The Tenement

The Tenement (2003 BRAIN DAMAGE FILMS)

A paranoid nerd who thinks he's becoming a werewolf, a beautiful serial killer who preys on serial killers and the nefarious Black Rose Killer are just some of the inhabitants of The Tenement, the new anthology by promising newcomer Glen Baisley. The Tenement has all the dark wit and twisted morality of classic EC comics with all the self awareness and continuity of Stephen King's interwoven short stories.

The best of the bunch is the story of a young mute girl named Sarah who is terrorized by an obsessive stalker but the tables are quickly turned as the predator realizes his prey may not be as alone as he thinks. As he does throughout the film, Mr. Baisley uses the “cat and mouse” struggle, like the one between Sarah and her attacker, to travel across a lot of film history. What starts in the territory of 70's exploitation fare (see "Last House on the Left" or "I Spit on Your Grave") quickly steers into dark realms first traveled by Fulci and Argento.

Let me take a second to talk to any one out there who's over 30, has loved this stuff since they could walk and hate the state of horror right now....

Ok Reagan/Bush era young couch potatoes: are you listening?

The Tenement is a good old fashioned, late night, make out with your girl, drink beer with your buddies, turn it into a drinking game, found it on the bottom of the shelf in the horror section of an old mom and pop video store, would see it at a drive in if they existed, pre Blockbuster, old-school, anything goes film making, titties bouncing, gory good time.

Roughly translated: The Tenement is a horror film by a horror fan, for horror fans.

Only time will tell if Mr. Baisley will make the jump to the big screen or if he will stay a small screen hero in the punk rock like environment of digital video “do it your self revolution.”

Either way there’s no doubt that he has a very bright future, making very dark movies.