Dirt and scum oozes from the screen in this urban survival flick from New York City that was shot on location on the mean streets of The Bronx. Director Roberta Findlay made a handful of exploitation movies at the end of her career as an established porn director and cinematographer and this was the only non-horror title. For Findlay to have such involvement in adult and exploitation pictures, she needed to be a tough woman. This comes across in Tenement with a grittiness and sleaze factor that brings to mind early Abel Ferrara or Buddy Giovinazzo. While I can't say that this is a really great movie as the pacing is slow and the acting is choppy, it has its place in this subgenre with a few nasty moments and some enthusiastic gang member characters. I just wish it could have been contained more suspense like Assault on Precinct 13 or Canadian movie Self Defense (aka: Siege).

A small street gang have been using the basement of a run-down apartment building to hang out and do drugs. The police are called and the gang is taken in only to be released later that day. They immediately return to the tenement for a night of revenge and proceed to harass and torment the residents. This soon escalates to murder and the gang that seems to have no ethics takes over the small building floor by floor forcing the residents into a position where they need to fight back. As tensions escalate, the gang stab people, shoot people, and throw furniture around. In true exploitation fashion, the female gang member even has fresh blood rubbed on her bare breasts.

This is dirty look at a part of New York City but it is hard to relate to the occupants of the building and root for them when the gang starts wreaking havoc as there is little time spent on establishing sympathy for the characters. With one of the tenants being pregnant, another few being elderly, and and handful of children running around, one would think that this would be an easy task but instead becomes the biggest problem with the movie. I just didn't care what happened to anyone in this flick and was instead waiting for the next act of violence or boob shot that would give me something to remember the flick by. The gang is good but there are no motives to their actions which is frightening in itself but does not help with the emotional impact of the characters. At least when people start dying and some revenge gets added to the mix, we know that both sides have lost their patience and have more at stake. Additionally, the leader of the gang Chaco (Enrique Sandino) is not as menacing as he could have been. While I wouldn't want this guy knocking on my door late at night, he is lacking the charisma of someone like Timothy Van Patten in Class of 1984 or Willie Colon in Vigilante. He looks cool but the lack of motivation for retaliation against the residents makes him less menacing until late in the film. I can see the gang having a beef with the mouthy caretaker Rojas (Larry Lara) but the other tenants are innocent bystanders and the reason for their fates is not explained.

While most of the movie is just scenes of the tenants or the gang walking up and down hallways or yapping, the violence that occurs is often brutal and the body count is high for such a small cast. Findlay does not shy away from graphically showing people getting stabbed and, at one point, a woman is raped to death with a broomstick and found by her little kid. Moments like this are pretty nasty and there are no scenes of comedy or positivity whatsoever. There is some brief nudity from Corinne Chateau who plays a hooker with a junkie boyfriend and Karen Russell who plays the sole female gang member. Russell went on to appear in some other popular b-movies including Vice Academy, Murder Weapon, and Shock 'Em Dead. You can also spot Dan Snow as one of the gang members. Troma fans will recognize Snow as Cigar Face from the Toxic Avenger movies. The most impressive performance is from Paul Calderon as Hector who is the most unflinchingly sadistic of the gang members. Calderon has since enjoyed a steady career as a character actor including a roles in Pulp Fiction and King of New York. Overall, Tenement is not as good as I had hoped but if you are a fan of gritty New York movies like Combat Shock or 80's synth music, there is something in this for you. The catchy, dated rap theme song is by Kool Krew and is currently stuck in my head. (Josh Pasnak, 7/9/13)

Directed By: Roberta Findlay.
Written By: Joel Bender, Rick Marx.

Starring: Joe Lynn, Mina Bern, Enrique Sandino, Paul Calderon.

aka: Game of Survival, Slaughter in the South Bronx.