Tenement (1985) * 1/2 (out of 4)The landlord of a trashy, rundown apartment complex calls the cops on a gang of thugs living in the basement. At first the people who live inside the apartment think that they're finally safe but the thugs are released from jail and return to the complex where they begin to rape and murder.TENEMENT is a cult film from director Roberta Findlay and as you can tell from the story it's yet another wannabe DEATH WISH film where we see a good group of people coming under attack by maniacs. It should be noted that this film was released the same year as DEATH WISH 3 and it certainly doesn't live up to the craziness of that movie.The film has gained a cult following over the years due to some of its graphic violence, which originally earned the film a X-rating. If you're familiar with the work of Findlay then you know she goes all out or at least pushes the boundaries of good taste. That certainly continues here as there are a lot of throat rippings and blood flowing around. There's one very memorable and painful shot of a man raping a woman and what happens to him is quite brutal.The problem I had with the film is that there's just nothing fresh or original here and in all honesty the film never really has much energy to it. The film is pretty boring at times and especially because the "gang" and the "normal" people are all rather uninteresting and you simply don't care about any of them. At just 94 minutes the film really drags in spots and outside the violence there's really not too much here.

~Spoiler~"Tenement it's a place to live some look so bad make you wanna shed tears." Tenement: Game of Survival is a tale of urban decay from Roberta Findlay (Blood Sisters, Snuff). Yes, women can make trashy exploitation just as well as men. Perhaps better. This movie has one scene in particular that goes further than anything in Last House or I Spit on Your Grave. I found myself covering my mouth with my hand! You'll know the scene if you've watched the flick. Actually, I'm going to spoil it: A woman is raped to death with a broom and her 6-8 year old daughter sees the aftermath. It was pretty shocking even to me, and I've seen plenty of trashy movies. The storyline is similar to Death Wish 3...only without Charles Bronson. A gang is hanging out in the basement of a building where one tenant has had enough. He calls the cops and the gang is arrested. Unfortunately, the punks are soon released and swear vengeance on all the tenants of the building. Before you can say Assault on Precinct 13, the gang is fighting their way through the building killing everyone. One complaint I had is that I would have liked to get to know the tenants a little better, specifically Mr. Washington. There are some things left unsaid about his character. Was he a Vietnam vet, or just the bada$$ super? The gang members were also one dimensional characters who are only amused by death (even if it's one of their own). I didn't really care when they killed the tenants, and on the other hand, I didn't find myself cheering when they were killed like I should have been. I think the movie is a bit of a failure in that regard, but it's still watchable. I really wouldn't mind seeing this one get the remake treatment. The acting is terrible all around with few exceptions. Those being Joe "Mr. Washington" Lynn, Dan "Cigar Face" Snow, and the always underrated Paul "Always Underrated" Calderon.

review title lyrics: Marc Almond – The Days of Pearly Spencer "Tenement" is hostile, mean-spirited exploitation in which the cheapness of production is only surpassed by the brutality in tone. Also known as "Slaughter in the South Bronx", this nasty movie perfectly lives up to his reputation of shocking urban horror class-sick! The story opens with a gang of thugs being arrested for drug-abuses and other insane felonies committed in the basement of an apartment complex. The other tenants hope that this will finally mean the end of all crime in their neighborhood, but the gang returns the exact same night already and plots annihilate everyone in the building. The first half hour seems slow and not at all eventful but, in reality, you feel that the tension is being build up towards a claustrophobic highpoint that'll stand for pure mayhem. "Tenement" is very extreme with some of the most disturbing death-scenes ever shot on film. Luckily the special effects are so weak, because the violence is already shocking enough in concept. There's a woman raped and barbarically beaten to death, other tenants are stabbed with rusty pokers and one guy dies after a seriously sick heroine-shot. Furthermore, we have slit throats, electrocution and a truly repulsive castration. Yikes!! There are no real heroes among the tenants and you feel like every character has an equal chance to die (and they most likely WILL before the movie is over). "Tenement – Game of Survival" is hugely controversial cinema and easily one of the most jaw-dropping movies I ever beheld. Enter at your own risk!!

A street gang squatting in the basement of the worn-down title structure is thrown in jail, only to be released the same day, and gunning for the occupants who turned them in. Thus begins "Tenement," a bargain-basement attempt at outdoing the violence and depravity of "Last House on the Left" and its imitators. Instead of increasing its admittedly warped charm, the low budget instead hinders the production, with lamely rendered deaths (that employ the same Campbell's Tomato Soup blood FX), a plodding pace, uneven acting, and some of the most regrettable fashions of the 1980s (which is saying a lot). Director Roberta Findlay (co-author of the notorious "Snuff") poorly juggles windy dialog scenes intercut with violence that is more shocking in theory than execution (the broom-handle rape being a prime example), but also presents a few daringly unconventional characters (including a woman who whores herself out to support her boyfriend's heroin addiction) that raise the interest factor a little. "Tenement," long a lost video relic from the '80s, didn't necessarily deserve to be found, but could actually benefit from a decent remake.