Tenement

If one were to crown Roberta Findlay's best film, I think TENEMENT would be it. A variation of "people trapped in the house" genre, TENEMENT takes place in a run down building, all in one day with Findlay keeping the tension going with on screen titles giving the time (and sometimes even the apartment levels). This helps as the gang ruthlessly tries to make its way up to the tenants.

The gang is, as most gangs in films were during this time period, cinematic-ally goofy. It is a multi-ethnic gang dressed to the hilt in chains and leather. Findlay admits on the DVD audio commentary that during filming she encountered many real gangs in the Bronx and subsequently found out that her vision of gangs "wasn't very realistic." Regardless, the cast, comprised of mostly unknown but professional actors, is very convincing. Both Sam (Joe Lynn) and Chaco (Enrique Sandino), the leaders of the good guys and bad guys respectively, are given very strong portrayals by the actors. An interesting bit of trivia, TENEMENT marks the film debut of Paul Calderon, a recognizable character actor who went on to be in a wide range of stuff from PULP FICTION to LAW & ORDER.

One of the multiple films in the mid-80s urban warfare genre, TENEMENT is perhaps the sleaziest of the bunch. Director Findlay goes for the throat in terms of the violence, featuring brutal rapes, stabbings, throat slicing, animal mayhem and castration. It created a cumulative effect so strong that the film was award an X rating by the MPAA (interestingly, so was the gang war epic DEATH WISH 3 at the time, but it was reversed on appeal).

This film has the entire tenant squeal on a drug dealing gang to the police, only for them to get out, and one by one, they go to each tenant in the floor, killing and torturing them in an ugly fashion, making their way up to the top floor tenants, as the tenants either run to the top, or just stay in their rooms, waiting for their inevitable deaths. You see some repulsive violence, as well as pure sadism that would make Abel Ferrara proud as it out-Abels Abel Ferrara films in capturing the down right seediness and the hopeless and the no way out living of being holed up in these poor buildings. With each new death, you just realize there is no way out for these poor souls, and that they are facing inescapable death. Very grim, especially being directed by a woman! The ending is very corny, which kind of shifts the mood of the most of the film, almost ends like a Monty Python skit, but ignoring the last 5 minutes, this is a ride into despair and hopelessness that you will soon not forget. Just down right ugly! You'll will NEVER want to rent a New York poor apartment house after seeing this film!

Fed up with their basement serving as headquarters to a gang of violent, drug-taking street punks, the tenants of a run-down New York tenement building inform the police about their unwanted guests' stash of illegal narcotics and firearms; believing the gang to be safely behind bars, the delighted tenants hold a party to celebrate, but elation quickly turns to terror when they discover that the thugs have been released from jail and are looking for revenge.

Just a few seconds of the horribly dated rap theme-song for Tenement should be enough for most sane movie fans to switch off in abject horror, but those who stay the distance (the certifiably insane, lobotomy patients, obsessive fans of z-grade trash) will find that bad 80s music is possibly the least offensive thing about this film: schlock director Roberta Findlay packs her film to the rafters with scenes of mean-spirited violence and sleaze carefully designed to keep even the most twisted of movie degenerates drooling with glee, including several bloody stabbings, a pair of scissors in the face, a throat slashing, and a rape that ends with the old 'broom handle up the punani' routine.

Sadly, while a catalogue of assorted unsavoury acts like this would normally qualify a film as an unmissable exploitation treat in my book, Findlay's typically ham-fisted direction, unconvincing gore, and terrible performances from nearly all involved make this film a gruelling experience for all the wrong reasons. It's not often that a movie can feature so much atrocity, yet still be most memorable for its bad guys' (and gal's) terrible dress sense: sporting cropped vests (tastefully slashed), chains, black spandex, and a fetching range of studded leather apparel, they look like they've either spent the evening partying hard at an S&M club or just been to an audition for raunchy 80s dance troupe Hot Gossip.

Some IMDb reviewers have cited this as their favourite of Findlay's directorial work, although as far as I am concerned, choosing your favourite Roberta Findlay film is akin to choosing your favourite STD.

I have to admit, this is a real favorite of mine in the graphic extreme bloody genre of semi-revenge thrillers. (is that even a genre?) Oh well, I saw this back in the day, and what I remember is the x-rating it got, and I don't believe it was ever edited to get any other rating. I watched it a 2nd time last night, and listened to the interesting commentary by director Roberta Findlay. She doesn't understand why it got an x-rating at all, but believe me, this was very strong stuff back in 1985. Basicially a gang of drugged out baddies get kicked out of their basement dwelling and arrested, and soon come back to kill everybody left in the tenement. This has some great stuff in it, some really zonked out homicidal gang members, and some residents that decide to put up a fight. And it is has some pretty decent production value, and the main goodies, extreme graphic violence and a high abundance of blood. This is a good eighties nasty, which deserves a place in your sleeze collection.

A piggish gang of inner-city punks embark on a sadistic killing spree inside a ruinous low-income housing facility, intent on making the building "their own". Some truly vexatious scenes of gleefully exacted torture and murder make TENEMENT one of the most inclement exploitation films of the 80s.

Rather deficiently crafted for the most part, this is still possibly schlock-queen Roberta Findlay's most technically accomplished effort, and it actually features a few uncommonly decent performances. TENEMENT is a deliberately discomforting urban horror film recommended explicitly to those seeking a challenge to their humane sensitivities and emotional sang-froid...not exactly a "feel good movie of the year" nominee, but it certainly meets its grievous objectives head-on. Be aware of what you're in for.

5/10