement to the movie. So basically for the first third of this film you are required to have patients because this is a story that marinates before it climaxes. And this movie does have some minor climaxes that begin in the middle of the film. It is an intense plot that opens up a whole new realm of social perversion and lack of awareness of the people we share our social spaces with.

Much like Italian giallos tend to do, "The Nameless" builds with a mournful nature, almost mesmerizing the as the mother's story unfolds. The twisted enlightenment that she gains, in searching for her daughter, opens up a whole new sense of heartfelt dread when the true circumstances of her daughter's situation come to light. Soon we are given gory, and thrilling elements that make the long wait worthwhile. The suspense is a steady, low pulse almost until the end of the film, with only those minor climaxes that fluctuate within the story. The gruesome actions displayed during this psychological ebb 'n' flow are gory and rewarding. The subtext, and the subject matter both create an unnerving quality, that makes the anticipation of what will come next truly exciting. Plus the blunt, quick finality of it all is super climactic.

"The Nameless" is not for all, however. If you are a fan of slow-moving, emotional melodramas that play with elements of horror, giallo, and thriller, with a steady heartbeat, then this film is worth checking out. There is a lot of character driven drama with minimal scenes of actual gory horror in this movie so be warned, if your are seeking the over- the-top giallo, filled with all things gruesome. This film is more of a rated –R story, more typical to TV movies than theatrical release, save the fact that it puts the subject matter, and intent in your face with bluntness. Also the scenes of death and fatal ending that some of the cast meet would never make it on television.-well not American television and never with such point blank actuality. I enjoyed this movie but it took the entire length of the film to appreciate the depth and character that this movie holds.

I've seen lots and lots of horror movies. It's by far my favourite genre. I like a good scary movie; I also happen to like those laughable so-bad-it's-good kinds of movies; I even tend to forgive MEDIOCRE movies that rely on "jump scares" and "teen blood" to hold your attention. For good or bad, it's still entertainment.

What I can't forgive, what I loathe, is, well, a BORING movie; and that's the capital sin of "The Nameless", its real "ultimate atrocity". For a start, this movie is slow. Let's face it, you really can't afford to be slow unless you have a good plot and a good cast, and "The Nameless" has neither.

The plot is shallow, painfully so: clearly, no creative effort whatsoever was put into it. We're talking "copy-pasted straight from wikipedia" levels of dullness here. This is especially mortifying since the director stubbornly and dishonestly refuses to acknowledge it, and instead insists on feigning suspense where there's *none*.

With a slow, broken pace and an unimaginative, tired plot, you're left trying your very best to sympathize with the characters in a half-willed attempt to justify what seems more and more like a waste of time. Well, too bad! The characters are clichéd, they're onedimensional and just fail to come alive. It feels like even their writer didn't really care for them either.

So you hope beyond hope, you patiently wait for it to reach its climax, on its own terms, you keep waiting for it to surprise you, disturb you, redeem itself *somehow*... hey, this thing is supposed to be really... evil, and "extreme", right? Something *big* is bound to happen. Sooner or later. Or not. Suddenly, it's over.

One who did not see the movie may be surprise by all the contrasting comments ranging from "LAME" to "EXCELLENT". But there is a simple answer to this: There are 2 types o movie-goers: those who let themselves go and get involved in the story, and those who stay in a safe shell of rationality and judge from the outside. So, this movie lives on atmosphere and the mood it is able to arouse, and in this it works greatly, it really scares. But to a cold-minded analisys, it reveals flaws in the plot. Anyway, I think that RATIONAL-AT-ALL-COSTS people should simply give up with horror movies: their inner cords just can't be reached... For all the other ones, you should watch this movie, becasue it is a scary movie that really scares, and features excellent acting and direction. The only right criticism regards the ending. I suppose that they could have done better, not necessarily changing WHAT happens, but possibly HOW it is described. But it is still a decent final, and the movie is a well worth experience.

