Tower Block (2012)

PROS: I should start out by saying that nothing in this movie is really bad or really spectacular. The acting however is an exception to that statement. Every character was alert the whole time the film was rolling. Even though certain actors weren't speaking they were still present in the dialogue. This made it engaging, because every actor influenced the storyline. This quality brought the other aspects of the film up as well. The movie was scarier because of this, the films progression was better because of this, and the movies ending was better because of this. Everything just rolled together making this quite a provocative movie.CONS: The only thing that frustrated me was the description of the movie. I expected to watch this and have an amazing horror film, but this movie barely scraped by being an action drama. I understand there was guns, but that doesn't make it a horror, and the director and producer misunderstood that.www.chorror.com

I can't quite remember when I last scratched my head in wonder at the perverse rating given to mindless dross, probably yesterday. I must commend the young writers who won the under 12 award though for the production of this film, and even though I am comparing it to regular adult fare, I feel it is not too unfair as this is the competition it faces. So if you want to watch inner city scumbag stereotypes innit being overacted by the usual bunch, including the jug eared squealing wolfman himself (who had a hilarious end, squeaking all the way)in an appalling deep depression guaranteeing, bleak dark, yet still supremely dull script - watch this shite. Oh and like yous like sister is like a munter skank yous tosser. My dogs better than your dogs innit! I is gonna murderalize you . Well done the under 12s.

TOWER BLOCK follows in the footsteps of plenty of recent low-budget thrillers in having a single location as its setting. I always enjoy the possibilities of such story lines, which require the writers to work harder on the dialogue to bring the characters and the situation to life. It also makes it trickier for the director to elicit suspense from such a scenario, but when it works it works really well. And that's the case here.Writer James Moran also did the dues on COCKNEYS VS ZOMBIES and this film has much the same feel to it: a respect of B-movies and a genuine love of the genre. The story is simple and extremely shocking, punctuated with moments of in-your-face violence that lend gritty realism to the proceedings. In essence, it's a bunch of disparate characters trapped in a corridor by a sniper, and yet maximum tension is generated from such a scenario.The actors are fine in their roles, with Sheridan Smith's resourceful heroine a modern-day Ellen Ripley, and Jack O'Connell's would-be villain undergoing a particularly interesting character arc. Also nice to see Ralph Brown on the screen some twenty years after ALIEN 3. The directors handle the material well, generating plenty of excitement, and even when the story dips into cliché – as at the climax – it still works well. TOWER BLOCK is hardly original, but it's nonetheless a well made and gripping little thriller.

Derivative and largely formulaic thriller, but nevertheless one that remains suspenseful and compelling throughout the entire running time thanks to the raw & gritty atmosphere and a handful of extremely brutal shock-moments. Reminiscent to the other recent British flick "Attack the Block" in terms of tone & social setting, "Tower Block" takes place in a pauperized and crime-infested big city suburb where people abandoned all hope for prosperity long time ago already and desperately avoid every type of contact with fellow human beings. The film entirely takes place in a large apartment complex that is scheduled for destruction and only the residents of the top floor still live there. One Saturday morning, they are rudely awakened by a relentless psycho killer with a sniper rifle. He – or she – fires at everything that moves and placed booby-traps across the building. There's a obvious link with an unsolved murder committed in the block a few months earlier and now the asocial tenants are forced to rely on each other for survival. The biggest trumps for a film such as "Tower Block" are surprise and unpredictability. All the residents are equally insignificant, meaning that literally anyone of them could be next. And they could be next at any random and possible moment, too. Writers/directors duo James Nunn and Ronnie Thompson aptly play with these trumps, as the characters definitely don't die in the order you'd expect. Sniper murders can perhaps get a bit monotonous after a while, but there's enough diversity in killing methods and circumstances. Obviously there's quite a large number of holes and irrationality in the plot and the climax (as in: revelation of the sniper's identity) is weak and disappointing. The acting performances vary between adequate and amateurish, with good roles for tough blond gal Sheridan Smith and "Alien³" veteran Ralph Brown. In case you want to seek out more "serial sniper-killer" movies after this, I warmly recommended the almighty "Dirty Harry" but also the more obscure "Two-Minute Warning", "Targets" and "The Deadly Tower"