I was excited when I spotted this film on the shelf of my local Blockbuster. Judging from the box art and the blurb on the back, it sounded like it could be a slasher film in the traditions of the slasher explosion of the late 70's and 80's. I love that genre. Films such as "Slumber Party Massacre," "The Burning," and "Hide and Go Shriek" just don't get made anymore. But on to "Tower of Blood." The plot is pretty flimsy-a group of teens decide to party in an abandoned high rise building, only to be killed off by a masked killer armed with a machete. Now, if you are a fan of slasher films, there is certainly worse than this out there. What this film has going for it is its atmosphere and setting. The building is indeed creepy, although I would hesitate to call it a tower. I believe it has three stories to it? The director does a good job of controlling the lighting--there always seems to be just a tint of red in each scene that gives the film a sense of dread. As for the gore, and isn't bad for a slasher film made in 2005, where gore in horror films is becoming quickly a thing of the past due to conservation pressure and calling for "family entertainment." There is a decent decapitation, though it becomes painfully obvious that the head is plastic. Also, two teens gets impaled a'la Friday the 12th Part 2 with a machete.
The films downfalls come from its extremely slow pace and lack of charisma and enthusiasm of the cast. It's a fairly short film, not even over 80 minutes, I believe, but the pace is incredibly slow. Once the teens (thought most of them look to be in their thirties) arrive at the Tower, we are exposed to several long, boring scenes of them chatting, and playing with a Ouija board. And while the cast members are pretty to look at, none of them will be winning Oscars anytime soon. However, that stuff COULD be forgiven if it wasn't for the terrible, terrible, off the wall ending that makes absolutely no sense and leaves the viewer confused. Those if you who have seen the 80's classic "Slaughter High" will be familiar with the type of ending this film has. Utter stupidity that really brought an OK slasher flick down a few notches. However, I suppose I would recommend this film to die-hard slasher fans. You certainly aren't going to get anything new here, but the last 15 minutes or so of the film are pretty decent, up until that cheesy ending!!!!!! 4 out of 10
