Video: This DVD of The Tenement is full-frame, the way it was shot and intended to be seen. Because of the low-rent photography, the image quality isn't exactly demo-worthy. The more dimly-lit sequences suffer the most. Without the usual massive array of lights, it infrequently becomes too dark to be able to clearly see what's going on. There are a couple of minor but noticeable video blips, and my particular copy briefly sputtered digitally just after the 62 minute mark. Some noise and aliasing also creep in. For the most part, though, it looks like someone piped a prosumer-grade DV camera directly into my television, which is about as good as can be hoped for, considering.

Audio: The Dolby Digital stereo audio wasn't recorded under the most ideal conditions either, varying greatly depending on the particular shot. It's almost monaural aside from the music added in post, and the dialogue sounds somewhat different from scene to scene, and sometimes, depending on how conversations are cut together, even shot to shot. Ethan in the flower shop is one example where things sound particularly disparate, and dialogue in some of the more echo-riddled locations can be tough to fully discern. There's also some underlying background noise. Like the visuals, there are some inherent limitations, and The Tenement is pretty much how I'd expect it to sound. Aside from the commentary, there are no other audio options...no dubs, subtitles, or closed captions.

Supplements: The Tenement is the kind of DVD that makes most other special editions curl up in the fetal position and weep. There are several hours of extras, beginning with a pair of photo galleries. The first cycles through a bunch of on-set stills, each onscreen for around five seconds a pop, running just under five minutes total. Lotsa gore close-ups and some assorted goofin' around. The second photo gallery has Sal Sirchia, the Mayor of Rock and Roll, playing a live acoustic version of "Can't Love Without You" from the movie, with some stills (a handful duplicated from the other gallery) cycling underneath for a few minutes. One thing that's kinda notable about these shots is how neat some of the gore really looks, which I didn't think translated as well to the movie itself.

The audio commentary piles writer/director/producer Glen Baisley in a room with cast members Diana Baisley, Michael Gingold, Mike Lane, Jude Pucillo, and John Sudol. I'm usually a fan of commentaries with a large group of people, and The Tenement is a clear example why. There's a non-stop flow of discussion that tackles pretty much every conceivable angle -- technical details, random on-set mishaps, obstacles that stood in the way of producing a movie with this slim a budget, inspirations behind some of the segments... There are too many highlights to scribble them all down, but a few of 'em include trying to shoot around stitches from recent breast augmentation surgery, swiping a fire from Malcolm X for a completely unrelated Super 8 project, Michael Gingold explaining about seemingly tearing the single rarest issue of Fangoria in half, painstakingly spraypainting roses, trying to force-feed an actor raw meat, Oz carryovers, and the elderly Ethan putting in appearances in a Queensryche video and on-stage with Eminem. They also spend a lot of time pointing out mistakes, homages, and constantly lobbing out plugs for merchandise at lightanddark.net, even using a nekkid actress as a selling point. Really good commentary and definitely worth a listen.

"The World of Light and Dark" is around a minute long, very briefly discussing the mindset behind Light & Dark Productions and their upcoming Sins of the Father, which features a bunch of the same characters yet stands on its own. A special effects featurette, "The Anatomy of Horror: Making of A Mask", spends a little over six minutes delving into the sculpture and application of the latex mask Michael Gingold has on after being whacked in the head with a shovel. Also included is some footage from Light & Dark's publicity tour, including some William Castle-style ballyhoo at the movie's premiere and the cast 'n crew hanging out with a bunch of genre celebs at the Chiller show, bringing an unsuspecting kid to bawl at one point. It closes with the trailer and Jude Pucillo thanking viewers for poring through the extras.

There's also a bunch of additional footage. The "Winston Korman Movie Marathon" runs around sixteen minutes, opening with an introduction by Winston's brother (also played by Michael Gingold), followed by the Chiller animation (!!!). It's the two slasher shorts excerpted in "Fade to Black" -- Jack and Jill and No Trespassing -- presented in their entirety. The deleted scenes, the first chunk running around five minutes, are each introduced by Glen Baisley. They include an explanation of a mysterious character from the first story, licking a severed head, a nod to a character from Fear of the Dark, and a couple of bits of additional dialogue. An alternate opening was cut for pacing, using a montage of newspaper clippings to give a better sense of how much carnage there's been over the years. There's also a pair of alternate endings, one with a quickly-squicked-out prospective tenant and the other with a raspberry-stained raid by the cops. Upping the T&A quotient a bit are four minutes of "Uncut Dancing Girls", which is...pretty aptly-titled. The last stripper has the least convincing fake boobs ever. Finally, there are six and a half minutes of bloopers, mostly just the cast goofing around, singing lesser-known Michael Jackson songs, discussing vomit consistency...that sorta thing.

Rounding out the extras are a bunch of trailers for other Brain Damage Films releases -- The Tenement, Invitation, Vulture's Eye, Hellbound, Vampire Sisters, Strange Things Happen at Sundown, Goregoyles, GOTH, Hollywood Vampyr, Death Factory, Hell's Highway, and Terror Toons. The Tenement comes packaged in a keepcase with no insert. The movie runs just under two hours and is divided into twelve chapters, and the disc includes a set of static 4x3 menus with animated scene selections.

Conclusion: Viewers with an appreciation for low-budget horror should absolutely give The Tenement a look. It's a solid genre flick, if expectedly rough around the edges, and there are enough quality extras to keep most people occupied for hours on end. Recommended.

Quick Warning: The Tenement played fine on my set-top Toshiba SD-3109, but on my DVD-ROM (a 16X Lite-On running PowerDVD), the disc would continually backtrack chapters. As soon as chapter 3 ended, for instance, instead of moving to chapter 4, it would repeat chapter 3. It did this for all 12 chapter stops. This may be some obscure issue that only affects a small number of setups, but it is worth a mention for readers who watch DVDs primarily on their computers.