I thought this movie was very atmospheric & very disturbing. Quite a enjoyable disturbing I might add! Although it had many elements of "7" & "Silence of the Lambs",I remained interested throughout! The actors were great,the effects were cool (especially the corpse in the beginning. Did the same effects guy as "Aftermath" do this too?), the plot was somewhat predictable. But the vibe through the whole flick was absolutely creepy!! Plus any movie that brings up The Thule Society as badguys is allright in my book!! Thumbs-up your ass my friend!

Very drab but that was the style. It was a gritty detective movie. Camera moves were simple but effective. Grading was cinematic but dull. The visual 'child' effects were a touch tacky. It's a detective story from Spain. It is what it is and not a lot more. It has shades of noir but also shades of 90s TV-movie. I feel bad judging having only watched thirty-ish minutes but it wasn't that great. Problem was that it was not that engaging, entertaining or atmospheric and I don't want to waste my life watching the rest. It's rare that I turn a movie off before the end which is a testament to how bad this one starts.

I saw this film a few years back and have been a supporter of Balaguero ever since! It starts on a very disturbing note and then constantly pushes and pushes your buttons. I can only compare it to being on a torture rack and in pain from the start only to have the cogs turned constantly and very slowly increasing my agony for every minute of my time spent on it until i reach my limit only to realise that the end is SO much nastier now that they have stopped turning the cogs that a totally unforseen pain and agony is about to hit me just when i thought it was over! The tension levels are very slowly but expertly cranked up throughout this film from the opening moments until the very end...and even THEN the cruelest of climaxes awaits us. I have read comments about the ending to this film that do not do it justice or feel that it does not work. I cannot understand or share that viewpoint. Any such accusations levelled at this film are lacking. The climax is simple, yet one of the most intelligent, psychologically perverse, emotion-shredding and horrible (without resorting to blood) ever commited to celluloid. On it's own it would pack a seriously intense punch...but as the climax/pay-off/culmination of such a profoundly creepy film it is downright cruel and disturbing and a fitting finale to a soul-destroying film... Balaguero's style has been disregarded by some as too similar to that of David Fincher. Well, the similarities in LOOK are there but style isn't based on cinematography alone. The film is a beautifully dark, stylish, polished affair with menace in the shadows, angst around every corner and terror on the horizon. Dread and evil have not been portrayed this vividly for a long, long time...

The morbid discovery of a girl tortured and mutilated beyond recognition is identified as the daughter of editor Claudia (Emma Vilarasau) and her husband Marc (Brendan Price) thanks to a fairly rare leg defect (one leg bone is shorter than the other). After years Claudia is still unable to accept her apparent death and has fallen into an addiction to medical drugs. When her dead daughter Angela calls her mother hinting that in fact she may be alive Claudia ventures to a now-deserted clinic hinted by her daughter. There she comes across a wall covered with onyric angelic pictures. Soon, with the help of recently retired cop Massera (Karra Elejalde), they start to investigate the possibility that her daughter may still be alive.

Spanish horror has come up with a deeply appealing horror formula, which detaches itself from the mindless gore of the French or American scene, while avoiding formulaic repetitiveness so widespread in Asian ghost flicks. Movies like "Tesis" and "The Nameless" initiated the whole boom, which gave room for the creation of instant classics such as "The Orphanage". As such "The Nameless" seems to be most inclined towards the atmospheric brilliance of early Argento movies, while showing a much more well formed understanding of dramaturgy and character building, which gives the movie a touch of realism. Thus creating a skin crawling experience, which may not terrify, instead introduces a lingering sensation of unease. The concept behind the story isn't new, actually very similar to "Martyrs", where the sinister ordeal is the creation of a deranged cult (the titular Nameless) led by an idea that perverted angelic divinity is key to achieving a profound state of being. Inasmuch as the whole backbone of the group ideology is pretty far-fetched fortunately it is not detrimental to the overall story, requiring simply a slight suspension of belief.

