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Okay, you won't experience any big surprises in this one-set piece of a battered psychologist trying to save a brilliant and dangerously-powerful little girl from vivisection by the military in 80 minutes. But if you're okay watching a good, if familiar, story with mostly very good characters, you will be caught up in the elegantly paced drama that unfolds with tautness and grace. Richard Neil is very likable as Dr. Fonda, a certain project leader's choice for Last Resort, and young Savannah Liles is electrifying as the "sociopathic killer" with the scary powers who dares him to do what no one else could do. It's a stock situation but a lot of thought and care has gone into this treatment, and if it falls somewhat short of being deeply moving, it doesn't fall far short. Well worth your time.

The Complex isn't a perfect film, but it builds on a time-honored formula: Nothing is what it seems to be. 'Ringu' director Hideo Nakata is back with a thriller that may annoy you with seemingly random plot twists, changes of scene, and viewpoint changes, but stick with it, there's a terrifying story behind all the confusion. In fact, The Complex resembles a Korean thriller more than a J-horror flick, in the kaleidoscopic subjective-cinema way things are frequently turned upside down to reveal more of what's really going on.

The truth, once you discover it, is nothing really new, but its truly thriling in the way the pieces fall together (I'm pretty sure a lot of the low ratings were from people who got lost), and it's genuinely scary all the way through, and the lovely cinematography and some fine performances by the young stars help lift it up to near-Ringu status. But what puts it over the top is an exciting, compelling score by veteran composer Kenji Kawai, which keeps the heart racing.

I've seen them all, and this one still scared the heck out of me, while doing an ingenious job orchestrating the threatening power of grief and guilt in a way I haven't seen since 'Dark Water.'