SLAUGHTER AND SURVIVAL IN THE SLUM: 'TENEMENT' (1985)

Residents of a rundown tenement "... stand their ground and fight for what little they have, and for their lives, against a vicious drug-crazed street gang." Credit: Shriek Show

Bloody violence and bloody boobs are on display in Tenement (a.k.a. Game of Survival, Slaughter in the South Bronx). It is a long-forgotten entry in the slew of urban warfare action B-movies seen in the grindhouses, drive-ins, and video stores in the 1980s. It is a scuzzy and sleazy take on John Carpenter’s cult classic siege action thriller, Assault on Precinct 13 (1976). While Tenement cannot compare, judging it on its own merits, it is an entertaining little flick, because it has no pretensions about what it is, as a gritty, grimy, and trashy exploitation piece played out for shock value. It is one of only a few films given an X certificate by the MPAA in the United States based solely on its graphic bloodshed. It was rejected by the BBFC in the United Kingdom for a VHS release in 1987, but it was passed uncut for DVD in 2005.

Tenement is an effectively put together quickie, shot in August 1984, on the paltry budget of an estimated $80,000 - $90,000. It is set in a ghetto of the South Bronx, New York City. This is the childhood home of director and cinematographer, Roberta Findlay. She lived with her family in a tenement from the late 1940s to partway through the 1960s, and based the film on her experiences. Poor immigrant workers built these old low-income housing units because they needed homes. All interior and exterior filming for the pivotal setting of the tenement was done in the isolated location of a vacant building in Harlem, Manhattan, New York, separated from the Bronx County by the Harlem River. The city council was renovating it, and the electricity and water were still on, so it was used as a giant set. Real gang violence took place in the surrounding area. All other exterior shooting was done in actual Bronx locations. The movie perfectly captures the squalid atmosphere of a poverty-stricken and crime-ridden neighbourhood, which generates a genuine sense of danger.

Screenwriters Joel Bender (1948 - 2021) and Rick Marx inject some heart into it. Us average folk can relate to the ensemble cast portraying impoverished tenants of a rundown tenement apartment building, who are just trying to make ends meet, and they give a real sense of community. We sympathize with these downtrodden innocent peoples’ plight in this tale of home invasion, and we root for them when they stand their ground and fight for what little they have, and for their lives, against a vicious drug-crazed street gang.

A blood-drenched stabbing in Tenement (1985). Credit: Shriek Show

The title sequence establishes the urban decay with B-roll footage of dilapidated buildings and rubble. Over this, we hear the sound of an old-school (new in 1985) inner city hip-hop track, aptly titled ‘Tenement’. It sounds upbeat, as if giving off a positive vibe, but a closer listen to the lyrics details the struggles of living in such difficult conditions. This message of economic and social hardship returns for the closing frame of the film, over an exterior shot of the tenement at night. Roberta Findlay employs a heavy Goblin-esque prog rock soundtrack to supplement the action set pieces.

In the inciting incident, the gang of degenerates are arrested, as the landlord - the cowardly and surly loudmouth slob, Mr. Gonzales (one-and-done actor Alfonso Manosalvas) - calls the police on them for squatting in the basement. They are taking drugs, but the leader Chaco (Enrique Sandino, 1951 - 2015) burns it all, and they hide all their weapons. When they are taken away, the tenants celebrate, but as the police have nothing to hold them on, they are released shortly after. They score some angel dust (PCP), and they return to the area and get high. As the effects of this drug induce feelings of invulnerability and power in these already aggressive people, they decide to take revenge. They cut the phone lines of the isolated tenement, and terrorize the tenants in a hostile takeover of the building. Eventually, the victims are forced up to the top floor, where they turn the tables on their attackers by constructing and setting up various improvised traps in a siege actioner trope. This culminates in a surprisingly visually impressive final confrontation on the rooftop during the pouring rain, thunder, and lightning of a storm, which defies this small production’s meagre resources.

The proceedings are energetically paced and packed with tension, as the events unfold in real-time. This is signified onscreen by the scene-setting location timestamps (like in Assault on Precinct 13), and this includes which floor of the building the action takes place. With the exception of the first act, we are stuck in this dingy apartment building the whole time. Roberta Findlay works efficiently in the tight confinement of her surroundings, with freewheeling shaky camerawork, and plenty of low-angle shots and tracking shots. All this generates a docudrama aesthetic.

One reason why Tenement works is its unpredictability, as we never know who will or who will not survive. Everything is wide-open, as we witness blood-drenched slashing and stabbing, a brutal strangulation, and a gruesome castration (complete with the man holding his severed meat and veg while dying). The most disturbing and haunting moment is the savage rape and murder of a single mother, Leona (Rhetta Hughes), followed by the heart-breaking sight of her small daughter discovering her corpse. Findlay makes sure to capture all this with long, lingering shots for the exploitation market. While this violence may sound gratuitous, its vileness and harrowing nature provokes our angry reactions to get behind the victimized innocents to get payback, which makes the villains’ inevitable downfall more satisfying for it.

