The Complex

I wonder if Asian horror will ever make a comeback? This movie wouldn't be the start of it, but it was rather enjoyable to watch. I haven't really enjoyed an Asian horror movie for... years it seems?

The story is solid and rather intelligently written, but I feel like the delivery wasn't very effective. The acting was good, I guess it could be a bit awkward for the average Western person who is not accustomed to Japanese movies. Overall, it just feels like something is missing. I didn't feel a creepy atmosphere or anything. They could've taken the psychological thriller aspect and ran with it, with the addition of more creepy elements, but it sorta fails to deliver.

I could see a Hollywood remake happening as I watched it, which in this case, could actually go very well.

This is an astonishingly inept movie. Plot lines appear out of nowhere, the characters are barely developed, and aside from one or two creepy visuals there is nothing to take away from this film. I loved Ringu and Dark Water, and apparently the director does as well, because this is basically a retread of both of those stories. I rented this thing on iTunes and I want my 4.99 back. Don't waste your money!

Hideo Nakata, director of the original The Ring and Dark Waters, returns with The Complex, supernatural horror about a young woman that moves to a new apartment in a mysterious complex. The Complex is a weird and hard to review movie... It is very intense and very scary at times, with a type of horror that never bets on jump scares, but mostly on anticipation and build-up intensity. The problem with The Complex resides with its structure. The movie changes mood and pace too often and too drastically, leaving the audience confused questioning the legitimacy of some scenes. The scenes seem to be placed with little criteria, like a puzzle that's is missing some pieces and has others upside down. It lacks solidity, leading to the inevitable feeling of unrealism: we are always aware that this is only a movie, and that is a shame because we should be absorbed and bothered by horror films. Scary? Absolutely. Well directed? Maybe this time Nakata got a little sloppy. Visit thefadingcam blog for more!

I saw this film at the Brussel fantastic film festival 2013 (BIFFF) together with nearly 1000 people. Contrary to what I am used to in other film festivals, the audience was not dead silent but yelled some comments from time to time. I have been at many film festivals, but this "participating" behavior was completely new to me. I observed this also with other films in this festival, thus it may belong to local folklore. Anyway, it was not annoying or disturbing, just remarkable and unusual.

The plot seemed so simple during the first half, but rest assured that it gets more complicated later on. Don't repeat my mistake by thinking that the dying neighbor was an important issue. As the story progresses we see several hints that there is more going on, much more in fact. Take for instance the lonely child who Asuka encounters when walking through the neighborhood when she just moved in a new apartment with her family. And her observation about a dialog between her parents that repeats itself daily, a phenomenon that her parents of course deny. And there was an earlier bus accident with Asuka as the sole survivor. Take note that there are more such hints, and these get mixed together eventually. As a heads up to future viewers: it is important to take these hints seriously from the moment they appear.

All in all, I found this film rather enjoyable and yet scary enough, a mixture that I missed in many Japanese horror movies I saw in the past. The growing relationship between Asuka and Shinobu might have resulted in a happy end, with everyone living happily ever after, but this is not exactly (euphemism alert!) what is going to happen. To avoid spoilers I cannot say more than to be prepared that things are not developing as you might expect upfront.

"The Complex" does deviate a bit from the standard Japanese horror genre with some pretty interesting twists, which was a very welcomed change of pace to the genre. However, the movie was nowhere near being scary, or I am just too seasoned and hardened to horror, and that resulted in a mediocre result.

The story is about Asuka who moves into an older apartment complex, and soon after strange things start to happen which threaten to send Asuka's mind down a spiral of despair.

Story-wise then "The Complex" was following a stereotypical 'how-to-make-a-horror-movie' blueprint, but it has some interesting twists and turn of events.

The acting was good and helped the movie along quite well. Atsuko Maeda actually carried the lead quite well.

The effects in "The Complex" were adequate, but not overly impressive or dazzling. But they did serve the purpose well enough.

However, the lack of proper scares was the downfall that plummeted the movie into mediocrity. And as such, what could have been a unique movie ended up as a movie that you will Watch once and then never again.