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THE NAMELESS
One of the most effective horror movies of recent years, the
1999 Spanish production THE NAMELESS (a.k.a. LOS SIN NOMBRE) was adapted from a
Ramsey Campbell novel by the debuting Spanish filmmaker Jaume Balaguero. It's a
superbly atmospheric film with excellent performances and visuals worthy of
Dario Argento.
The Package
Two things.
First: Ramsey Campbell, author of the 1981 novel this
film is based on. A British scribe, Campbell is responsible for many fine
horror novels (THE FACE THAT MUST DIE, INCARNATE, THE HUNGRY MOON), yet this
film, somewhat unbelievably, was the first of them to reach the screen. In any
event, it certainly won't be the last: another Spanish production, EL SEGUNDO NOMBRE, based on Campbell's novel THE PACT OF THE FATHERS, was completed in
2002, proving that the Spaniards know their horror.
Second: Jaume Balaguero, the screenwriter and director
of this film. This was his debut, and it's a damned impressive one. I'd even
go so far as to call it one of the most impressive first features of the
decade--it may have some deficiencies on the screenplay level, but from a
directorial standpoint it's nearly flawless. It follows the shorts ALICIA
(1994) and DIAS SIN LUZ (1995), and precedes DARKNESS (2002), Balaguero's less
successful second feature.
The Story
Balaguero has taken quite a few liberties with
Campbell's novel, so it can't really be blamed for the script's shortcomings.
The film starts with the middle aged Claudia, extremely well played by Emma
Vilarasau (and a refreshing change of pace from the teenybopper airheads who
populate so many modern horror movies), learning that her young daughter has
been murdered by an anonymous cult. The body has been burnt to a crisp and its
teeth removed, rendering a comprehensive identification impossible, but enough
clues exist...or so it seems.
Two years later Claudia receives a mysterious phone
call: it's her daughter's voice, telling her that she's alive and to please come
find her. Teaming up with a dedicated cop and newspaper reporter while fighting
off the advances of her loony ex-husband, Claudia investigates the cult who
kidnapped her daughter, a nameless bunch of freaks whose lineage stretches back
centuries and whose membership includes Adolph Hitler. A number of clues,
including further phone messages from the "dead" girl and a SILENCE OF THE
LAMBS-like confrontation with an incarcerated madman, lead Claudia and co. to an
abandoned apartment building, which just happens to be the location where the
girl was conceived.
It's about here that the story begins to go seriously
awry. It seems that the cult fabricated all the clues in an attempt to lead
Claudia to them and her brainwashed daughter. That doesn't make a whole lot of
sense (why didn't they just nab Claudia in the beginning and save themselves all
the trouble?), and neither do the daughter's unexplained changes of heart, from
evil to good and back again. Still, just when it seems everything's about to
fall apart, Balaguero pulls off a stunningly powerful, genuinely shocking final
scene-I won't reveal what happens, but I will say that when it occurs, you will
NOT expect it.
The Direction
His screenplay might not be perfect, but that doesn't
lessen Jaume Balaguero's total grasp of any and all things cinematic. From a
purely visual standpoint the film is a masterpiece, a perfectly calibrated
symphony of light and shadow. Working with cinematographers Albert Carreras and
Xavi Gimenez (who also photographed Nacho Cerda's 1998 short GENESIS and
Balaguero's latest film DARKNESS), Balaguero has created one of the best looking
films, horror or otherwise, I've seen in some time.
The atmosphere is also wonderfully realized, with a
deceptively quiet, stately surface periodically interrupted by jarring moments
of near-hallucinatory shock. Adrian Lyne's JACOB'S LADDER appears to have been
an influence, and if I didn't know better I'd also say that of Hideo Nakata's
RINGU, which like this film was made with skill and care, two extremely
rare and precious commodities in today's movie marketplace.
Vital Statistics
THE NAMELESS (a.k.a. LOS SIN NOMBRE)
Fantastic Factory (Filmax)
Director: Jaume Balaguero
Screenplay: Jaume Balaguero
(Based on a novel by Ramsey Campbell)
Cinematography: Albert Carreras, Xavi Gimenez
Editor: Luis De La Madrid
Cast: Emma Vilarasau, Karra Elejalde, Tristan Ulloa, Toni Sevilla, Brendan
Price, Jordi Dauder, Nuria Cano, Isabel Ampudia, Carles Punyet, Aleix Puiggali,
Susan Garcia Diez, Pep Tosar