Assault on Precinct 13 (1976)

After three attempts over the last few years to sit down and finally watch John Carpenter's supposed masterpiece, a fourth attempt last night was nearly undone by the late finish of the Men's doubles final at Wimbledon. However, after it failed to reach a fifth set, I was able to set my mind to the mayhem that explodes after a street gang surrounds a police precinct on the verge of being defunct, and whose phone lines are cut off early in the film. The gang are chasing a man who killed one of their group after they had murdered his daughter, seemingly for no reason; making Carpenter's set up of the film certainly more uncompromising. Not that we should expect anything less from Carpenter. Assault On Precinct 13 is one of the most aptly named films I can think of off the top of my head, up there with Panic Room (2002), Phone Booth (2002) or Buried (2010). Although now that I've started thinking, there are obviously hundreds, so I'll stop there. You know you're dealing with Carpenter immediately, the now infamous pulsing techno score lets you know whose hands you're in. Despite some fairly pokey dialogue (admittedly that's not what you're watching Carpenter for) the action is terrific, the siege mentality is aptly held through the film effectively, and Assault On Precinct 13 is worthy of its classic status. Although I can't claim to have seen all of Carpenter's output, everything I have seen has been at the very least highly enjoyable, and Assault On Precinct 13 is up there with Escape From New York (1981) and The Thing (1982) as my favourites of his. 7.6/10