User reviews

This movie was filmed in 1992 at the Asbury Square apartment complex in Dunwoody, Georgia (a suburb of Atlanta). I was living there at the time, and remember them putting up the fake "Woodside Complex" sign. (I thought that it was funny that they would actually call it "complex" in its actual proper name, since that word is usually just used to generically describe any vaguely maze-like structure. I suspected that it was called that so that people would more easily get the reference to "Complex of Fear." I guess that sounds better than "Townhomes of Terror" or "Apartments of Avarice.") The "complex" had just recently opened, and several of us tenants would watch the filming from our balconies.

Not a bad made for TV movie (1993) directed well by Brian Grant and written by Dyanne Asimow. Ms. Asimow did well with her material and gave the viewers another angle on rape and rapists. Interesting viewpoint where the rapist didn't come from a messy childhood but did it for the thrill and because he could get away with it. One by one the victims live in one apartment complex, hence the title, and are at the mercy of a possible rapist living amongst them in the same building. Makes for good suspense. The dialog was pretty good and Grant's direction gave the right amount of tension needed.

Hart Bocher, a very handsome guy, plays a cop who lives in the same building searching out the rapist with a vengeance as his wife was at one time a victim of rape before she married the cop. Bocher has some wonderful moments as to how he accepts the news of his wife's early rape, not knowing about it before they were married. How he takes the news and proceeds to live with it is wonderful work by this good looking young actor. I remember him in DIE HARD as the guy who thought he was cool and tried to get the hero to give up ending up being killed in the attempt.

Joe Don Baker plays another cop and gives his usual tough guy humor in the role but really nothing else. Although I thought the role he played was well written. Unfortunately I can't say the same for the leading lady played by Chelsea Field. First I thought she looked years older than Bocher. Secondly, her make up made her look hard and almost like a woman of the streets. Then wearing that tight revealing dress to a party knowing there's a rapist in the area. That was just stupid. And after telling us the time she was raped she did the same thing, wore a tight dress to attract attention. Not a good idea. Her acting was a bit over the top. I certainly feel in all the Hollywood beauties, there could have been a better choice to play opposite such a handsome leading man. Sorry, just this observers opinion.

Complex of Fear is part stalker theme, and part crime mystery in this Sliveresque tv movie. The apartment building setup creates a close nit distrustful atmosphere where anyone could be the one. The rural setting works great, looks like somewhere in the Carolinas. There is some good interpersonal dialogue between couples in this movie as well. The time frame is pretty accurate to the late 80s when the actual events took place.

There's nothing terribly wrong with this movie, and there's nothing that lifts it out of the ordinary. The acting is generally competent, the direction proficient, and the apartment complex that provides the main (almost the only) setting for the story is attractive in its own quietly Southern garden apartment way. It looks like Myrtle Beach or someplace, but there is a brief shot of a much larger city, so who knows?

It should hold your interest, but somehow, though, it doesn't really click. After the first couple of rapes, the handsome Hart Bochner's wife (Chelsea Field, a conventionally beautiful knockout) confesses to him that she was raped before they were married. Instead of being sympathetic, he comes up with, "Why didn't you tell me before we were married?" And mutters, "Makes me wonder what else I don't know about you." He also stops being, well, physically affectionate for more than three weeks. The issue of the hypermoral cop who can't forgive what he perceives as his wife's misbehavior is lifted out of "Detective Story" and the issue is left unresolved after it's been brought up.

The suspicion grows that the rapist not only preys upon wives in this complex but lives there himself. The possible suspects are examined but no one seems more culpable than anybody else until, in the last few minutes, the rapist's identity is revealed and he turns out to be just one of the several guys who could have done it. Thanks to the writers, though, the rapist's only explanation is that he did it because he could do it -- because the challenge was there. (That's why they climb mountains too, isn't it?) He was never beaten or abused as a child, nor does he suffer from waxy yellow buildup.

This guy, though, must be one of the dumbest serial rapists in existence. He prowls around in his ski mask in the dark while a half dozen cops armed with rifles are stationed about the compound. If the cops are searching the surrounding woods, he shows up there too, leaving a pile of cigarette butts behind him. Oh, yes. He's a smoker. One victim describes his breath as "horrible." Warning: smoking can be hazardous to your exculpability.

How can a man rape a woman anyway? They must be a special breed, combining anger and the use of force with sexuality -- usually two antagonistic responses. And their victims, frightened and arid, can't be much help. Many rapists claim to have been drunk at the time, but that strikes a normal person as an even more preposterous statement. Fortunately there are effective behavioral treatments available, called aversion therapy. The technique itself is simple. The rapist is shown a movie depicting a simulated rape. He wears a ring around his penis that detects an erection. He is shown movies of simulated rapes. When an erection of sufficient intensity takes place the rapist is given a slight but unpleasant shock through electrodes on his thighs. Good-bye erection. After repeated sessions the erections pretty much go away entirely, although booster shots may be necessary from time to time.

Anyway, good use is made of that rather high-end apartment complex. The movies is claustrophobic, everything seems closed in and potentially threatening. We get to see virtually nothing of the wider community.

It's worth watching but not worth expending effort on.