Walter E. Sear Movies

A Satanic offshoot of the Catholic church has been operating since the 1500s, led by a renegade priest named Thomas Seaton (William Beckwith). The members can earn immortality if they sacrifice a blood relation every 13 years, and soon it will be time for George Parkman (Max Jacobs) to renew his bond with Lucifer. Parkman's intended victim is his virginal granddaughter Alexandra (Christine Moore), though her fiancé Bill (Tim Gail) is suspicious of the intentions of the old man and his lecherous friend Father Seaton. Oblivious to the danger, Alexandra rejects Bill's concern as jealousy. After her mother dies under suspicious circumstances, Alexandra moves in with her grandfather and falls further under the evil priest's spell, never suspecting that she's being prepared for a Winter Solstice sacrifice to Satan. However, the Catholic church is aware of the sinister cult's plans and a young nun has infiltrated their ranks in an effort to smash their blasphemies once and for all. ~ Fred Beldin, Rovi

A child being brought up in a brothel shoots his mother and her john to death in the prologue to this silly slasher film from director Roberta Findlay (The Oracle). Thirteen years later, the Edmonson College chapter of Kappa Gamma Tau is preparing to initiate their new sorority sisters. Linda (Amy Brentano) gets her boyfriend Russ (Dan Erickson) to rig up the old brothel with spooky gags for a treasure hunt. That night, Linda takes a group of pledges to the house, which is actually haunted by the hookers' ghosts and a transvestite slasher who turns out to be the now-grown murderous kid from the prologue. There are no deaths for an hour, then viewers are treated to a strangulation by garter, a co-ed nailed into a coffin, a double-shooting, a hanging, a tumble down some stairs and a fairly brutal stabbing. Most will figure out who the killer is within five minutes and wait an hour more to see him do his thing in a puffy white dress and high-heels. Needless to say, Findlay has learned nothing from her two decades behind a camera and delivers one of the most tedious, nonsensical slasher films made during the 1980s glut. There are visible microphones, bad editing, horrid acting, and pathetically weak dialogue. Findlay is largely to blame for all of these flaws, as she photographed, co-edited, directed and wrote this awful mess which is strictly for completists only. Pam La Testa and Ruth Collins appear briefly. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi

The tenants of a South Bronx slum rise up against the thugs who want to take over their home in this violent thriller from exploitation legend Roberta Findlay. A vicious multi-ethnic street gang has moved into the basement of a crumbling apartment block in one of the more dangerous neighborhoods in the Bronx. The squatters routinely abuse drugs, fight one another and kill rats for sport until the building's superintendent decides to call the police and the criminals are rounded up and arrested. The residents -- ranging from elderly couples and single parents to bohemians struggling to make ends meet -- are overjoyed until the police are forced to release the gang later the same day due to a lack of evidence. The gang returns to the tenement to get revenge on the people who informed on them, forcing the peaceful tenants to respond with violence in order to protect their homes and loved ones. Released unrated after the MPAA threatened to give the film an X rating for violence, Tenement was also released under the titles Game of Survival and Slaughter In The South Bronx. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi