The natural world, with its serenity and stillness, brings comfort for many. For Eric, a land surveyor who heads to the woods solely to escape a shattered marriage, it brings something else. Summoned by a mysterious client to a cabin far from the concrete dullness of his suburban home, Eric eagerly awaits the arrival of Olivia who is both surveying partner and mistress. Olivia encourages Eric to live his dreams, yet he is a man who has none. Within the mist and moss covered forest, shadows intrude. The stillness combined with obtrusive locals, unsettle something in Eric's psyche.

Without Name immerses the audience in a surreal world filled with spectral auras and tones. The forest alternately glows and darkens, appearing like a dance floor where possibilities brighten in the flickering light, then dissipate into murkiness again. I love this film theme, where reality and dreams merge together and become indistinguishable from each other. I only wish the dialogue and action sequences were as deep as the film themes. Seen at the Miami International Film Festival.

The Irish horror film "Without Name" is a great first effort for director Lorcan Finnegan. This low budget feature stars Alan McKenna as the middle-aged man Eric contracted to survey a dense woodland known by locals as gan ainm, translated from Irish as: without name. Leaving his apathetic wife and troubled son he sets out to escape his life in the city for a short while to engross himself in work and his love affair. Unfortunately for Eric the classic escapism of Irish folk tales which helped inspire the film are riddled with mischievous creatures, dark forests and malevolent forces. The shifting light of the mysterious forest and unsettling land begin to disturb his mind as he is haunted by a silhouette through the trees.

The direction and visual style of Without Name is great, drawing you into the paradoxical claustrophobia of a dense wood, where light can trick the eyes and the cold and decrepit bark of the trees form the bars of a cage. While more of a psychological thriller than the classic horror similar to films like Bergman's "Hour of the Wolf" Lorcan really shows a knack for the genre skillfully rendering a mans slow descent into madness. The film is not a scary one nor does it seem to try to be one. Lorcan never uses cheap tricks and seems to understand that the true fears of man lay in the shadows and in the recesses of the mind which in my opinion should be at the roots of all great horror films.

The acting at times was fantastic and at other times a bit stale however Alan McKenna managed to round out the film with a spectacular performance throughout. A standout for me was the incredible sound design. While not fully polished the score and sound effects beautifully draws you into the dizzying and chilling world in the woods. The special effects were simple which is expected for a film of this budget yet they along with the music were effective in portraying the impression of paranoia and mini-Spoiler: a mushroom trip. The film has many references to Irish fairy tales including a short description of the fairy circles which cause men to get lost in the woods forever walking in circles, which I loved even if for nothing more than nostalgia of my childhood. These elements on top of the beautiful fauna make this a uniquely Irish film.

While Without Name did touch on some ideas including a Terence McKenna like philosophy, which were visually told throughout the story through the diary of the enigmatic William Devoy, the film to me really did not seem to say anything particularly interesting or artistic. The story and writing was good. It was a slow burn but the build up and ending was fantastically crafted. The story and themes had this unique Irish tinge but overall it did not seem wholly original. The narrative and twists have been done before and it felt very familiar at times.

Without Name as a film was very solid and an haunting watch. It looked and sounded great at times but it failed to truly say or do anything original. It is a must see watch for fans of Irish film and those tired of the usual tropes of jump scares and gore of contemporary horror film. As a lover of psychological films I thoroughly enjoyed it and I have great expectations for the future projects of the director.

I hate to throw "water on the fires of praise" but have to give an honest opinion of this film as I see it.

The three previous reviews rave about the artistic nuances and beauty of nature melding with psychological mystery in "without name". I do agree the acting and sound track were good and suites the theme of this film. However, it is a far cry from being a thriller/Horror film and although unique I'm not sure what genre this film fits in to.

I found the film boating and purposeless. There were some nice lighting shots and shadowy artistic scenes but that does not a good film make.