 Straight out of Death Wish: chains and leather are this street gang's attire. Credit: Shriek Show

The multi-ethnic street gang looks like they came straight out of Michael Winner’s Death Wish trilogy - Death Wish (1974), Death Wish II (1982), and Death Wish 3 (1985) - as they are decked out in chains and leather. But they are uncharacteristic of the Street Thunder gang in Assault on Precinct 13. John Carpenter did not humanize his antagonists, as they are depicted as a mysterious force of nature with almost supernatural attributes. He took direct inspiration from George A. Romero’s zombies in Night of the Living Dead (1968), as the gangbangers have almost no dialogue, they move at a deliberate pace, and they are relentless. Here in Tenement, the scumbag punks have personalities.

 

Enrique Sandino certainly has a presence as the enigmatic and sadistic gang leader, Chaco.

 

Dan Snow hams it up as the junkie thug, Rudy. Troma fans will recognize Snow as Cigar Face in Lloyd Kaufman’s original Toxic Avenger trilogy: The Toxic Avenger (1984), The Toxic Avenger Part II (1989), and The Toxic Avenger Part III: The Last Temptation of Toxie (1989). He also played Sgt. Kazinski in Kaufman’s Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger IV (2000).

 

The standout from the entire cast is the intense Paul Calderon. He plays Chaco’s loopy right hand man, Hector. This was Calderon’s film debut, and he went on to carve out a respectable career as a character actor. This includes memorable supporting roles in high profile cult films: Sidney Lumet’s Q&A (1990), Abel Ferrara’s King of New York (1990) and Bad Lieutenant (1992), the latter of which he co-wrote, and Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction (1994). Tarantino even almost cast him as Jules Winnfield, the role that made Samuel L. Jackson a megastar.

 

Another noteworthy cast member is Angel David. He plays Poppo, a heroin-addicted resident of the tenement. His girlfriend Carol (Corinne Chateau) sells herself to help him feed his habit. David gave an impressive comic performance as Skank in Alex Proyas’ The Crow (1994).

 

The closest to a lead protagonist is Sam Washington (Joe Lynn, 1947 - 1987). He is a 30-something African American, a manly mechanic, and a loner. He is possibly a Vietnam War veteran, due to the framed photos of his Asian wife and child in his apartment, but no explanation is given for their absence. He wants to be left alone, but he has to help his neighbours fight the scumfucks invading their shoebox homes. The outsider reluctant hero is an action archetype. While this seemingly strongest of all the characters usually saves the day, this is not the case here, because it subverts our expectations. It falls on someone on the opposite side of the spectrum who we would least expect, a pregnant single Latin American woman, Anita (Gy Mirano). She wants to raise her child on her own, because she does not love the father, which is a sign of her strength. Transgressive portrayals of women such as this earned Roberta Findlay the label of ‘feminist filmmaker’, but this is something she has always denied.

Roberta Findlay

Roberta Findlay began her filmmaking career when meeting husband, Michael Findlay (1937 - 1977), while attending the City College of New York in the mid-1960s. Michael was an ardent cinephile obsessed with silent film. When he ran a festival on campus, he hired the classically trained pianist Roberta to play piano, to accompany D. W. Griffith’s epic historical anthology, Intolerance (subtitles: Love’s Struggle Throughout the Ages, A Sun-Play of the Ages, 1916). When they married, they became a filmmaking duo, with Michael as director, and Roberta as cinematographer. They became among a number of pioneers of the ‘roughie’ picture. This is a sub-genre of softcore sexploitation - a pastiche of seedy violent crime and sadomasochistic sex. Roberta starred in supporting roles, playing characters that were either sexually promiscuous and/or masochistic victims. When Roberta and Michael separated, Roberta directed her own films in the Golden Age of Porn (1969 - 1984), just to keep working, and proved successful. When this era of hardcore pornography with real production values, shot on 35mm, and shown in theatres, ended due to the rise of home video, Roberta moved into horror and exploitation action features such as Tenement.

Tenement is true exploitation cinema. It makes good on its promise by delivering the extreme B-movie violence, while dealing with the horrors of living in a ghetto. The brutal gang of miscreants’ sustained assault of intimidation and terror tactics on the innocent people makes for an unsettling experience. However, the endearing quality of its good ol’ black-and-white theme of good triumphing over evil, wins through. This is raw, edgy, filthy, nasty, and enjoyable midnight viewing.

Note: Shriek Show’s 2017 Blu-ray release is a 2K restoration presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio. It features a commentary track by Roberta Findlay and an interview with her.

