Exploitastic: Tenement (1985)

Roberta Findlay's career in filmmaking began when she met Michael Findlay. The couple turned moviemaking team would go onto directing roughies. Sexploitation films made on a low budget with gratuitous nudity. While she isn't the first women to dabble in these films (that honor goes to Doris Wishman) she is definitely one of the key figures in the genre. The 60s saw a decline in roughies and a rise in hardcore films. Roberta's career started veering more and more toward horror. Following some misfires in the genre, Roberta and Michael wound up making Snuff. A movie which Roberta saw no profits. At this stage, Roberta and Michael separated.

Roberta's career in sexploitation really took off. She ended up making her tribute to Repulsion, A Women's Torment (1977). Justine (1980), Liquid Assets (1982), and Mascara (1983), a movie she made with Henri Pachard all would follow suit. All of which are available through Vinegar Syndrome.



It wasn't until Tenement, the film we are here to discuss today, that she fully embraced no holds barred exploitation that would make even late 70's era Abel Ferrera tuck his tail between his legs and run.

In an interview with Findlay, she pinpoints her inspiration to her childhood. Living in the rat infested tenements in the South Bronx of New York. Now the surprising thing about Tenement is the date in which it was produced and released- 1985. It's a movie that came 10 years too late. A movie that could have played on any of the 42nd Street theaters. Instead it landed smack dab in the middle of the VHS era.

Tenement is unflinching and unforgettable. It also has a memorable role from Paul Calderon of Pulp Fiction.





You can buy Tenement on blu ray from Shriek Show.