Horror Movie Review: The Brotherhood IV: The Complex (2005)

Written by Matthew Jason Walsh and directed by David DeCoteau, the middling homoerotic horror series that is The Brotherhood hits a high with The Brotherhood IV: The Complex. Stepping out of the mediocre shadow of the films that came before it to deliver one of the more competent and enjoyable entries in the series so far. You can read our review of the series so far below.

2001 – The Brotherhood
2001 – The Brotherhood II: Young Warlocks
2002 – The Brotherhood III: Young Demons

Taking place at the Port Nathan Naval Academy, there’s a secret society known as The Black Skulls and cadet Lee (Sebastian Gacki) has been chosen to join the group by arrogant cadet Victor (Graham Kosakoski). An invitation that Lee struggles to turn down, seeing as The Black Skulls are so powerful that even those in charge at the academy can’t control them.

Of course, this is a Brotherhood movie and once again, this secret society is not what it seems. Lee discovering that it’s actually demonic and spread, not just throughout the academy, but throughout the entire world. Taking it down is going to be impossible, but he can at least start with Victor and his cronies.

That there is the major reason that The Brotherhood IV: The Complex is a better film than those that came before it. This film’s secret society is bigger than anything we’ve ever seen before and, for once, it seems like a task to big for the movie’s hero to take on. The Black Skulls are a threat, and thanks to a good performance from Graham Kosakoski, even the localised events that occur here have tension.

It’s a shame than that Sebastian Gacki’s Lee is so forgettable by contrast. A solid performance but neutered by being the same bland, white-meat babyface we’ve seen in every one of these movies so far.

How about the homoerotic elements? Does David DeCoteau deliver on the ‘hunky hotties topless and in their underpants’ side of things? Does a bear s**t in the woods? It’s classic DeCoteau and classic Brotherhood homoerotic elements.

Elsewhere, The Brotherhood IV: The Complex tries to be a bit more horror, but doesn’t push the bar too much in this regard. That is disappointing, especially as it’s a very ‘talky’ movie, but it’s par for the course. The series might fall under the horror bracket but it’s not going to deliver much in the way of blood and gore.

What stops The Brotherhood IV: The Complex being a great movie is the aforementioned talky aspects. There’s no ignoring this movie’s biggest problem being that it has far too many scenes that alternate between being long and being utter filler. Neither does the pacing of the story any favours and could easily be responsible for turning many viewers off this latest Brotherhood experience.

Overall though? It’s one of the most entertaining entries in the series so far, and even with the low bar set by the previous films, tries that much harder to be memorable.