© 2026 Dave J. Wilson. All rights reserved.

Credit: Shriek Show

“YOUR FEMININE PULCHRITUDE IS DETESTABLE” - 'THE LOVE BUTCHER' (1975)

"Caleb/Lester’s origin of his madness, and hatred of women, stems from a childhood trauma related to his mother."

Exploitation filmmaker Don Jones (1938 - 2021) is best known in horror circles for his debut in the genre as writer/director. The sleazy and haunting Schoolgirls in Chains (1973) is a riff on Alfred Hitchcock’s psychological horror masterpiece, Psycho (1960). It tells the shocking tale of a pair of deranged brothers who are seemingly under the influence of their domineering and crazy mother. The brothers chain up nubile young women in the basement of their Californian orange farm, and the women fight for survival in disturbing and violent scenes of torture and sexual assault.

Don Jones’ gig as the director of photography on the twisted trash piece, The Love Butcher, would earn him a credit as the co-director. Mikel Angel (1926 - 2001) was in the director’s chair and was co-screenwriter. He was best known for co-writing the supernatural horror, Psychic Killer (1975), and the sub-genre pastiche, Grotesque (1988), starring horror icon Linda Blair. The Love Butcher was produced by Mirror Releasing, the distributors of Schoolgirls in Chains. It was shot in just twelve days on a minuscule $40,000 budget. It would prove to be Angel’s sole directorial effort, because the entire crew deemed his first cut to be nonsensical and unwatchable. Don Jones then stepped in as the writer and director. He injected humour into it, and created a new supporting character, so he did a little more casting. About half of the film would end up as his. Austin McKinney took over as the director of photography, who had just finished shooting the independent horror, Axe (1974).

The Love Butcher is unable to decide what it wants to be. Don Jones’ quirky dark humour in a schizoid psychological character study (again inspired by Hitchcock’s Psycho) contradicts Mikel Angel’s sleaziness with powerful and harrowing depictions of misogynistic violence. It makes for an uneven tone.

Gruesome murders of beautiful young women can be seen in this proto-slasher. It was released in the grindhouse theatres and on the drive-in circuit in 1975, predating the rounded out and established slasher film by three years, when John Carpenter's Halloween was released. But nobody saw The Love Butcher. It was given a slightly wider release in 1983, in an attempt to capitalize on the slasher boom, which was ignited by Sean S. Cunningham’s gory elaboration in Friday the 13th (1980). The Love Butcher became lost in the sea of red of all the cookie cutter slice and dice flicks released every weekend, and sunk into obscurity. 

The Love Butcher does not entirely live up to its title, because it features only a little bloodletting and minimal female nudity. However, when it does hit these marks, it does so effectively.

 The Love Butcher features "... powerful and harrowing depictions of misogynistic violence."

Bizarre and brutal murders of young and attractive housewives with the use of garden tools have an upscale neighbourhood in a grip of terror. Shot entirely on location in Los Angeles, California, the gross interior décor of these suburban houses reminds us of why the 1970s was the decade taste forgot. 

Local gardener Caleb (James Lemp, credited as Erik Stern, 1938 - 2012) is a lonely, bald, hunched over, and crippled, middle-aged simpleton. He wears overalls and thick-lensed glasses. He performs his daily duties tending to the gardens of female residents who verbally abuse him. At the end of his days, he returns to his filthy little apartment, and argues with his younger brother, Lester, due to their sibling rivalry. Caleb is delusional, though, because Lester is just a mannequin with a wig. Caleb is not as he appears, because when he is pushed too far, he transforms into Lester (also Lemp). He is handsome with chiselled features, confident, charming, and psychotic. The deranged Lester personality uses a variety of disguises and accents as crude stereotypes, to gain entry into the women’s homes, and to seduce them. He then punishes them, as he believes all females are evil. “Your ugliness is on the outside… theirs’ is hidden away”, Lester tells Caleb.

The inept police are unable to catch Caleb/Lester, despite all the women being killed with gardening tools, and Caleb being their regular gardener. In this weak procedural investigation aspect, there is a butting of heads between the police chief (Richard Kennedy, 1929 - 1985, Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS, 1975) and newspaper reporter, Russell (one-and-done actor Jeremiah Beecher). Russell berates the police for their incompetence in failing to catch the killer, but this just makes him a hypocrite, because Caleb is his girlfriend Flo’s gardener. Flo (Kay Neer in her sole acting performance) is the only likable female character, as she is kind to Caleb.

It is hard to care about most of the female victims because they are such cruel bitches. We see them ridiculing the weird, yet harmless, gimp Caleb for his disability, so we cannot feel sympathy for them when they meet their grisly demises at the hands of Lester. But nor can we root for him getting revenge for the poor unfortunate Caleb. Lester is an alpha-male stud who sees himself as a godly figure of masculinity, thinks all women should worship him, and is a detestable misogynist. He hates ALL women. When the killer and their victims are awful alike, how are we supposed to feel?

