Kattiera Nana I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Vashirdfel Simply A Masterpiece

ActuallyGlimmer The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Logan By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Michael R As I watched this film, I kept thinking how the plot devices very much resemble those of NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. As in NOTLD, we see a group of strangers in a structure desperately trying to survive the deadly attackers that are attempting to break in and kill them. Both movies show the principle players going through their doubts, fears and angst between each other as the story unfolds. Also, I felt that there were parallels between Ethan Bishop's (Stoker) and Ben's (Jones in NOTLD) characters as they both took on an important leadership role and kept things 'on track' for all of the other players. NOTLD was released in 1968 and AOP13 was released in 1976, so this would have given Carpenter the right amount of time to allow NOTLD to percolate in his consciousness. Anyway, it makes sense to me.Overall, I liked the film. But I personally prefer Carpenter's films containing supernatural overtones. I believe that he did a great job considering the budget that he had to work with. I thoroughly enjoyed the DVD extra of an audience participation interview with Carpenter and Austin Stoker after a screening of AOP13 (Special Edition DVD release). This is a must-see!

Red-Barracuda An L.A. police station in the process of being decommissioned is put under siege from a violent street gang. The situation forces police, convicts and civilians to band together to fight off the outside menace.This was B-movie specialist director John Carpenter's second feature after his low budget sci-fi comedy Dark Star (1974). This was the first time he had a reasonable budget at his disposal, although this was still a low budget affair. Carpenter had actually wanted to make a western but owing to the unpopularity of that genre by the mid 70's, he made a film in the genre which had supplanted it, namely the crime film. In fact, Assault on Precinct 13 could quite easily be regarded as an urban western of sorts with the raging gang members being a replacement for old-school Indians or Mexican bandits. It's also pretty reasonable to cite the influence of the seminal horror movie Night of the Living Dead (1968), for the fact that the story revolves around the scenario of a group of heroes trapped in a building with a relentless enemy outside trying to get in to kill them. In point of fact, the gang members in this movie are to all intents and purposes basically zombies; they have no point-of-view, never express emotion and have an ambivalence to death that makes them appear like baddies in a computer game, they essentially are cannon fodder and an obstacle as opposed to identifiable characters. For this reason, this is not a movie that has any proper realism about it. Its pure pulp fiction, unashamedly for entertainment only. But it is a rather fine example of this kind of thing and is a very lean action-thriller that clearly shows Carpenter's talent as a director.While the action and thriller elements are very good, the story telling isn't always as impressive, with certain contrivances in evidence. For instance, the reasoning for the gang's vendetta is, to say the least, uneven. While the plot development that leads the bus of convicts to the precinct is incredibly weak, it boils down to a death row inmate with a cough creating such a panic that they divert to this police station. A flat tire would have been more convincing quite frankly. For what it's worth, the convict with the cough was so irritating, I was pleased when the hoodlums took him out early - I don't think the actor who played coughing man could have been up for too many awards for this role. But there is no doubt that this is a movie which gets much more right than wrong. Unlike a lot of people I actually really like the opening half of the flick which sets the scene. The various strands build on one and other nicely and generate good tension. The mean streets of L.A. are well utilised, especially in the scenes of the gang prowling the streets in a car, while the infamous ice cream van sequence is striking and shocking. So there are many great moments to this one but what undoubtedly elevates the material to a higher level is Carpenter's very awesome synth score, which was way ahead of its time. It's a masterpiece of minimalism and shows that, not only how less can be more, but also reminds us of how few modern movies have soundtracks this readily recognisable. The music in fact is probably the single best element of the entire film and works equally effectively independently of it, it is that good.On the whole, while there are some aspects which hold this one back, there are more which ensure it is a classic example of imaginative B-movie film-making. There are elements in it which Carpenter would return to in his later work several times but this certainly remains one of his best.

phanthinga The remake with Ethan Hawke was a okay action movie in my mind until i saw the original Assault on Precinct 13 directed by John Carpenter i'm now completely hate the remake cause it ruin all the stuff make the original so special.The movie very intense very atmospheric and fill with strong performance thought out the movie make it a classic action movie of the 70s.The bad guys is human but this movie portray them in a very sinister way that give me the creep everytime they appear on screen with the hollow eyes and zombie movement

rdoyle29 Carpenter's first proper feature is an amazingly taut and efficient action film equally inspired by "Rio Bravo" and "Night of the Living Dead". Carpenter lays out the plot setup and draws out his characters in about 15 minutes and then focuses on the siege of the precinct by a faceless horde of gang members. There's zero fat in this film. It's not all violence ... character relationships develop and deepen ... but it happens inside the structure of his action plot developing on the characters he laid out during the setup.