I first heard about ‘Enemy Territory’ when a trailer for it played (amongst others) on an opening sizzle reel of one of the tapes in my VHS collection. The trailer (now included in Arrow Videos Bluray release of the film) was short, sweet and to the point, and I had a REALLY good vibe about this one. So when Arrow announced they were bringing the film to Bluray in 2025, I added it to my wishlist, waited for a sale and a couple of weeks ago, I bit.

The plot follows ‘Barry’, an insurance salesman who’s down on his luck. facing a closing month at a loss, his boss pulls him into his office and offers him a lifeline. An elderly retired school teacher wants to take out a $100,000 premium insurance plan, and the boss wants Barry to take a contract to her to sign, and collect the first premium payment. Barry says he’ll get started right away on Monday. But the boss tells him he needs it before then and essentially gives him a 24 hour ultimatum.

Barry (being desperate) accepts and heads over to a tower block on the bad side of town. Where, on entering the complex. He makes a critical error. Placing his hand on the shoulder of a young boy who happens to be part of a gang called ‘The Vampires’. The Vampires are a large scale organisation. The complex is basically their ‘Castle’ and their leader ‘The Count’ (Tony Todd) is a ruthless and brutal maniac who places honour above all else. And Barry?; Just broke one of the big rules of the Vampires by putting his hand on a gang member. He not only disrespected a ‘Vampire’ but he did it ‘in front of a woman’…And the only retribution, will be in blood.

Barry collects the signature and the premium. and on leaving the apartment is almost immediately swarmed by The Vampires who explain that he isnt leaving the complex without giving them their ‘pound of flesh’. Fortunately for Barry, help arrives in the form of Will Jackson, a phone company technician (and former Nam vet) who rescues Barry from almost certain death, before the pair of them find themselves plunged into a battle of attrition. fighting a path through the complex down 22 floors of chaos to escape the Vampires with the cash, the signature and (hopefully) their lives in time to get out at dawn (at which point, the Vampires retreat).

And; being honest? I had a LOT of fun with this one, it shares quite a bit of DNA with movies like ‘The Warriors’, but whats on offer here is a breakneck action movie, with pretty solid pacing and creative visuals.

The plot itself isnt exactly a creative powerhouse. But the confined space of an apartment complex creates a real sense of isolation from the outside world, and much like ‘Die Hard’ because the complex is fairly sprawling, it means the film stays interesting and diverse, while also being able to keep the costs down by recycling hallways, apartment rooms and props. With something as simple as coloured lighting gels offering a complete change of vibes to some of these locations.

The pacing opens strong, with smooth transitions between the acts. The first act in particular is pretty breakneck and sets up everything with enough clarity to give the audience a clue of whats going down, but not so much as to play all their cards up front. the 2nd act keeps the momentum going, building some really nice high stakes, giving the characters some interesting interactions and scenarios to work with while keeping the action high.

Unfortunately; as the second act gives way to the third; we do see things start to slow down a bit. the gang briefly split up to try and cover more ground and I feel like doing that causes the plotting and pacing to slow to a crawl as we have to set up the individual threads, plan them out, play them out and then tie them all back together ready for the big third act finale. it means theres about 15 minutes in the back end of this movie that is essentially just our main characters waiting around and trying to distract people for a bit. which is a bit of a shame. Mercifully though; it does all tie back together and the finale…While not the greatest ending to a film ever; is satisfying and left me feeling good about checking this one out.

The characters all have a nice depth and range to their performances. Barry starts of a little slippery, before gaining a more sincere and hardened edge. Will is fairly easygoing but slides right back into his army training when the time comes. they get nice smooth transitions, nothing feels forced and you do get a real sense of character growth across the runtime of this one. The Vampires, as a movement are insane, largely just ranting, raving lunatics with melee weapons and guns. they’re mesmorising to watch, and ‘The Count’ starts off with a good chunk of ham to work with, and just revs up from there! Its fantastic honestly.

Director Peter Manoogian really makes the money go the distance on this one, creating a production thats stylish, not afraid to use some colour and feels distinct and slightly grubby. his work with the cast is pretty exemplary. The whole thing feels frantic and surging with ideas and possibilities. The fact that this was shot for ‘Empire Films’ and is so often overlooked because it doesnt quite fit the ‘Empire’ brand is frankly bizarre to me. I’d argue this should be MORE than up there with the likes of ‘Reanimator’ and ‘From Beyond’ in terms of just how strong a work it is.

The cine is crisp, sharp and rich in detail. the sets have a real dirty messy aesthetic, and the compositions here REALLY help pick up every inch of a run down shoddy apartment complex on the rough side of town. Sequences are nicely edited together producing fast paced, quick fire action that should more than whet the whistle of any action fans. and the fight scenes are surprisingly well choreographed delivering on impact while successfully masking impact shots and gun play. While some of the practical effects here are a *little* on the ropey side in places. for the most part, this thing looks great.

Add to that the performances, with Gary Frank and Ray Parker Jr as Barry and Will working nicely together as, at first, a contrast that slowly begins to meld into something resembling a friendship. Both actors are very charismatic here, mix well and the end result is a film that starts as strangers workign together and ends resembling a decent ‘buddy’ movie.

Tony Todd as ‘The Count’ is a superbly campy performance here (and an early role to boot!) He has a wonderful malevolence that just grows and grows as the film goes on, ultimately ending with a performance that I feel may actually have been just a little *too* big for him to match. Even so he’s perfect for most of the runtime here and an utter delight whenever he’s on screen.

A solid synth action stylee score married up to some R&B/Hiphop beats really helps tie the whole thing together, resulting in a finished product that pretty much gave me exactly what I wanted from this production. ‘Enemy Territory’ in my opinion is one of Empire pictures best offerings. the definition of an underrated gem. and definitely one worth seeking out if you have the time. I had a blast with it, and if you like your action films violent and a little campy in places, im sure you’ll appreciate this one.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/enemy-territory/