six feisty old folk blind peter brocco and hard work superintendent ian wolfe and his nagging wife ruth mcdermott and kindly writer william hansen and agoraphobic eccentric france fuller and fierce and formidable old battle ax paula trueman refuse to leave their crumbling tenement build despite the fact that it go to be demolish to make way for expensive high rise apartment complex . the extremely loyal and hidebound and resourceful over the hill group resort to murder so they can remain in their beloved brownstone and bump off a condescending young woman social worker and a greedy jerk land developer and various hapless construction worker who be victim of random fatal accident . director or co writer larry yust and who also helm the bang up funky blaxploitation blast trick baby and fashion this absorbingly off kilter plot into a delightfully quirky and deadpan black comic horror oddity and skillfully alternate between shock moment of brutal violence and inspire bit of uproarious wackiness in a deft and screwy and throwaway style which prove to be both amusingly nutty and occasionally quite unnerving in comparable measure . the murder set piece be truly jolt and the climactic poky last reel paddle boat chase sequence be nothing short of brilliant . good still and yust show a genuine warmth and compassion for the elderly and score point for his incisive critique of our society gross disregard for senior citizen and how say elderly be among those luckless and powerless people who often do not benefit a bit from progress and urban renewal . brocco and wolfe and mcdermott and hansen and fuller and especially the marvelously sassy and sprightly trueman ( who be also great a sondra locke redoubtable granny in the outlaw josey wale ) all give lively and colorful and thoroughly engaging and touchingly dignified performance a the shrewd and lethal and lovably stubborn and indomitable geriatric protagonist . beautifully photograph in the rundown cincinnati slum by isidore mankofsky and this splendidly singular and whimsical fright film tale of inner city blight and the resilience of the elderly rate a a definite fabulously off beat and original must see sleeper .