Jaume Balagueró's debut feature (future movies include "Rec" and "Fragiles") signified a stark achievement for the Spanish cinema industry, proving it had capacity to compete in the American dominated genre and even outdo them. Various key awards at Fantasporto or Sitges confirmed something was abuzz in Spanish horror, maybe yet without a true visionary to be the poster-boy, but with quality abundant to outdo Americans with quality (not quantity). Its stylish European cinematography and pacing feels much better suited for horror movies, something well understood by Italian legends or i.e. Stanley Kubrick, but somehow forgotten by the jump-cut era of modern 'sophisticated' filmmaking. Fright requires build-up, not jumps and cuts, so a lingering shadowy scene slowly unravelling the terror works much better than a sudden burst of noise. The tension is nicely constructed around an investigative plot, which helps build the story consequently slipping in unravelled secrets, murky revelations and then bringing about the well-wrought denouement, showing how controlled and focused Jaume Balagueró direction is.

Film of an absurd pretentiousness that tries to bring an intricate and original plot but ends up bringing a very messy stuff and yes original but original because this absurd confusion has no precedent. Useless and stupid film that has no head or tail, you can also look at it very carefully but in any case you don't understand anything because the plot is very badly structured and does not follow any logical thread. In conclusion the film is ridiculously complicated, but complicated in a wrong way, forcibly complicated, so forcibly complicated that it's almost annoying, you can't say anything else apart from the fact that at the end of the film you feel like you've just wasted your time.

I saw this movie several years ago with subtitles. It's a very dark and uncomfortable movie. I don't know that I loved it, but it was definitely interesting. However, I just watched it again and instead of subtitles, they dubbed the voices. OMG, it just ruins the whole movie. Shouldn't they be better at this by now?! It was like watching the old Japanese horror movies, like Mothra or Godzilla or Godzilla vs. Mothra (which BTW are campy fun). The dubbing was sooo bad that it was laughable. If you really hated this and were watching the dubbed version, you might want to try again with sub titles.

Los sin nombre wins you over from the first moment with its beautiful 90s film visual style. For people who grew up in that era, seeing that particular image style instantly creates positive predisposition.

This movie is akin to some very famous American 90s thrillers like 8mm or Se7en to name a few. The characters are very well built, and the convincing performances really make one feel involved with the psychological torture they are going through. The film feels real, and as a result, the pain feels real too. Tension builds on a steady pace throughout the film, slowly unveiling a mystery that keeps the viewer's attention at all times, generating some well crafted scares, without resorting to cheap jump scares but by using macabre and disturbing imagery. The movie really, really gets you involved well into its first half.

Unfortunately it doesn't entirely follow through to the great expectations that are created. The great pace is kind of broken, leading to spasmodic story forwarding. It never stops being creepy, but it just doesn't deliver when it has to. Avoiding spoilers, let's just say that the ending is rushed, predictable and no-it's not much of a twist really.

Is that enough to make the movie not worth seeing? Of course not. It is a beautifully crafted thriller, that just builds so much that it just fails to live up to. Nevertheless, a movie that can shake you and give you a hard time sleeping after screening.

... because it's a perfect recipe on how to make an awful movie:

First you screen the last 40 years of horror movies and pick out the worst and most repeated clichés. Then you mix and put them together randomly, and if this mix makes just the hint of a meaningful plot... you remix. When you have a script with no meaning or logic at all you progress to the next step.

The actors. If you can't find amateur theatrical actors, you will probably have to pay professionals to over-act like it was a junior high school parents play: They cry, they shout, they make funny (scary ??) faces and strange looks with their eyes, they break down, they pretend with all means from their body language, they cry again, pretend again... and on... and on again.

Then you will need a sound design and a sound track. Because you have decided that this is a horror movie, you off cause need violins playing and strange, SCAAAAAAARY sounds. And a lot of it! Actually, you need so much of it that there isn't no room for it in the movie. But don't worry - you just toss it in. Don't care whether or not the sound fits what happens on the screen - you just turn up the master volume so loud that it shocks the audience when effects or music starts. It's a horror movie... so it's OK.