 James Lemp plays dual roles as Caleb/Lester.

In a scene when Sheila (Robin Sherwood, Tourist Trap, 1979, Death Wish II, 1982) is swimming in her private pool, Lester dives in with a hosepipe and attacks her. He tears off her bikini, and then forces the hosepipe down her throat, drowning her in phallic rape symbolism.

Caleb/Lester’s origin of his madness, and hatred of women, stems from a childhood trauma related to his mother. This is revealed in a tragic, heart-breaking moment, in a flashback during the climatic twist. In author Stephen Thrower’s tome, Nightmare USA: The Untold Story of the Exploitation Independents (Fab Press, 2008), he points out an auteur thread of “nasty mothers” in Don Jones’ work. He writes that the mother in Schoolgirls in Chains is an “incestuous dragon”, and that the mother in The Love Butcher guilt-trips her child by laying the blame on him with callous words, and “... sowing the seeds of future mental illness in her son.”

In Stephen Thrower’s interview with Don Jones in Nightmare USA, there is a quote from The Aurum Film Encyclopedia: Horror (Aurum Press, 1984). “The Love Butcher is interesting in that whilst its production pre-dates the stalk- ’n’ -slash craze, its ironic tongue-in-cheek script actually highlights and parodies the gross misogyny of the sub-genre.” A long line of short-sighted film critics has accused slasher horror of being the male fantasies of the sexualized mutilation of women. They miss the point that the lone killers are often unattractive and socially inept (Caleb), and they are mentally ill, abhorrent, and their homicidal actions are never morally justified (Lester). No male viewer in their right mind could identify with them. Films can be about misogyny and not be misogynist.

The slasher film inhabits the puritanical, conservative, and Christian/Catholic world. Pre-marital sex, drugs, and alcohol are all sins, and the killers embody this poisonous worldview. In The Love Butcher, Pat (Eve Mac, yet another one-time performer) is the character Don Jones created. After she and Lester have had a few beers together in her home, he seduces her. Then a bible-bashing nuisance turns up at the door, preaching to her how her “immortal soul is in jeopardy.” She closes the door on him, and then Lester stabs her to death. Halloween would later codify this as a major slasher trope.

 "The most shocking murder is deliberately saved for Flo, because she is the only sympathetic female character."

Lester kills the warm-hearted Flo out of jealousy for being kind to Caleb. The most shocking murder is deliberately saved for Flo, because she is the only sympathetic female character. Used as buffers are moments of romantic light-heartedness between Flo and Russell. This includes their plan to get married, which makes us relate to them. Because of Russell’s determination to catch the killer, we are fooled into thinking they are the ones who will bring down Caleb/Lester. This comfort zone makes Flo’s nasty and unsettling death more tragic. As Lester and Flo struggle, he tears off her clothes until she is completely naked. He tells her, “You will leave this world as you entered it.” As she sits on the floor and tries to cover herself with her arms, she begs for death rather than being tortured, to which he obliges. He hacks her to death with a serrated garden hoe, and she dies covered in blood. In the end, Caleb must overcome Lester to put an end to his reign of terror.

James Lemp has a lot of charisma and is full of manic energy. His performance in his dual role is highly memorable, with his transformation from Caleb to Lester and back being astonishingly convincing. We sympathize with the poor Caleb, but are terrified of the menacing and merciless Lester. When the two personalities spar with each other, it is pitch black comedy, as Lester berates Caleb for his handicap. Lester taunts his victims with ridiculous and demented lines like, “Your feminine pulchritude is detestable, and you were trying to drain the energy from me!” James Lemp carries a film that would not have worked without him. Unfortunately, due to The Love Butcher being little known, the actor would end up playing mostly bit parts in TV shows. He landed a supporting role in Cannon Films’ Charles Bronson action vehicle, Assassination (1987).

The Love Butcher is a mixed bag piece of curio exploitation with enough highlights to make it enjoyable. Considering the unideal circumstances of its production history, it is surprising it turned out this well. This is a testament to Don Jones’ talent in undertaking such a salvage job. It is certainly much better than his next trip into horror with his unsuccessful mix of supernatural and slasher in The Forest (1982).

 With charisma and manic energy, James Lemp gives a memorable performance.

Note: Code Red’s 2015 Blu-ray release presents The Love Butcher in its original 2.35:1 aspect ratio. It features a commentary track by Don Jones, moderated by Lee Christian and film historian and hip-hop artist R.A. Thorburn a.k.a. R.A. the Rugged Man.

© 2026 Dave J. Wilson. All rights reserved.