Imagine your daughter was murdered when she was just a young child. Imagine she was so badly mutilated that she couldn’t be identified by dental records or other genetic means. Imagine six years later she phoned you telling you she wasn’t really dead and pleaded for you to come and save her…what would you do? This sets the scene for Jaume Balaguero’s Los Sin Nombre (or The Nameless if you’re British).
The film starts out extremely well with its very creepy premise and actually had me in its clutches as we got closer and closer to the truth, but it was the truth that kind of ruined it for me.
The acting is pretty good, the locations, set design and effects-work all add to the proceedings and there is genuinely enough here to keep you interested, but the film falls at the final hurdle as the truth is revealed. The ending is anti-climactic, and the filmmakers push their luck further with one final twist. This may have worked on the page, but on screen the pacing doesn’t allow for it and you’re left feeling a little dissatisfied.
OVERALL SUMMARY
The Nameless is a glossy thriller with some surprising moments and a creepy atmosphere, but aesthetics and gory effects aside, it all seems a bit tired by film’s end.
