Siège

It's hard not to see the parallels between this film and the likes of RIO BRAVO or the the above mentioned John Carpenter film. This film isn't perfect by any means but functions well as a down and dirty urban crime / action thriller with a few cute surprises sprinkled in that any fan of 60's-80's "grindhouse" would appreciate. It's pretty clear that the makers of VFW pulled a little bit of inspiration from this, especially in terms of musical score.

One thing ASSAULT didn't even attempt to do was make its villains sympathetic in any way, but this film gives them about 30-35% of the dialog and attention, making each one of their deaths a little more meaningful. I loved the varying degrees to which the villains stayed committed to the crime and greater adherence to realism in general. People in this film act about like how you or I would react to a situation here and there isn't a lot of James Bond style heroics at play.

That said, it isn't quite a classic by any stretch. My main beef with the film is that it's just too convenient in many places. For one, of all the places the person fleeing from an angry mob in all of Canada, it just happens to be the place next door to a doomsday prepper with the means of building rockets and grenades at his disposal. Also, the fun idea of the shared medicine cabinet feels a bit ludicrous when compared to the fairly grounded reality of the rest of the movie. The main protagonists do not get introduced until late in the film, giving them very little room to build character development or strong audience sympathy. The viewer may never fully connect to the characters, but the short length and constant sense of immediacy keep things from ever getting dull.

Overall I considered myself surprised by how well this extremely low budget film comes together despite its relative obscurity. It's a shame that Donovan's next film DEF-CON IV would be such a letdown (after an excellent first half) and that afterward he'd generally stick to making more profitable (but even more forgettable) kids' films.

One helluva good time. Gritty and chock full of spine-tingling suspense. Borrows a lot from Assault on Precinct 13 but manages to conjure plenty of creativity. A stellar choice to throw into a late-night movie bingeing session.

This was a film I'd never even heard of until Shudder put it on their lineup and what a treat it is. It's clearly low budget, but has a lot of energy and spark as it details a siege in a gay bar where the survivor runs away into the night and takes shelter with a kind couple and their friends. The gang returns and wages an all-out battle.

It has its flaws and the pacing could be tighter, but I'm surprised this one isn't very well remembered. It seems more relevant now than ever.

This is a Canadian movie originally called "Siege", very much in the tradition of John Carpenter's "Assault on Precinct 13." The story is about a police strike in Halifax, Nova Scotia, which paves the way for violence to break loose in the city . When a gay bar is attacked by a group of thugs, one gets away and escapes to an intstitute for disabled young people. This house then comes under the siege of the gang and they must use all their imagination to survive this night. The movie is obviously low budget, but as so often happens, that's just good for the creativity and tone of the film. In Europe, the movie was retitled "Night Warriors", and made it look like this was another Mad Max/Escape From New York clone. But it's just a clever little thriller.

A pretty taut Canadian thriller that shares some similarities with Assault on Precinct 13. It's well shot and the acting isn't too bad either. A nice discovery on Shudder.