It’s always a nice surprise when you are surfing the TV with the remote control and you come across a film you had never seen or heard of before. That happen last night when I happened upon the film ‘Tower Block’ about half way through which was a pity but in the new world of TV was able to switch to the channels +1 meaning I could watch it from the start.
The tower block in the film is due for demolition with only the top floor residents left in the building. The film starts with a teenager running crying for help on the top floor his pursuer’s catch him as they drag him off to his death only one resident tries to help played by the excellent Sheridan Smith.
The story moves on three months and we see Sheridan Smiths character sitting having an awkward coffee with the previous night’s one-night stand. Telling him she had just come out of a long-term relationship when a shot through the window takes off half his face. Shots then ring out as other residents are targeted.
The scene is set for a ferocious game of cat and mouse in this tense low-budget British thriller.
The unidentified sniper with a high-powered semi-automatic rifle controls the power, internet, and other utensils to the building leaving the residents trapped. You just don’t have to be careful of the windows he has also sets up a number of booby traps to prevent them leaving the top floor. The murderer of the found among the residents and a kind of rough justice is met out.
The tension mounts as the group in-fight and bicker among themselves as one by one they are knocked off with all their plans to escape thwarted. They work out is must be some to do with the death of the teenager but who is the sniper?
What makes it good and watchable? The characters are everyday people believably portrayed by an accomplished cast of performers – which helps a great deal. One of them a young thug is feeding off the other residents running a protection racket if you don’t pay your home is ransacked.
This is an interesting if highly implausible story but any flaws are more than made up for by the well acted unpredictable and explosive story line. I have seen many low budget films but this one took me by surprise at just how good it was.
My Rating
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