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Reviews
Condemned (2015)
Punk rock grime and splatter, watch or die.
Condemned. As you step into the condemned complex, you realize that the building's pipes connect stories, a variety of tales bringing drug related nightmares together in a spirited vortex of slime, sorrow, and scares. A botched batch of contaminated cookies turn an abandoned New York complex into a crazed frenzy of murder, punk paranoia, and more murder, along with puke, punks, Nazi doms and their psychopathic subs, and a brief, yet brilliant turn by indie hero Nick Damici as the building's survivor-in-chief. Dylan "daughter of Sean" Penn's lead as Maya shows expertly how a film debut doesn't have to be a by-the-numbers script read, and a grimy drug-addled triumph by Patty Hearst's (yes, THAT Patty Hearst) daughter Lydia, adds a bit a legacy to an already packed-to-the-gills terror troupe. Comparisons to Troma films are deserved, to a point, yet Condemned takes the pus and gore of Troma and adds a slick legitimacy lacking in current indie creepouts. I was impressed by Eli Gesner's directorial debut, a fun fright flick that can be augmented greatly by being surrounded by like-minded horror fanatics and an ample amount of alcohol.