ThiefHott Too much of everything

Beanbioca As Good As It Gets

Griff Lees Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Erica Derrick By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Mike Guratza Los sin nombre wins you over from the first moment with its beautiful 90s film visual style. For people who grew up in that era, seeing that particular image style instantly creates positive predisposition.This movie is akin to some very famous American 90s thrillers like 8mm or Se7en to name a few. The characters are very well built, and the convincing performances really make one feel involved with the psychological torture they are going through. The film feels real, and as a result, the pain feels real too. Tension builds on a steady pace throughout the film, slowly unveiling a mystery that keeps the viewer's attention at all times, generating some well crafted scares, without resorting to cheap jump scares but by using macabre and disturbing imagery. The movie really, really gets you involved well into its first half.Unfortunately it doesn't entirely follow through to the great expectations that are created. The great pace is kind of broken, leading to spasmodic story forwarding. It never stops being creepy, but it just doesn't deliver when it has to. Avoiding spoilers, let's just say that the ending is rushed, predictable and no-it's not much of a twist really.Is that enough to make the movie not worth seeing? Of course not. It is a beautifully crafted thriller, that just builds so much that it just fails to live up to. Nevertheless, a movie that can shake you and give you a hard time sleeping after screening.

murfit I don't know which movie other reviewers have seen, but this is far from scary. There are neither jump-in-your-seat scenes nor is there a brooding atmosphere; the main feeling is depression, mixed with a bit of boredom on my part. Apart from the last 20 minutes or so, there isn't anything much happening anyway. It starts veeery slowly, and only picks up the pace a tiny bit later. For about a third of the movie, it isn't even clear what the story is, there is no discernible plot apart from a grieving mother and an ex-cop who has also suffered. Then there is a story, but a very disjointed one with too many characters (what was the point of this guy Tony and his tattoo?), none of which are being developed to any extent. One might think it all builds up to a horrifying climax, but no, at the end there's just a comically smug uberbaddie, and the "purely evil" girl does nothing but shoot him and herself. – On top of that, there's the typical "scary movie" silliness, one guy goes in alone and gets killed, then the cop goes in and gets killed, then the mother goes in alone, all without calling the police. WTF?! – On a positive note, the cinematography is okay (does everything have to be in tones of gray nowadays though?) and the main actors are decent (though far from brilliant). – There are two things which can make a scary movie good: Genuinely frightening moments, or a compelling idea; preferably both. Here there is neither.

p-stepien The morbid discovery of a girl tortured and mutilated beyond recognition is identified as the daughter of editor Claudia (Emma Vilarasau) and her husband Marc (Brendan Price) thanks to a fairly rare leg defect (one leg bone is shorter than the other). After years Claudia is still unable to accept her apparent death and has fallen into an addiction to medical drugs. When her dead daughter Angela calls her mother hinting that in fact she may be alive Claudia ventures to a now-deserted clinic hinted by her daughter. There she comes across a wall covered with onyric angelic pictures. Soon, with the help of recently retired cop Massera (Karra Elejalde), they start to investigate the possibility that her daughter may still be alive.Spanish horror has come up with a deeply appealing horror formula, which detaches itself from the mindless gore of the French or American scene, while avoiding formulaic repetitiveness so widespread in Asian ghost flicks. Movies like "Tesis" and "The Nameless" initiated the whole boom, which gave room for the creation of instant classics such as "The Orphanage". As such "The Nameless" seems to be most inclined towards the atmospheric brilliance of early Argento movies, while showing a much more well formed understanding of dramaturgy and character building, which gives the movie a touch of realism. Thus creating a skin crawling experience, which may not terrify, instead introduces a lingering sensation of unease. The concept behind the story isn't new, actually very similar to "Martyrs", where the sinister ordeal is the creation of a deranged cult (the titular Nameless) led by an idea that perverted angelic divinity is key to achieving a profound state of being. Inasmuch as the whole backbone of the group ideology is pretty far-fetched fortunately it is not detrimental to the overall story, requiring simply a slight suspension of belief.Jaume Balagueró's debut feature (future movies include "Rec" and "Fragiles") signified a stark achievement for the Spanish cinema industry, proving it had capacity to compete in the American dominated genre and even outdo them. Various key awards at Fantasporto or Sitges confirmed something was abuzz in Spanish horror, maybe yet without a true visionary to be the poster-boy, but with quality abundant to outdo Americans with quality (not quantity). Its stylish European cinematography and pacing feels much better suited for horror movies, something well understood by Italian legends or i.e. Stanley Kubrick, but somehow forgotten by the jump-cut era of modern 'sophisticated' filmmaking. Fright requires build-up, not jumps and cuts, so a lingering shadowy scene slowly unravelling the terror works much better than a sudden burst of noise. The tension is nicely constructed around an investigative plot, which helps build the story consequently slipping in unravelled secrets, murky revelations and then bringing about the well-wrought denouement, showing how controlled and focused Jaume Balagueró direction is.

ThrownMuse A little girl's dead body is found stripped of all possible means of identification. When it is discovered that one leg is longer than the other, it is assumed to be the body of a couple's missing daughter. After this trauma, the couple separates and the mother becomes addicted to tranquilizers and leads a miserable existence. All of this changes when one day, many years later, she receives a phone call from her daughter! With the help of an ex-cop and a reporter, she sets out on a journey to determine if her daughter is indeed alive. "Los Sin Nombre" is a mess plot-wise, moves at an achingly slow pace, and is completely unscary. The saving grace is Emma Vilarasau, who does an outstanding job as the desperate mother. The best part of the movie is the ending, but I'm not sure it is worth enduring the rest of the film. Beware of the English subtitles on the recent R1 release--they aren't very accurate.