The Complex

Asuka, a nursing student, moves with her family into a dilapidated apartment complex. She attempts to greet her elderly next-door neighbor Shinozaki but receives only a cautious response. She soon befriends Shinozaki's ward, Minoru, who seems both sad and knowing about the building's secrets.

Asuka begins to hear scratching noises and the sound of an alarm clock coming from Shinozaki's flat. The rest of the family seems to keep their daily routines, making the noises feel deliberate. The atmosphere tightens as the boundary between the living and the dead blurs.

A detective informs Asuka that Shinozaki has died while scratching the wall, a death that has gone unnoticed for days. The haunting takes on a tragic, unresolved significance as the truth emerges. Asuka feels the weight of being blamed by the departed for not discovering him sooner.

Asuka senses Shinozaki's resentment toward her for not uncovering him sooner, a hostile and accusatory presence seems to linger around her. The spirit's presence intensifies, turning curiosity into fear. The haunting feels personal and directed at Asuka.

A cleanup crew arrives at the flat, and Asuka meets Shinobu Sasahara, a cleaner with experience in the supernatural. He explains that living and dead experience time differently, with the living moving forward while the dead are stuck at the moment of death. He mentions a psychic friend who could help contact Shinozaki.

Returning home, Asuka finds her apartment completely empty and her family gone. The foster parents reveal that her entire family had died years before, and Asuka has been unknowingly blaming herself. This revelation reframes the haunting as a tether to the past rather than a current threat.

Shinobu invites his psychic friend Sanae Nonomura, who investigates the haunting and learns that Shinozaki's spirit is not hostile. He seems to want to thank Asuka for finding him and to warn her that she is in danger. The group considers Shinozaki's spirit a potential bridge between the living and the dead.

Sanae reveals that Minoru, the boy in the complex, died 13 years ago when he hid inside a garbage incinerator during a game. His death left a residual presence in the building that can reach Asuka. This backstory reframes the haunting as a longing for play and companionship.

Asuka withdraws and becomes attached to Minoru as a surrogate little brother. The friendship blurs the line between grief and obsession as she refuses to leave the apartment. Minoru's presence grows into a fixation that isolates her from the living.

Shinobu and Sanae attempt to perform an exorcism to expel Minoru's spirit from Asuka's damaged mind. They urge her to resist the haunting and to break free of the boy's influence. The ritual marks a turning point as the battle over Asuka's autonomy intensifies.

During the confrontation, Minoru projects the last memories of Asuka's family, overwhelming her senses. Shinobu is lured into Minoru's trap by the projection of his vegetative girlfriend, Hitomi Makimura, and opens the door to Minoru's influence. Minoru kills Sanae (Nonomura) in the chaos.

In a desperate choice, Asuka agrees to become Minoru's playmate in exchange for Shinobu's life. She allows the haunting to persist in a limited way to keep the cleaner alive. The bargain marks a grim compromise with the supernatural forces at work.

Shinobu pushes Asuka away, but he is drawn into a memory of Minoru's garbage incinerator and burns alive. His death underscores the cost of confronting the haunting and protecting Asuka. Minoru's hold on the situation tightens in the wake of Shinobu's sacrifice.

After the climactic events, Asuka is found scratching and screaming at her apartment floor. Her foster parents take her back, but she continues to babble about her dead parents and brother while clinging to her brother's doll. The film closes on a note of lingering trauma and unresolved presence.