Asuka is a young nursing student who has just moved into a very old apartment building with her family. She hears scratching noises from the apartment next door and is horrified to learn that the flat's previous inhabitant was an elderly man who died from neglect and malnutrition. Even though the man is dead, the scratching doesn't stop. Asuka is drawn into a horrifying web which includes not just the spirit of the old man but a secret that engulfs the whole complex itself. Hideo Nakata is perhaps Japan's most revered horror directors, having given the world the terrifying Ringu. In The Complex, he returns to the same sort of formula that made Ringu so successful, but this time, Nakata does not have as good a concept as Ringu. Nakata on a bad day is still better than most of the dreck out there. The Complex is still a scary idea and is creepily executed by Nakata. A cross between psychological horror and the supernatural, events build up slowly and quietly in the film. It is a film that demands a lot of concentration in order to assimilate the different parts of the story - everything is imbued with meaning. This may detract from more visceral thrills, but if you stick with it, The Complex does manage to end with a very freaky flourish.
My first film watched was Carrie aged 2 on my dad's knee. Educated at The University of St Andrews and Trinity College Dublin. Fan of Arthouse, Exploitation, Horror, Euro Trash, Giallo, New French Extremism. Weaned at the bosom of a Russ Meyer starlet. The bleaker, artier or sleazier the better!