Now you are so deep into the production process that you have reached the point of no return. Despite the fact that you have realized that the ingredients have no taste, and the dish will end up with no flavor at all, you try to save it by using some spices.

You hire an artist to make an impressive set design: Strange, abandon houses with mysterious interior, decorations and symbols. But the artist can't help you with a new problem: How to connect this design with the story? Then you try a last way out: The picture. You find a skilled cinematographer who shoots the film beautiful, and one of your tech guys turns out to be a true magician when it comes to color grading.

You screen your final cut and realize that using the spices was in vain: The fine visual style of the movie turns pretentious when it's made to cover up a bad movie... like to much make up on bad skin.

To give yourself an artistic excuse for making and releasing the movie, you decide to make a new end, and a new title to the movie. The common factor of the movie, the title and the final scene is now the total lack of meaning...

--- This movie is a serious contender to the title of the worst movie ever made. It's a must see - must have: You can't conclude that you have seen a bad movie before you a seen this one. It has set a new standard for movies released for cinemas.

All in all, a pretty creepy film. The grim, dark texture of the movie adds to its disquieting storyline. I was surprised that other comments here found this film a disappointment, or worse. As some have noted its a far bit better than a lot of the Hollywood horror that's been churned out recently. It is certainly worth a look if you enjoy a movie that seeks to build a psychological tension as opposed to constantly trying to shock the viewer with either non-stop mayhem or half witted gross-outs.

This movie opens very promising! It has a great visual style that reminds me of the great era of film noir. The actors deliver astoundingly intense performances, so there´s no flaw in that regard. Only the end seems a little tucked on, almost as if the filmmaker didn´t know how to end his mysteriously suspenseful feature.

This is a little sad given the great aesthetic quality of the whole movie. It could have used some rewriting! But then: quite entertaining whatsoever!

Renting it on DVD or video will do it for you!

Well, after reading all the good reviews; some of which coming from reviewers that I often agree with, I was really looking forward to seeing The Nameless. After having sat down and watched it, however, I'm really disappointed. The film is not really 'bad', but it's not very good either and that's a shame considering that the film clearly so much wanted to be a great thriller. The plot is not very original, though that isn't the film's main problem. Many recycled plots have sprung great movies; the main problem here is that the plot moves too slowly and it's never interesting enough to remain thrilling for the duration. The film does have a few nice ideas, though. The Nameless starts with an editor named Claudia, who goes to identify the mutilated body of her dead daughter. The body has had every trace of its identity removed and can only be identified by a bracelet and the fact that one leg was slightly shorter than the other. Five years later, however, Claudia receives a call...from her daughter, who is begging her mother to save her.

Director Jaume Balagueró, who later went on to make the even more disappointing horror thriller 'Darkness' does manage to create a nice atmosphere for the film. Everything looks slightly grey, which makes it depressing and in turn serves the film well. I would guess that the film's main influence was David Fincher's hit 'Seven' as the two are very similar in tone. The film was made in Spain, and that is also disappointing. Spain, along with Italy, made some of the very best thrillers in the seventies, but the recent output of this genre from both countries has been disappointing - the Italian 'Occhi Di Cristallo' is another example of this. The recent films have lost what made them great previously, presumably because they're attempting to copy recent American films. The plot sort of drones on for the first eighty minutes as the dull characters uncover various facts and clues, and finally the film becomes interesting in the last ten minutes - though by this time, of course, it's already too late. The film was based on a good idea and it does have a few nice moments; but overall I would have to rate this as not much more than an interesting failure.

And it did not disappoint. Nice, creepy movie that doesn't rely on much violence, only the mentioning of it. Just listening to the characters speak of the nameless' penchant for torture was enough to force me to see this with the lights on. This movie and "Thesis" whet my appetite for more Spanish horror films.