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I have seen this movie twice and although the actual plot could be deemed as a little far fetched, it really works.

Basically, after a systems failure a ship gets trapped upon the darkside of the moon, where all kinds of weird goings on begin to take place as slowly the crew members are picked off one by one by an unseen assailant/assailants.

The actual film idea itself is excellent and it really does use darkness in the film for the right reasons and as always, desolate space ships make excellent places for horror to hide round every unlit little corner. Add the fact that there is nowhere to run and the horrible feeling of claustrophobia and you have a gem of a move that is slick, doesn't seem over-produced and has a genius idea of a story running through its core.

It is nice to see a film made to scare and not to shock.

The BBC decided it was about time to show John Carpenter's classic 'Assault on Precinct 13', and even though it's over 20 years old, it still frightens the hell out of people.

The the basic idea of the film is that cops kill gang members, gang members seek revenge, gang members kill ice cream man and little girl, girls father seeks revenge, girls father kills gang member, gang members seek revenge, girls father runs into closing down empty police station, and then were back to the original story of gang members wanting revenge on police.

The film is set in LA and draws parallels with the battles between the LAPD, the Sheriff's department, and the hundreds of gangs around metropolitan Los Angeles, and it really hits home with its 'to the point' acting and frightening violence, which for the first time in a long time looks correct in a film. The story is simple and there are no big names in the film itself, but thats maybe the appeal, because it doesn't need Oscar attempts at speeches or even award winning camerawork to look and sound good. One of the most impressive things is the sound effects, or lack of them, apart from Carpenter's haunting score, it is very quiet, all of the gang members guns have silencers on them and this gives you the idea that its a silent force the inhabitants of Precinct 13 are facing, and he creates a horrible claustrophobic feeling which he recreated in 'The Thing', as most of the film is set in the station.

He also gives the gangsters a zombie like feel, if anyone has played Resident Evil 2, where the zombies are bursting through the walls and windows of the police station, then they will appreciate the beauty of the set pieces where gang member after gang member is picked off in bloody style by the stations inhabitants.

It goes to show, you don't need a monster to create terror.