This is the holy grail of all Emmeritus Productions, who cranked out unbelievably cheap, silly "action" flicks for Hamilton's CHCH-TV through the 80s. It bears all the hallmarks: shot on video with soap-opera production values, silly dribs of implied sex-and-violence interspersed with lots and lots of talking. And this one comes with an attitude: the computerized office tower that sucks people's life energy through the light sockets is clearly supposed to be some kind of commentary on the tyranny of the energy-conservation movement, of all things! But now that I've voluntarily watched it three times, I have to admit that it's kind of endearing in a very stupid way: the bickering crew of mismatched fugitives-from-death are quite amusing, and the sub-HAL computer with its 80s digital-animation readout is a nice way to break things up. While I can't really award any points for being SO 80s, I am kind of obsessed with that one woman's bird-nest-forward perm. And if you're going to be bad, you might as well repeat the same walking shot three times within one five-minute stretch, for maximum entertainment value.
6 Reviews
Nice sound design and a fun idea, but too slow-paced to be enjoyable.
willman8523 December 2022
I like how low-budget this is. They really knew how to stretch their (Canadian) dollar for the special effects in this production. The sound design is also terrific. The premise is pretty cool and interesting. Unfortunately the praise ends here.
The film is really slow-moving. At over 100 minutes it feels really padded and would have been much improved by being edited down to 75 minutes. But I guess TV movies have timeslots to fill... it was clear that all artistry went out the window when it comes to tightness of pacing. The story was stretched out with unnecessary sequences and elongated shots as filler. You might think that the beginning of a movie is allowed to be gently-paced... well it remains that way for the rest of the movie!
There was another movie with the same title and premise released in 1993 but American made. It can't be anywhere near as bad as this one.
The film is really slow-moving. At over 100 minutes it feels really padded and would have been much improved by being edited down to 75 minutes. But I guess TV movies have timeslots to fill... it was clear that all artistry went out the window when it comes to tightness of pacing. The story was stretched out with unnecessary sequences and elongated shots as filler. You might think that the beginning of a movie is allowed to be gently-paced... well it remains that way for the rest of the movie!
There was another movie with the same title and premise released in 1993 but American made. It can't be anywhere near as bad as this one.
Canadian SOV
BandSAboutMovies29 January 2023
Warning: Spoilers
Canadian studio Emmeritus Productions may not have had much money, but they made some interesting movies, including porn-based detective story Blue Murder, Death In Hollywood, horror anthology Shock Chamber, post-apocalyptic Survival Earth, Diamon In the Rough, Body Count, Satanic conspiracy thriller Mark of the Beast, The Borrower, The Bounty Hunter, Lady Bear, Last Chance, The Hijacking of Studio 4, Niagra Strip, SOV history film The Chronicle of 1812, Fly With the Hawk, Virgin Paradise, Commando Games, Marked for Death, Price of Vengeance, Race to Midnight and The Edge.
Also, they made The Tower.
Directed and written by Jim Makichuk, the same man who created Ghostkeeper, this is a Canadian science fiction tale of the Sandawn Building, a high rise of tomorrow that has a computer running it named LOLA and man, avoid all futuristic buildings in the North-West Territory that have shopping and living amenities because I am convinced you're either going to contract a disease that makes a sex organ grow in your armpit or you will be killed by a supercomputer.
None of this is obvious to the man who created her, Watson, who sees humans the same way she does: as sources of heat energy. So on the Friday night that LOLA loses its mind, the inhabitants of an ad agency - nuke these people from orbit - as well as Old Man Sandawn, his wife, his mistress, some criminals and a security guard and his way out of his league girlfriend who is just there to swim - all get trapped and menaced by a building.
For some reason, there's also an exotic dancer who can barely dance who wants to sleep with Watson, but you know, it's so cold in Canada that even their movies have padding.
This movie is worth watching not only for the worst depiction of an ad agency in a film - those marker renderings are trash - but also for an old woman who knows that a computer is trying to kill her and decides to go try on feather boas and have a mall makeover instead.
Also, they made The Tower.
Directed and written by Jim Makichuk, the same man who created Ghostkeeper, this is a Canadian science fiction tale of the Sandawn Building, a high rise of tomorrow that has a computer running it named LOLA and man, avoid all futuristic buildings in the North-West Territory that have shopping and living amenities because I am convinced you're either going to contract a disease that makes a sex organ grow in your armpit or you will be killed by a supercomputer.
None of this is obvious to the man who created her, Watson, who sees humans the same way she does: as sources of heat energy. So on the Friday night that LOLA loses its mind, the inhabitants of an ad agency - nuke these people from orbit - as well as Old Man Sandawn, his wife, his mistress, some criminals and a security guard and his way out of his league girlfriend who is just there to swim - all get trapped and menaced by a building.
For some reason, there's also an exotic dancer who can barely dance who wants to sleep with Watson, but you know, it's so cold in Canada that even their movies have padding.
This movie is worth watching not only for the worst depiction of an ad agency in a film - those marker renderings are trash - but also for an old woman who knows that a computer is trying to kill her and decides to go try on feather boas and have a mall makeover instead.
