Roberta Findlay, who had primarily worked in the adult film industry as a director from the ’70s to the early ’80s, occasionally worked in horror films as well, serving as Cinematographer on her husband Michael’s film “Shriek of the Mutilated.”
In 1985, Roberta directed “Tenement” (aka “Game of Survival”) and continued directing horror films from then on, with titles like “The Oracle,” “Blood Sisters,” and “Prime Evil.” “Tenement” is her masterpiece; originally given an X rating when it was released in 1985, it’s a 94-minute blood-soaked assault on your nerves and your psyche.
A Glorious Grindhouse Film
When the landlord of a tenement building gets fed up with the insane coked-up gang of street thugs squatting in the cellar, he sets them up and delivers them to the police. But after they get off on a technicality, the gang comes back, determined to make everyone in the tenement pay for their humiliation.
The bulk of the film takes place within the titular tenement. The set design is done beautifully. The hallways are grungy, graffiti is splattered across the walls and lights occasionally flicker with bulbs precariously close to burning out. It has the genuine run-down feel of a slum apartment building maintained by an apathetic landlord. Even before the gang returns to start their night of bloody terror, you cringe at the horrible living conditions the tenants live in.
The tenants are a diverse bunch, including elderly blind man Mr. Gonzales (played by Alfonso Manosalvas), Anita, a pregnant woman whose boyfriend abandoned her (played by Gy Mirano) and Sam Washington, a Vietnam War veteran and misanthrope who lives a hermit-like existence, rarely leaving his apartment (played by Joe Lynn). We don’t spend much time with the tenants before the siege begins, so all of them come off as generic templates rather than fully developed characters. It’s like the writers sat down and said “Okay, we need a blind guy and a pregnant woman to really grab the audience’s sympathy. Then we’ll toss in a tough-as-nails war veteran to lead everyone…”
More Terrifying than ‘Friday the 13th’
A scene from “Tenement.” (Photo: Laurel Films).
I would have liked to learn more about Sam’s wife and what happened to her, and about Anita’s life up to this point; but when you’re delivering a one-two gut punch and uppercut to the audience, character development just gets in the way.
The gang members dress in leather and look like they walked out of “The Warriors.” Most of them are generic, save for their leader Chaco (Enrique Sandino), a stone-cold maniac who’s never heard the term “blinking.” He’s not physically intimidating, but reeks of creepiness and malevolence. Whenever he appears on-screen, you know someone’s getting brutally wiped out. He’s a little bit Al Pacino, a little bit Anthony Perkins.
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Many critics say this isn’t a horror film, but I think it’s far more terrifying than films such as “Friday the 13th” or “Salem’s Lot.” There’s a relentless tension throughout, as the gang hunts down tenants on the lower levels and work their way up each floor. And the kills in “Friday the 13th” are positively PG-rated compared to this film. Roberta Findlay never went halfway in her films and here the kills are incredibly savage. Since the gang members are more grounded than some unstoppable hockey-masked killer or axe-wielding maniac—and the budget was very small—the film feels almost like a documentary. It combines gang violence and the hopelessness of poverty to deliver a sledgehammer blow of a film that’ll have you double-checking the locks on your doors.
“Tenement” is available to stream on Tubi or to rent or buy from Microsoft.
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