Have you ever lived in a really shitty neighborhood? And I don’t mean the kind of “shitty” like “my neighbors blast Wang Chung at 3 in the morning” shitty, but “I am actually afraid that I’m gonna wake up with a crusty knife inserted into my sternum by a homeless pimp named Ray Ray” shitty.
If you answered yes, then imagine how easily you’ll be able to relate to TENEMENT, a super-ultra-mega-violent urban warfare masterpiece that makes ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 look like RAINBOW BRITE AND THE STAR STEALER. Its violence at the time earned it an X and, while most violent films have mellowed over time, I’m happy to say that TENEMENT is just as shocking today as it must have been twenty-or-so years ago.
The extreme action takes place when a cadre of slum-dwellers, tired of the WARRIORS-esque gang in the basement shooting up, making noise and playfully feeding rats to one another, call the cops to finally get rid of these pesky ne’er-do-wells once and for all. But, thank you liberals, the cops release them later that day. Instead of going on their merry way, as you can imagine, these dudes are pissed. Really pissed. Add to that pissage a rage increased by massive hits of PCP (or, as according to my D.A.R.E. officer, “Angel Dust”), the miscreants decide that the only way to get revenge is to massacre the residents floor-by-floor. Now, while I have never had my raged fueled by dust (I’ll stick to taquitos, thank you very much), I can see their logic in this and for a while, the plan goes well. A dog is gutted and a woman is um… raped with a broomstick, but eventually the tenants say enough and start fighting back, using anything at their disposal, including electrified mattress springs, and, my personal favorite, rat poison masquerading as PCP.
Legendary cult director Roberta Findlay – she of SNUFF, SHRIEK OF THE MUTILATED and, my personal favorite, LIQUID A$$ETS fame – isn’t scared to put wonderfully bizarre acts of depravity on the screen, and, as she states in her completely entertaining commentary, uses real gang members, filmed on location in the really skuzzy parts of the Bronx and, per the film’s awesome, Grandmaster Flashy theme song – does anyone know where I can get an mp3 of that? – doesn’t understand rap music.
TENEMENT is a must-own, and entertaining in the way that so few films are – you hold back your pee because you don’t want to push pause and break the disbelief in what you’re seeing. Gritty, hyper-realistic and filled with non-stop action, TENEMENT is a true lost classic.
