May 02, 2006
The Nameless
Standard Horror Movie Stuff?
Hardly a minute goes by in Jaume Balagueró's film The Nameless (Los Sin Nombre) before we witness the sort of diegetic disruptions that we've come to expect in modern horror films. Ungrounded in any psychological or physical aspect of the film world, the split second flashes of a young girl shaking uncontrollably, the x-rays of a little girl's assymetrical legs, or any of the other myriad stock creepy images are random, distracting, and at best: shocking. The flashes are typically accompanied by a burst of loud noise, often sounding like a chainsaw cutting through steel. The intention of these moments appears to be to scare the audience, but to what end? They appeal only to the physical "startle effect" that they produce in the unsuspecting audience but are unlikely to leave any lingering effect of fear that seems to be the intended effect of all horror films.
The Nameless opens up in Spain with a detective, Bruno, arriving at a crime scene where a young girl's corpse has been found. The atmospheric cinematography and cliche but effective music are promising in their effective setup of a bleak world in which everything seems to be going to hell. Interspersed throughout the opening sequence are some of the aforementioned "horror flashes." The corpse of the girl has been burnt beyond all recognition and her teeth smashed out, the only way the detectives are able to identify her is through a deformity in her right leg. The parents of the girl who had been missing are notified and we fade out.
Five years later, we meet Bruno again. This time he's clearing out his office after retiring two weeks prior. The mother and father of the daughter have since broken up. We don't see the father anymore but we do see what the mother is up to. She's working on a book about tattoos, piercings, and other forms of body art. Still mourning her daughter, she takes a break from work and goes home when we see her. When she gets home she receives a phonecall from a girl claiming to be her daughter. Although she doesn't believe her, she can't completely brush away the hope that her daughter actually is still alive and thus goes to an abandoned building on the beach that the daughter claims is where she is being held captive.
It's standard horror movie stuff. Or is it? One of the interesting things that this film brings to the table is the idea of genre and what exactly it is that makes a horror movie a horror movie. What makes this film a horror movie instead of a thriller? Is there even a difference between horror movies and thrillers? The film opens up like David Fincher's Seven. A detective investigating a grisly crime scene. The only thing that clues us into the fact that it might be a horror movie are the random bits of footage cut in that attempt to scare the audience. There's no sign up any supernatural activity throughout the film and the film is strange in that it doesn't have a very clear cut monster as well. In addition, unlike most horror films, cultural and social issues such as gender are not an issue at all nor does it feel like they need to be.
Yet, my gut tells me this film is a horror movie and the only conclusion that I could come up with was that a thriller is like a roller coaster ride (to borrow a film criticism cliche), you can see everthing ahead of you yet you enjoy the hell out of it and it's good for a few scares. In a horror film, the same scares are produced but there is an added level of mystery. Whether it be a mysterious being that is tormenting a poor mother or the mystery of the supernatural. Even if things are explained in the end those things may be things that they themselves cannot be fully explained. A horror film attempts to leave you with a lingering sense of fear that should keep you up at nights days after the film has ended. But, I can't remember the last time a horror film kept me up at night so I guess a horror film isn't classified as horror based on what it does do but what it tries to do. After all, a comedy is still a comedy even if it's not funny. This distinction seems fairly obvious but it's not uncommon to hear someone react to a horror film with a comment such as "that wasn't a horror film, it wasn't even scary."
The failure of horror movies nowadays is that they appeal too much to the visceral reactions of the audience. That's why after the initial shock of seeing many of them it's not so shocking the second time around. In that respect, Balagueró should be applauded for at least attempting to make a more cerebral type of horror film that appeals to some of humanity's basic psychological fears. The emotional anguish that the mother in this film suffers through as she goes to the beach house and is then led on a cat and mouse chase in search of her daughter truly is terrifying and I would imagine it would be more so for someone with a child. Technically, while he does do interesting things with the editing, especially in disaplying his patience through use of delaying the shots of what characters are looking at (almost a full minute in one scene when Bruno comes across a dead body), Balagueró doesn't trust the audience to have the same patience with him and as a result, inserts the jarring split second interjections.
Ultimately, The Nameless spirals into a messy third act that is heavy-handed and derivative of films such as Silence of the Lambs. The ending is dark and sure to please those that love ambiguous, depressing endings. For me, what joy that I got out of the film was more in the journey. There's much to commend about the craftsmenship of the film and the opressively dark atmosphere of the film is a joy to behold, but intellectually it left a bit to be desired. The film delves into the occult and Nazis even figure into the plot but nothing of any significance is ever said. In a genre that is so rich with social commentary, this film was a letdown in what should've been its greatest strength. The Nameless is sure to provide some scares although it's more often just disgusting and I'm a bit hesitent to call it a horror film but I'm also hesitent to say that it even really matters. Typically, dividing works of art into genres is done with the intention of simplifying the discussion of art, but in the case of a film like this it has only caused me to waste more words on the topic than is probably warranted in this case.
