Good Ol’ Review: TV5/D5 Studio’s Suspenseful “The Complex” Opens Up Intriguing Possibilities

TYPE OF REVIEW : GOOD OL’ REVIEW
No spoilers.

D5 Studio, the digital studio arm of Philippine network TV5, debuts a new scripted series this weekend in The Complex.

The suspense drama stars Albie Casino as Alex who settles into a Manila apartment complex after moving to the big city from Tacloban. Here he meets the beautiful, but mysterious Anj (Emmanuelle Vera). But she isn’t the only mystery Alex encounters as he begins having vivid nightmares while strange occurrences begin happening at the apartment complex around him.

The Complex consists of 10, roughly five minute episodes. Each of them are packed with a good mix of legitimate tension and suspense and quieter moments that build that rising tension while adding as much depth to the characters as can be done in five minute bursts.

The digital short form format certainly provides an interesting way of presentation, enabling a different way of depicting what may be a familiar plot. But the intriguing elements of the story and its presentation show a lot of potential if further developed, especially as a feature film or even a full-length television series.

Similarly, TV5’s scripted efforts with Digital5 have been well done and creative, also showing great potential if the material or its creators were given a bigger platform. And I’ve definitely long called for TV5 to be that bigger platform for fresh, different and out of the box concepts.

If bingeing on The Complex, it will roughly be around an hour total. And it’s a brisk and truly suspenseful hour that provides a somewhat satisfying ending, while still leaving a lot of questions unanswered, thus the potential for the story to be truly great with a bigger platform.

Still, The Complex is certainly exciting enough for a good hourlong watch. Albie Casino and Emmanuelle Vera do a great job at getting you to care about Alex and Anj, especially in such a short time. And to be sure, you definitely won’t see something like this on traditional, over-the-air Philippine television.

Watch the entire series on Smart Life or on D5 Studio’s official YouTube channel:

4 thoughts on “Good Ol’ Review: TV5/D5 Studio’s Suspenseful “The Complex” Opens Up Intriguing Possibilities

  1. I’ll admit, napadaan ako dito dahil sa screencap ni Albie na nakatulog dyan. Kaloka. lol Sorry, pero fuck, ang sarap niya! Imagine yan ang katabi mo matulog gabi-gabi? Yum!

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