Assalto à 13ª DP

This is possibly one of Carpenter's best films,with the exception of The thing.It is one of the great siege films of all time.The scene with Kim Richards(escape to witch mountain) is one of my favorites.This movie proves you don't have to have a multimillion dollar budget and big name stars to make a great movie.The performance by Laurie Zimmer was incredible.I can't believe she was never cast in another film(but thats Hollywood for you).If you like action and thrillers this film is definitely worth a look.Its not perfect, the plot has some holes, the premise is at times shaky, but all of the actors produce believable performances,especially Austin Stoker,Darwin Joston, and of course Zimmer.

It's time for the old precinct to retire, the last night, after which it's not required, with Ethan Bishop holding fort, there should be nothing to report, what could possibly go wrong, you might enquire. A visit from a bus going to jail, then a shell-shocked guy who's struggles to inhale, there's a gathering outside, where some pressure is applied, before you know it, there's a full frontal assail.

A quiet evening doesn't quite go to plan for the skeleton staff of an almost decommissioned police station, as a gang of vengeful thugs take their frustration out on the inhabitants after an incident earlier that day. It remains a great piece of filmmaking with some brilliant performances from a director who went on to make a difference.

Watching John Carpenter's latest 'Ghosts Of Mars' recently I couldn't help but wonder what happened to Carpenter's vision. 'Assault On Precinct 13' was made 25 years earlier on probably a tenth of the budget and is basically the same movie only ten times better! Carpenter self-consciously uses Hawks' 'Rio Bravo', adds a touch of Romero's 'Night Of The Living Dead' and comes up with arguably the most exciting siege movie of all time. This gem is a perfect example of superior low budget film making. Relative unknowns Austin Stoker ('Abby') and Darwin Joston ('Eraserhead') are both outstanding as the stars of this taut and unpredictable thriller, and the supporting cast includes Laurie Zimmer (sadly her only movie), Nancy Loomis ('Halloween'), Kim Richards ('The Car' - in the movie's most controversial and memorable scene), and Carpenter semi-regular Charles Cyphers ('Escape From New York'). One of Carpenter's best efforts and overall an extraordinarily underrated movie. 'Assault On Precinct 13' is a classic! Add this to your "must see" list immediately!

When a man and his daughter drive down the wrong street they get into the middle of a gang shooting. The little girl is killed and the father left distraught, but armed with another victim's gun. He catches up with the gang and kills the leader before seeking refuge in a local police station. However the station is only manned by a few staff as it is in the process of being shut down. A prison wagon also arrives at the station with sick prisoners for temporary holding – however it is then that the street gang launch their attack with stolen and silenced automatic weapons.

I had half watched this film several years ago and didn't review it then because I knew I had been distracted and not able to give it enough attention to be able to form a fair opinion of it – however I didn't really enjoy it then. Giving it another chance produced a much more enjoyable film, even if it seems very basic on the face of it. The plot seems very simple and, in fairness, it is – gang outside, people inside, people try to keep gang out and stay alive. This is doing it a disservice of course because it creates an enjoyable tension from this simple set-up and delivers some enjoyable (if basic) action and thrills. The direction is good; my personal favourite shot being the shot near the end where the smoke clears! This effective delivery is also aided by Carpenter's own score that is nicely pulsating and still sounds great even if it is dated – the important thing is that it still fits the film and therefore works.

The dialogue is trashy but this fits the slight b-movie feel the film has. The characters are also quite simple (very basic backgrounds and personalities for each) but again this seems to work really well. The strength of having a mostly unknown cast is that you can't be sure who will live or die by the end of the film. Despite being mostly unknowns (to me anyway) the performances are generally very enjoyable even if no Oscars are being given out. Stoker and Joston lead the film really well and give good, natural performances with an overflow of charisma. I don't know the other's outside of these two but the rest were good as well, even if the film belongs to Bishop and Wilson. I was a bit let down by the lack of a central bad guy but in one regard the film also uses this well by making the gang an unseen threat that could be an isolated group or an army.

Overall this is a very basic film in several regards, but it is also a very effective and enjoyable one. If you are looking for film references then there are some to be had but for most of us the film's charismatic leads, action and effective tension will be what we stay for – and luckily it has all those with some to spare.

John Carpenter is the master of the B-Movie genre, making well-liked films such as Halloween (birth of the slasher film), Big Trouble in Little China and Escape to New York. Assault on Precinct 13 is one of Carpenter's best, and one of my favourites of his.

In Los Andres gang-warfare is troubling the streets, and one gang was able to steel some advanced weapons to use for their mayhem. The gang, Street Thunder play revenge on the LAPD and swear a blood oath. On his first day on the job, Lieutenant Ethan Bishop (Austin Stoker), is assigned to run Precinct 9, Division 13 police station, a station about to closed down, and running on a skeleton staff. At the same time Napoleon Wilson (Darwin Joston), a prisoner on his way to death row is transfered, but on the way to a high security prison, a prisoner becomes ill and they have to stop at Bishop's station. In South Central LA, Lawson (Martin West) is searching for the house for his daughter's nanny. When he stops his young daughter buys an ice-cream from a van, and ends up getting shot by a gang member. Lawson quickly seeks revenge, killing one of the gang members. By doing this, he obviously get the gang hunting him, and ends up in the police station. The gang lays siege on the station, and the cops and criminals have to work together to survive.

It's a simple premise and plot, and works as a suspenseful horror like film. The siege of an numerous enemy is very similar to George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead. It is a short film, and very action packed. It is violence, as excepted, with a shocking scene involving a young girl dying. My DVD is rated 15, but I'm surprised it's not an 18 (and that is rare). The acting a little wooden, but it doesn't matter so much in this type of film. At least John Carpenter tries to bring some character and backstory, especially Napoleon Wilson who works as an anti-hero and a early prototype to Snake Plissken in Escape from New York. Some of the pacing is a little off, especially in the beginning. But Carpenter knows simple ideas, like cops and criminals working together to stop a greater threat, and action and set pieces.