Non-Horror Explotation: Assault on Precinct 13 (1976)

Assault on Precinct 13 is another one of John Carpenter's classics. It was only his second film he directed, 2 years later after his directing debut ''Dark Star, and so he yet had to make other classics like Halloween, Escape from New York and The Thing. And although Assault on Precinct 13 was only his second film you could already sense the amazing talent of Carpenter......

Police ambush and kill several gang members in Los Angeles. Gang members make a pact of blood to strike back at police, and conduct a siege on the police station which is almost abandoned and due to be closed. Staff of the closing precinct and the criminals being held there while in transit must work together to fight off the attacking gang members.

Let's start with the amazing music score by John Carpenter. The main theme is very dark and works perfectly with the atmospheric setting in the ghetto's of California. The atmosphere is amazing and when the group eventually get cought in the police precinct it's just pure terror, brilliant tension, great music and some badassery by Darwin Joston as convict Napoleon Wilson. The whole ''being cought in an building with machete and gun wielding maniacs outisde who are out to kill you'' brings an very uncomfortable and claustrophobic vibe.

It's a bummer that Austin Stoker isn't a realy great actor and he hasn't got a lot of charisma to make up for it either. He's a likeable character but i'd rather see a guy like for example Ken Foree to take the role of officer Ethan Bishop. He isn't the worst actor in the film though. That's an honor that will without doubt go to Laurie Zimmer. She has the same uninteresting look on her face throughout the whole movie. It doesn't matter whether she's relaxing and drinking some coffee or if she's being threatened by blood thirsty killers. According to the trivia page of IMDB Zimmer hated her performance when she saw herself at the big screen. And with good reason because she had less facial expression than a comapatiënt. And than there also is Darwin Joston as Napoleon a convict ready for death row who stays very mysterious about his past. The first time I saw Assault on Precinct 13 I kinda hated his character. Well not so much his character but I thought Joston tried a little bit too hard to be mysterious. But after watching it the second time I liked his performace much better and c'mon, you gotta respect his classic one-liner ''You gotta smoke?''. 

Assault on Precinct 13 is definitely one of my favorite Carpenter movies (my absolute favorite being Escape From New York). A beast of a grindhouse flick with gang violence, a brilliant vibe, even more brilliant music and a lot of tension and atmosphere.