Review by Gary Tooze

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Description:  An intense thriller in the riveting style of Se7en and from the director of Darkness. Five years after her daughter, Angela, was brutally murdered, Claudia remains mired in despair and cant move on with her life. Then she receives a phone call from a young woman claiming to be Angela, asking for help and stating that a nameless ""they"" wanted Claudia to think she was dead. With skeptical authorities unwilling to help, it's up to Claudia to investigate the shadowy subculture of danger and secrecy that holds the answer to Angela's true fate. Lauded with numerous international movie awards including Best International Film at the Fant-Asia Film Festival, The Nameless will put you on the edge of your seat as the mystery deepens all the way through to the pulse-pounding conclusion.

***

 

The Film:

You might not jump out of your seat in fright - but I guarantee The Nameless will have you on the edge of it, probably hiding behind a cushion like a little girl, from beginning to end.

Rather than bombard viewers with shocking scares, Jaume Balaguero's multi-award-winning feature debut builds up an overwhelming and oppressive sense of dread with plenty of suspense thrown in. As the characters' fear grows, so does yours - and the film is more chilling than a snowball down the pants.
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Based on Brit horror writer Ramsey Campbell's 1981 novel, The Nameless focuses on grieving mother Claudia, whose six-year-old daughter Angela was abducted and brutally murdered.

When her body was found, it was badly mutilated and difficult to identify. So five years later, when Claudia receives a phone call from a girl claiming to be her daughter, she is keen to believe her child is still alive.

Excerpt from Leanne McGrath at Eye For Film located HERE

 

From Spain comes The Nameless, based on a novel by Lovecraft disciple Ramsey Campbell. Campbell is Britain's leading horror writer. Like Lovecraft, he specializes in hidden horrors that must be unearthed by some pathetic Everyman, who pays dearly for penetrating the mysteries. In this case it's an Everywoman, Claudia (Emma Vilarasau), whose six-year-old daughter Angela vanishes mysteriously. Five years later Claudia gets a phone call, seemingly from Angela, pleading for rescue. Thus begins a compelling if Byzantine tale of a secret society linked to Nazi atrocities and their attempts to plumb the depths of evil. Balagueró's command of this dicey material, which sails over the top in some extremely gruesome imagery, only falters at the end, when the revelations come at such a dizzying pace the viewer is left more confused than creeped-out. Cinematography is first-rate in this color film that often looks black-and-white, and the acting throughout is solid, giving credibility to a story that on paper may not have had much.

Excerpt from Bright Lights Film Journal located HERE

Image :    NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

The Nameless is not particularly stellar on Blu-ray from Echo Bridge. The 1.78:1 image quality looks thick with little to brag about. Detail in some close-ups looks impressive but the majority is very heavy. This got a DVD release from Miramax back in 2005 HERE. Perhaps we will compare one day. Colors of this 1080P are not rich but black levels seem adequate. Anyway, it's a fairly unremarkable image and even has a strange purple vertical scratch mark about 3/4s into the film running for an entire scene. Odd.

CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The original DVD had an original Spanish language track - but this? only a lossless English DUB. Amusingly the DVD from 2005 had an English DUB in surround! This one is only in 2.0 channel stereo. So compounding mistake upon mistake I can only say there was a modicum of depth exported by the film's effects and the sync was not too offensive. There are no subtitles and my Momitsu has identified it as being a region 'A'-locked.

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BOTTOM LINE:
Hmmm... this is one where I liked the plot and even though it wasn't executed to perfection I still found some value in the film. Of course, I need to see it with the original Spanish language... and I am impressed just enough to seek it out (HERE). It certainly wasn't in the same class as Amenábar's Tesis, but it had similar traits (perhaps simply also being Spanish.) So, we don't recommend this Blu-ray and it's limitations but would like to see another region take a shot at it with original Spanish and some extras. 

Gary Tooze

April 24th, 2013