The Nameless (1999)

So Darkness wasn't a fluke then. Jaume Balaguero's debut film has many of the same strengths and weaknesses as that subsequent piece of junk. Visually, the film is often quite striking, and there are times when Balaguero's brio results in some fairly creepy sequences. But narratively, this thing is pretty hapless. It's not quite as sad as Darkness, since the story isn't Balaguero's invention -- it's based on a story by Ramsey Campbell that I've heard is quite frightening. But if I've said it once, I've said it too many times: What works on paper doesn't necessarily work on screen. The canvas of genre cinema simply isn't large enough to do justification to the characters Campbell created, and some of the plot conveniences don't ring true. Thus, what comes off as shivery on the page only feels silly on celluloid. If that's not bad enough, it tears itself apart at the end when it tries to go disturbing but doesn't know how to get there. If you ask me, it's all downhill from the closeup on the labial piercing.

Grade: C