Los sin nombre (The Nameless) – Spanish Horror Film Review

 

The Nameless is a Spanish horror film based on Ramsay Campbell’s novel of the same name. The film was released in Spain on November 12, 1999, under the title Los sin nombre, and has won numerous awards.

If, like me, you have read Ramsey Campbell’s original story, you will notice some big differences between the book and the film. The most obvious one is the original story was not set in Spain. But there are many more. Nevertheless, this Spanish horror film is rather good and boasts some very unsettling moments.

Los sin nombre begins with police finding the mutilated body of a young girl. Her skin has been burned off with acid and her teeth removed. Although the coroner speculates these things have been done to make it hard to identify the body, he is more inclined to believe the girl was the victim of a ritual killing.

However, one of the girl’s legs is shorter than the other. That’s a distinctive condition so the police think they may have found six-year-old abductee Angela Gifford. They contact her parents, Marc (Brendan Price) and Claudia (Emma Vilarasau), asking them to come to the hospital where the investigating officer, Massera (Karra Elejalde), shows them a locket found near the body and asks them to confirm if it belonged to Angela. It did. So, faced with an unidentifiable corpse, the police close the case, believing Angela is dead.

Five years later, no longer with Marc, Claudia is a successful businesswoman. She may not have completely come to terms with her loss but she’s doing okay. Then, out of the blue, she receives a phone call from someone claiming to be Angela and, once more, her life is in turmoil.

Unable to go it alone, Claudia manages to track down Massera, who has recently quit the police force. Like Claudia, he is having to deal with the loss of someone he loved, in this case, his wife, so although he initially continues to believe Angela is dead, he is sympathetic towards Claudia and agrees to look into the matter.

It doesn’t take Massera long to find evidence suggesting the mutilated body may have been another girl with a similar leg issue. Together with Claudia, Massera visits a cleric who tells them about a group named The Nameless, which has its roots in England and is associated with disappearances all over the world.

The Nameless is a dark and sadistic religious cult that utilizes torture and mutilation in an attempt to use horror as a means of purification. The bottom line is, they are into some really sick stuff. Part of their religion involves renouncing their names. They do this so completely that they cannot even remember who they once were.

Claudia and Massera are not the only ones who are investigating The Nameless. Occult tabloid journalist Quirogahas (Tristán Ulloa) has developed an interest in the group too after someone sent him a snuff video tape that has scenes of torture followed by footage of Claudia exploring an abandoned building she was encouraged to visit by the voice on the phone.

Los sin nombre is a pretty dark film that has several gory scenes some viewers may find distasteful or uncomfortable to watch. However, although you may not want to watch the film while eating your lunch, Los sin nombre is not as gruesome as films such as Wrong Turn (2003) or House of 1000 Corpses (2003). Nor are the darker scenes unduly prevalent. The film places greater emphasis on character development, the search for Angela, and the investigation into The Nameless.

One of the most unsettling things about the film is the basic premise of a group of people that operate within, yet apart from normal society, living in the shadows and pursuing such terrible goals.

Ramsey Campbell is one of the greatest UK horror authors and, even though the film producers and directors have taken a few liberties with his story, it still works very well. Personally, I don’t love the way the film ends, but at least there aren’t any loose ends. A horror film that’s part crime movie, Los sin nombre is a little slow-moving in places but is a film many viewers should enjoy.