Film: Only a few tenants still live on the top floor of Tower Block 31, an unadorned high-rise development that is soon to be razed to the ground for a new prestige building. Here, everyone lives for themselves; there is no real neighbourly cohesion. And so it is not surprising that no one rushes to help when one night a young man is brutally murdered in the dark hallway. Without witnesses, the police investigation quickly comes to nothing. But the crime does not go unpunished. Because a few months after the murder, a sniper from the high-rise building across the street opens fire on the tenants, who panic and try to escape the deadly shots. But the killer has come up with quite a few ways to keep the residents of the high-rise trapped on their floor, gradually snuffing out their life lights...
Tower Block is a nasty little thriller, with its claustrophobic atmosphere strongly reminiscent of John Carpenter's classics. Admittedly, some of the characters are drawn in a very clichéd way and the dramaturgy isn't really quite a bouquet of surprises either. Nevertheless, the whole thing works really well. The suspense rises very fast and is maintained almost until the end. The undercooled gloomy setting of the unadorned concrete high-rise, the omnipresent but always invisible threat and the not always predictable twists make the feature film debut of the two directors James Nunn and Ronnie Thompson an extremely rousing siege thriller.
In doing so, the very important theme of moral courage, which is far too rarely displayed out of fear, especially in problem neighborhoods of major cities dominated by anonymity, is placed at the center of the story in a grossly over-the-top but effective manner. By forcing the trapped tenants in this extreme situation to stick together and display the very courage and strength that would have saved the helpless young man's life, it becomes clear that preventing the murder would have been relatively easy by comparison. Had they not all hidden behind their doors, had they not simply looked the other way but stood up to the perpetrators as a collective, it would never have come to this.
But the directors also do a very good job of making clear why people lack moral courage, why fear is so dominant, and why it is so hard to stand together in a situation like this. Even if the film shows all this in a very exaggerated way, it can in the best case inspire intense thought and reflection of their own actions. And even if the makers can definitely be chalked up that they push this important message by the very bloody vigilante story too much in the background, so they can not be denied that Tower Block purely seen as a thriller really works well and offers a high entertainment value.
So if you appreciate gritty and bloody suspense cinema with a John Carpenter twist and can overlook some minor dramaturgical hangs and thin dialogue, you're guaranteed to be swept away by the events of Tower Block. Worth seeing!
Picture + Sound: The technical implementation of the DVD is overall on a good level. Although the action takes place mainly in dim light or in the gloom, overall sharpness and contrasts are quite convincing. The somewhat undercooled, very atmospheric color scheme also leaves a positive impression. Only in the detail representation there are now and then minor weak points and in very dark scenes can also be made out slight image noise. The sound, which is available in a Dolby Digital 5.1 mix, is dominated primarily by dialogue and smaller sound effects such as gunshots or shattering windows. But every now and then, more obvious effects ensure that the surround speakers are put to convincing use. Good!
Extras: As a bonus, the DVD has a short interview making of with statements recorded during the shooting to offer. There is also the trailer and other programming tips from the provider. A bit lean.
Conclusion: Tower Block is a tense thriller that in its best moments is reminiscent of John Carpenter classics like Assault - Attack by Night. As a vicious commentary on a lack of moral courage in an anonymized, ego-driven society, the whole thing works quite well, even if some of the more draggy moments could have been happily traded in for a bit more biting social criticism. All in all, though, a successful thriller that presents itself on DVD in decent picture and sound quality. Recommendable
Ein Artikel von Frankfurt-Tipp
