Tenement: Game of Survivial [Blu-ray]

Overview

The tenants of a South Bronx slum rise up against the thugs who want to take over their home in this violent thriller from exploitation legend Roberta Findlay. A vicious multi-ethnic street gang has moved into the basement of a crumbling apartment block in one of the more dangerous neighborhoods in the Bronx. The squatters routinely abuse drugs, fight one another and kill rats for sport until the building's superintendent decides to call the police and the criminals are rounded up and arrested. The residents -- ranging from elderly couples and single parents to bohemians struggling to make ends meet -- are overjoyed until the police are forced to release the gang later the same day due to a lack of evidence. The gang returns to the tenement to get revenge on the people who informed on them, forcing the peaceful tenants to respond with violence in order to protect their homes and loved ones. Released unrated after the MPAA threatened to give the film an X rating for violence, Tenement was also released under the titles Game of Survival and Slaughter In The South Bronx.

Product Details

Release Date:	08/08/2017
UPC:	0631595170481
Original Release:	1985
Source:	Shriek Show
Language:	English
Sales rank:	19,229

Editorial Reviews

After spending the '60s making some of sexploitation's most bizarre features with then-husband Michael Findlay and pursuing a solo career in the pornography industry of the '70s, director Roberta Findlay turned to horror and action films during the Reagan years, many of which are abysmal, unpleasant creations shunned by even the hardiest exploitation mavens. However, Tenement is the director's best feature, as cheap and sleazy as any other Findlay production, but possessed of a tension and cruelty that generates real suspense. Despite ridiculous costumes for the marauding gang members (which make them look more like an MTV dance troupe than street thugs), their ruthlessness leads to some very disturbing sequences in which boilerplate action film rules of engagement are ignored. The cowering residents of the besieged apartment building are all fair game, from sweet old ladies to innocent youngsters, and the film accelerates its pace as the villains chase their prey up one flight after another. Tenement is no lost classic; at certain points a suspension of disbelief is required that many viewers won't be willing to muster, and it's a bottom-dwelling exploitation drama to the core. Still, the film provides visceral thrills that might surprise those familiar with (and dismissive of) the rest of Findlay's catalogue, and a 2005 DVD release of the film makes it more accessible to the curious.

All Movie Guide - Fred Beldin