Synopsis
In ENEMY TERRITORY they take no prisoners. You've got to kill your way out.
An insurance salesman inadvertently gets trapped after dark in an apartment building that is terrorized by a street gang called "The Vampires."
An insurance salesman inadvertently gets trapped after dark in an apartment building that is terrorized by a street gang called "The Vampires."
Terror Night - Hochhaus in Angst, Manhattan Warriors, Territoire ennemi, Território Inimigo
Enemy Territory stars the great Tony Todd as the leader of The Vampires, a violent gang who oppresses and intimidates a NY city block. When an insurance salesman has a run-in with one of its gang , a dangerous cat and mouse game commences in a large apartment building. Jan-Michael Vincent co-stars as a creepy doomsday prepper (and he is fairly coherent/sober.)
Sometimes the no frills direction gets in the way of the atmosphere/tension building, but the movie is still better than it has any right to be, considering they're working with a TV movie budget.
Can’t believe I never heard of this 80’s NYC Siege movie about an insurance guy trying to survive the night in the projects that has all the crappy goods and then some.
Singer Ray Parker Jr. (yep, that one) is one of the stars and hey, he ain’t bad!
Considering this is a very low budget exploitation it’s got Ernest Dickerson as the DP with Stacy Dash and Jan Michael Vincent playing a gun-totting drunk who loves cats too much.
AN early Tony Todd performance that has him cranked to 11 and NO one’s gonna give him notes!
What made this fun was it was screened ON VHS at BE KIND VIDEO (Thanks Brian Saur!) in all of its SLP…
Ray Parker Jr ain't afraid of no ghosts or vampires! Solid exploitation movie with star turns from Tony Todd as the leader of the vampires and Jan- Michael Vincent as a grumpy vietnam vet who even the vampires don't mess with. Worth a look as it's criminally unseen.
race is frequently the original motivator for violence against whites in these under-siege-by-street-gangs movies until it becomes clear that the gangs are equal-opportunity killers. it's in this way that a lot of the racial subtext of these films gets scrubbed away in favor of simple fear of violence. this one isn't any different even while it remains consistently engaging and suitably bloody. if you've got a strong stomach and want something a little more political (but not necessarily any more coherent), try Roberta Findlay's TENEMENT.
i'd also like to point out that Jan-Michael Vincent's wheelchair-bound Vietnam vet can't stop fidgeting his legs...this was in his less-sober years and while there's no reason to suspect it wasn't part of the script it's entirely likely Vincent needed the chair because he was too drunk to stand up.
Solid Assault on Precinct 13 riff set in the projects. Ray Parker Jr. (yes, that Ray Parker Jr.) is a surprisingly decent action hero, with reliable Tony Todd as the menacing leader of the “Vampire” gang, Jan Michael Vincent as a crazy vet recluse with a boobytrapped wheelchair, and s Foster as a badass granny. Fast, mean, and more than a bit silly.
Plus an ending rap that bites on the Halloween theme hard, so you KNOW I loved that shit.
If you enjoyed Judgment Night, chances are you will like Enemy Territory. Both films have a very similar vibe.
Ray Parker Jr. s the list of people who are known for other things, but dabble in acting as well. Think Prince, Roddy Piper, Tom Waits, Sugar Ray Leonard, Mick Jagger, Gene Simmons, Lady Gaga and Britney Spears. The list goes on, but I can honestly say I liked Ray Parker a lot in Enemy Territory. He should have acted in more action movies.
The real star is Tony Todd. He is loco as the leader of The Vampires. I am guessing this is why Tony landed the Candyman gig a few years later. I will probably have nightmares about Tony’s…
Watched with a fun small crowd at my screening at BE KIND VIDEO in Burbank. Good times.
The reverse siege in its leanest form. Every characterization defined by straight-ahead action. The only way to survive is to rid oneself of all wealth. Greed leads to death. Ray Parker Jr is charming!
Unfortunately doesn't quite have the craft chops to totally deliver on its crackerjack premise, but it zips along thanks to an abundance of pure personality. Most of that comes courtesy of Tony Todd as The Count, doing that James Cagney thing where every part of his body seems to be operating independently of the whole.
But can we PLEASE do something to stop this relentless co-opting of vampire culture? Enough is enough.
Urban terror Carpenter riff that’s somewhere in that glorious netherworld between fun bad and actually good. On the one hand you have Tony Todd, having the hammy time of his life as “The Count,” the leader of The Vampires, a cartoonish street gang that rules over a tenement building of otherwise nice people. On the other hand, you have Jan Michael Vincent, visibly drunk, slurring and squinting as a paranoid paraplegic ’Nam vet. It’s kind of a reverse Dredd, as Ray Parker Jr and some white guy try to get to the bottom of the building as the Vampires hunt the “ghost” who invaded their territory. As you can imagine, a lot of this stuff hasn’t aged very well but what I presuppose is…maybe it has? Lots of classic hip-hop, aged (even for ‘87) slang, preposterous gangsters, I can’t hate any of it. Needs a Blu-ray (or DVD at the very least) immediately.
"I AM IMMORTAL!"
– I want a DVD/Blu Ray release so bad.
– RIP Tony Todd
Every time I revisit this, it gets me to look back at the days of living in The Projects (Robert Taylor Homes) on the sixteenth floor, and seeing all kinds of shit that a kid shouldn't see. Such as Domestic abuse, drugs, violence, gang shootouts, robberies, grand theft auto (My dads car got stolen twice), fights over dice games, guns being shot out the windows, etc.
It felt like hell, but I will always the good times I had with my family, neighbors, and other kids I've met. We all had fun with skateboarding, double dutch jump rope, video games, playing basketball using a milk crate, doing backflips, and so much more.
I'm glad to be out of that situation but also thankful for the things I've witnessed, so I can know 'what-not-to-do' in life, and make better decisions.