So bad it's bad
JT-Kirk26 April 2016
Canadian TV movies from 1985 seem to be the equivalent of mind-poison. This low-budget loser has nothing to offer whatsoever, nothing of note happens for the first 27 minutes yet the film hammers home foundational exposition twice in that time. There are no scares, thrills, chills, nothing. The best I can say is it ended eventually, but even that felt about 30 minutes too late. There was a whole sub-plot just to set up a sequel that nobody could have believed would happen.
A "high tech" computerized building is left on autopilot and decides it needs to eat people for their energy. They try to escape, there's standard disaster interpersonal drama, and then they try to turn it off. It's awful.
Just... don't.
A "high tech" computerized building is left on autopilot and decides it needs to eat people for their energy. They try to escape, there's standard disaster interpersonal drama, and then they try to turn it off. It's awful.
Just... don't.
Why the low ratings??
VanillaLimeCoke5 June 2019
Warning: Spoilers
First off I found this film to be like a PBS sci-fi movie. There's very little blood and gore but some violence but done in very very clean way. Also maybe the way the text credits are shown on the screen gives it that feel. Maybe even the way the people act and dress.
But while this film isn't anything like INCEPTION or TRON or STAR WARS I really think it's severely underrated.
The film takes place in a building complex run by a machine named Lola....which runs the whole building. She is run by smart or green power....but Lola soon becomes obsessed by wanting more power and likes to get it by vaporizing/transferring human bodies by getting their BTUs of body heat. To do so they just need to be near anything connected to the building mainframe (a light switch, phone, computer, electric key pass box) and poof.
Investigators already are trying to figure out what's going on and later that evening...Ten people become trapped in the building.
The only real complaints is that we don't quite get enough about what's going on with every character....like this thief who had something planned but it falls through and this other guy who's cheating on his wife and whether or not he's going to give this job to someone.
My only real complaint is the music/sounds gets annoying like a broken record from time to time.
But overall I really enjoyed this film and don't understand why it's below 5 stars.
This is sort of like this 1993 film called The Tower which I reviewed back in 2011 but I don't think that was a remake. If you like that one or this film than definitely watch the other....you won't be disappointed. If you didn't like this film or that film then you probably wouldn't like the other film.
But while this film isn't anything like INCEPTION or TRON or STAR WARS I really think it's severely underrated.
The film takes place in a building complex run by a machine named Lola....which runs the whole building. She is run by smart or green power....but Lola soon becomes obsessed by wanting more power and likes to get it by vaporizing/transferring human bodies by getting their BTUs of body heat. To do so they just need to be near anything connected to the building mainframe (a light switch, phone, computer, electric key pass box) and poof.
Investigators already are trying to figure out what's going on and later that evening...Ten people become trapped in the building.
The only real complaints is that we don't quite get enough about what's going on with every character....like this thief who had something planned but it falls through and this other guy who's cheating on his wife and whether or not he's going to give this job to someone.
My only real complaint is the music/sounds gets annoying like a broken record from time to time.
But overall I really enjoyed this film and don't understand why it's below 5 stars.
This is sort of like this 1993 film called The Tower which I reviewed back in 2011 but I don't think that was a remake. If you like that one or this film than definitely watch the other....you won't be disappointed. If you didn't like this film or that film then you probably wouldn't like the other film.
"Hey! She Bit Me!"...
azathothpwiggins11 September 2022
Several people go missing at an ultra-modern, corporate high-rise. We're shown right from the jump that a super-computer is behind it all. Apparently, it's found a way to use humans as a power source, becoming a sort of electronic vampire.
THE TOWER is a shot-on-video-tape, made-for-TV horror film that looks a lot like an old episode of GENERAL HOSPITAL. The acting and dialogue range from semi-wooden to cadaverous.
The cheeeze level is extremely high, adding to the overall mirth. Check out that technology! The '80's graphics are a real hoot! The buzzy synth score seals the deal!
It does lose points for its dullness factor, which is through the stratosphere. At an hour and 42 minutes it feels eternal. It's also very talky, even though no one ever says anything interesting.
MOST ABSURD SCENES: #1- The crawling phone! #2- The world's most boring strip club! #3- The imbeciles stuck in the stairway forever, like some soul-deadening purgatory! #4- The woman who gets "lost" and "freaks out" in the clothing store! #5- The couple who wander around what seems like the entire building, plus a few other buildings! Talking about nothing!
So, as long as you don't go into this expecting anything thrilling, suspenseful, or entertaining, it might not cause too much brain shrinkage...
THE TOWER is a shot-on-video-tape, made-for-TV horror film that looks a lot like an old episode of GENERAL HOSPITAL. The acting and dialogue range from semi-wooden to cadaverous.
The cheeeze level is extremely high, adding to the overall mirth. Check out that technology! The '80's graphics are a real hoot! The buzzy synth score seals the deal!
It does lose points for its dullness factor, which is through the stratosphere. At an hour and 42 minutes it feels eternal. It's also very talky, even though no one ever says anything interesting.
MOST ABSURD SCENES: #1- The crawling phone! #2- The world's most boring strip club! #3- The imbeciles stuck in the stairway forever, like some soul-deadening purgatory! #4- The woman who gets "lost" and "freaks out" in the clothing store! #5- The couple who wander around what seems like the entire building, plus a few other buildings! Talking about nothing!
So, as long as you don't go into this expecting anything thrilling, suspenseful, or entertaining, it might not cause too much brain shrinkage...
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