The Brotherhood IV: The Complex (2005)

   

Produced & Directed by: David DeCoteau

Written by: Matthew Jason Walsh

Starring:

Sebastian Gacki .... Lee
Graham Kosakoski .... Victor Thanos
April Amber Telek .... Captain Morrisey
Brett Viberg .... Brandon
Adam Woods .... Tristan
Emery Wright .... Charles
Brody Harms .... Severin
Mike Clevin .... Commodore Stockwell
Aleks Holtz .... Spider

Release Date: Made for Cable: March 1, 2005

 

Rating:

 

A new student at the Complex Academy named Lee Hanlon (Sebastion Gacki) bunks with an outsider named Victor Thanos (Graham Kosakoski) who wants to join a group called the Black Skulls but has to do their ceremony before he gets in which causes something dangerous as he unleashes some spirtitual energy causing him to become more courageous and invincible.
Lee sees all of this and the Black Skulls noticed that he was there and have a frightnening plan for him.
Meanwhile, Victor defends Lee from bullies and jocks at the Academy which can mean their lives too. Others are getting death curses by the Black Skulls too with theior evil powers unleashing onto their victims.
Apparently centuries ago the Black Skulls were pirates involved as a brotherhood and their sould still live at the Academy and are trying to take control over the government as well.

 

A nice beginning with a new student at the dorm and of course there's the gang called the skulls doing their cult ceremony in which there's nice close up shots on gothic material with blood dripping on it which offers a nice touch to the story as well as them getting this guy stripped down to his calvin klein underwear for the traiditional DeCoteau flicks of course as well as him walking into a room with satanic rituals as well as demonic powers that are being unleashed in which there's perfect camera shots looking down on this guy when this powerful force strikes him showing alot of good cheesy horror fun to the story.
This film has neat special effects and has an interesting story to it.
A good moment with the lead character Lee about to go to the school with his father trying to reason with him and he acts negative which looked good and effective as well as nicely concentrated too.
Interesting moments when Lee goes into his dorm and meets his roomate Victor Thomas weightlifting at the bottom of his bunk wearing nothing but his underwear which looked typical and silly too. Yet their discussions seemed to flow fairly well.
A good powerful moment with the instructor Captain Morrisey teaching her students as there's a perfect lashing out with her towards some of the students which looked perfectly wicked as well as a showing no mercy type of attitude. This really draws you in a great deal while we continue to watch this moment happen.
More nicely concentrated moments when Lee sneakily watches on what's happening towards Victor while the skulls do a ceremony with him as we see the same thing like in the beginning of the film but more focused on them putting pentagrams on his body as well as neater effects when he special powers start to unravel around him.
There's the odd lame moments like one of the students hearing a sound wondering whom it is and then takes a shower which looked overly long while we are supposed to be watching in suspense by what is going to happen as this seemed to be a time waster. Yet when he does other stuff the scenery looked nicely dark and still so there's some nice moments as well as the cheesiness into this moment.
The best moment is when the head bully of the Skulls named Spider tries to attack Lee and then we spot Victor coming in to save the day by thumping him out and see a real change in the moment here with Spider acting helpless while this goes on. Looked strongly done for sure.
Neat moment with Lee going into a dream with mist surrounding him in a hallway and him walking towards the Skulls cult ceremony spotting Captain Morrisey with her eyes glowing which looked wicked to watch as well as crazy things happening to Lee himself which was very imaginative spotting what you'd picture in a twisted dream as well as him waking up wondering if this really happened or not. This was cleverly put in without a doubt.
Then a good surprising moment with Lee answering the door and Spider comes in to take a swing at him as well as Lee hitting him with a bat. Then it nicely comes together having a reasonable discussion by what is happening and what to plan out to put an end to the madness which looked pretty well done.
A nice drawing moment when lee talks to Captain Morrisey about what is happening and what they are about to do which was strongly done and well focused as well as one of the best moment when she reveals her true identity and hell breaks loose with lots of good intense moments with the powerful force attacking Spider as well as Lee trying to struggle against all of this. The effects here were pretty interesting. There is a surprising twist to it as well.
Bottom line is that I found this to be the best out of the Brotherhood films as it looked nicely put together but as always nothing too spectacular as the rest of them. DeCoteau and Walsh seemed to put alot of effort into this piece and can be fairly entertaining if you're in the mood for it.

This is the best acting out of all the Brotherhood flicks. Sebastian Gacki (Lee) seemed to pull off his role pretty well playing a troubled teen in which he came across nicely acting closed minded about stuff along with having a good troubled expressionless type of expressions on his face. He also does well with his dialogues to other people along with reacting not too badly to the surprising situations. He wasn't overly great though but did the best he could.
Graham Kosakoski
(Victor Thanos) is marvellous with his role as an outsider suddenly becoming a popular student since he is a part of the Black Skulls and is intimidating too. Does a nice job when getting tough and coming to the rescue during a certain moment in which he brought it out perfectly with his words and actions. Also seemed to do nicely with his cold speaking too which was another nice bonus for him.
April Amber Telek (Captain Morrisey) was my favourite out of the cast as the strict tough as nails type. She gives a great punch with her sterness towards one of the cast members with his sexist remarks towards her. She packs a great punch with this taking it to the extreme for sure. Also shows off a perfect bitchiness to her personality along with really getting into character by making out that she will stop the madness happening only to show off her true wicked true identity which she really brought this out terrifically. She was a true wild nature with her characteristics.
Mike Clevin (Commodore Stockwell) stood out nicely in his supporting role as someone whom is perfectly serious at the academy and was great with his words and discussions which he drew in the attetion really nicely. He had the right middle aged looks for this part and seemed to fit in well into the story.
Aleks Holtz (Spider) stands out great as the nasty bully at the academy with his violent and threatening remarks towards others in which he was perfect by getting into your face within all of this. He also knew on how to change his mode when he is attacked acting choked up showing a not too bad versatality. Plus he came across perfect as a dimwitted type too. Also drew in well when he reacts to pain which looked highly energetic.

A guy was showering and the camera went down to his hips but that's the farthest it went to.

Joe Silva's composing was a little too techno like as I hate techno with a passion. There are alot of good deep type of music which works perfectly into the film as well as the odd hissing and groaning sounds too. Also there's the odd bonging sounds too in certain parts as well. He does have some nice sound effects in some spots like towards the end when the Black Skulls unleah their full power with their she demon. Also some nice light tapping piano music for the mellow moments. Good drum beats for the suspenseful areas as well as interesting orchestral playing used by a synthesizer in many spots too.