646f9e108c A South Bronx gang rape and kill the residents of an isolated tenement. The tables turn and the surviving residents viciously despatch the gang. There is a gruesome scene depicting the repeated stabbing of the leader with a TV aerial followed by a lightning strike for good measure. A drug selling and violent street-gang terrorize the renters of a big trashy apartment-house. Tenement (1985) <br/><br/>* 1/2 (out of 4)<br/><br/>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.<br/><br/>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.<br/><br/>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.<br/><br/>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. I bought this DVD last Friday because I was looking for some early 80's, politically incorrect, sex'n violence balance to the banality of to-days oh-so-correct trash that Hollywood spews out. As I scanned the shelves for something that would scream Independence, I came across 'The Tenament'.<br/><br/>You usually cannot go by what the cover says. They can't ALL be the 'most shocking', 'depraved', 'explicit', 'gut wrenching', 'gory', 'perverted'…well, you get the picture.<br/><br/>As I picked up 'The Tenament', I hoped the cover-art hype would be, for once, right on. The claim was it got an X certificate on release and it wasn't because it was a porno in drag! My wife saw the cover and excused herself. She knew I was on an odyssey to combat the effects of the sanitized hogwash we bathe in daily and was not quite ready to cleanse her brain. She has a much higher tolerance, being a woman.<br/><br/>I sat down with a very nice glass of chardonnay, dimmed the lights and fired up the DVD…..<br/><br/>I was in luck! This was definitely a find - a throwback to the days when you 'made a statement'. Sleezy sex, violence, gore, disco music, electrocution, did I say Gore?, slashings, drug use and other assorted bad stuff. They don't make 'em like this anymore! This is definitely an NC-17 or 'X' for real.<br/><br/>Talking of 'X', I really miss the category. I don't mind the porn industry but I'm ticked of they hi-jacked my favorite movie certificate. The Should have used 'P' (for Porn) or 'PPP'.<br/><br/>Afterwards I watched the directer interview. Roberta gave some very interesting anecdotes that indicated life during filming was just as bizarre.<br/><br/>Well, I'm re-balanced and ready to absorb more of the bland, bleached offal being forced on me by the media moguls.<br/><br/>Highly recommended. Watch the extras on the DVD. Not a date movie. Has multiple viewing potential.
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295 weeks ago