Without Windows is a journey of a man (and woman) working to survey land for a mysterious man. Mush of the plot is never explained or resolved. I know this is offered up as an attempt at an artistic naturalistic mystery, but, IMO, falls short in being anything other then 70+ minutes of trees, trees and more trees. All of the additional story line and narrative seems to convolute any meaning and purpose.

Again, there are some merits to this film in way of the use of lighting and score, but, the movie moves at a snails pace and builds to a rather anti climactic ending. I was left wondering what message did this film have to convey.

To each his own. I felt the viewing of this movie was as interesting as watching grass grow.

"Without Name" is one of those movies that I really didn't like at first glance. It was too intellectual and much too slow for my personal taste when I first watched it. But after a while I kept revisiting it because of its unique nature. It's a rather slow-paced horror movie and has its focus set on the supernatural. The protagonist is a land-surveyor with a troubled marriage. The beginning of the movie is quite mundane and tries to showcase that the protagonist is just a regular guy who's doing his thing. But things change when he's sent on a special assignment. Without spoiling too much; he's supposed to measure a property that's located in a forest. But not just any forest; the one that the locals call "Goanim" (which is Welsh for "Without Name"). There are many myths about the forest and people claim that it's cursed but the protagonist doesn't seem to think much of it, initially.

As for the execution: the movie is deliberately slowed down to intensify the suspense of the horror. And I have to say, even though I criticized the pacing when I first watched it; it does work quite well in hindsight. We as the viewers know that things will eventually take a turn for the worse but we're never quite sure when. And that's ultimately where the movie shines. It manages to be terrifying because it's exploiting the most primal form of fear; the fear of the unknown. We don't know when things'll go south and we never really get to see the ghost. And yet it's evil presence is pervasive throughout the movie. Like a shadow, looming over the the protagonist's head. It's really reminiscent of the movie "It Follows" in terms of the flair. Do you know the feeling that you get when you think you're being watched? That's kind of the best way to describe this movie. It has that type of aura because the protagonist spends most of his time in the forest; feeling like he's being watched without being 100% certain about it. Doubts fester and his sanity degrades perpetually. The psychological tension is almost palpable.

To conclude: I really like this movie because it's so unique. There is no other horror movie quite like it. With that being said; it's also its biggest downside. If you don't like slow-paced movies this is probably not the movie for you. I mean, it's literally on the extreme end of the spectrum (on the slow end).

Final verdict: recommended (if you have the patience for it)

This was very creepy thanks to clever photography and sound effects, and genuinely good acting. It is, however, a rather quiet and slow moving film with not much happening apart from the characters' minds playing tricks on them. It turns very weird towards the end. I think the guy who wrote this had too many mushrooms...

I fancied some escapism and had wanted to see this for a while. It looked dark, brooding and potentially a little off the wall. There's a lot of space here, in the frame, in the dialogue, it invites you in. Shot mostly in rural Ireland, Alan McKenna plays the central role, isolated in a simple existence. One of surveying said rural areas. Think forests, old country houses, with creepy books on the shelves, old framed cross-stitch on the walls and a sense of foreboding in the stillness. There's some good thriller tropes and it's a bit Blair Witch without the whining. There's enough bumps, creaks, menacingly eerie gusts of wind to keep you on your toes and more than one occasion that frightened the life out of me. If McKenna does a good job as he slips into his own paranoia and fictional confusion, the real stars are Gavin O'Brien and Neil O'Connor in the sound department, single handedly driving the tension in almost every scene. It's not brilliant and far from perfect, but it sweeps along building nicely and comes to an oddly satisfying end.

If you like slow building movies, with a ton of woodland & forest imagery, you're bound to love this. I watched it as the trailer made it seem much more fast paced & shocking than it is, to be honest I was really bored and the only time I had to turn away from the screen was when the flashing images really sped up.

The story revolves around a man, in a cottage, who's mistress/coworker joins him and they go to a caravan, take mushrooms, then later he takes a whole bunch of different kinds of mushrooms and essentially becomes a space cadet - i.e. loses his mind. The only way I'd consider watching it again is if I myself am on mushrooms.