Assault on Precinct 13

The Purge films have really taken the world by storm. Inserting themselves in the Saturday night matinee at theatres the world over when released. A slot usually reserved for the horror movie of the week, ideal for back-theatre teenage romances.

The fact that The Purge films have become the go-to horror movies in place of what once was demons, ghosts, crazed killers, and hockey mask aficionados is more a sign of the times than a current craze. People are afraid of people. You need only look at any Facebook account and see posts about social anxiety and distrust. But, The Purge owes some part of its existence, like most modern horror movies, to John Carpenter and his break out hit Assault on Precinct 13. 

Made in 1976 on a very tight budget, with a small troupe of actors of varying experience and talent, Assault on Precinct 13 didn’t initially receive widespread acclaim upon its release. Garnering a modest cult following. It was much later when an interview with Mel Gibson brought attention to the film. Gibson noted it as one of the films that were shocking for its on-screen depiction of the brutal shooting of a minor. This had fans clambering to stores to see what they had missed and the film reached a new audience.

Fast forward to 2019, recently someone I work with suggested I review this film. Citing it as a hidden gem and possibly the only film in the John Carpenter library I have not seen. I was really excited to watch this movie.

The premise of Assault on Precinct 13 is pretty strange as there are, at a minimum, four false starts setting up either a plot or subplot. None of which come to a definitive climax. The easiest to understand is Lieutenant Ethan Bishop (Austin Stoker; Battle for the Planet of the Apes, 3 from Hell) is arriving at a soon to be defunct police precinct in downtown Los Angeles. The whole precinct will be shutdown by morning. Meanwhile, an inmate named Napoleon Wilson (Darwin Joston; Eraserhead, The Fog) is being transported to another prison along with fellow convict Wells (Tony Burton; Rocky II, Stir Crazy). 

At the same time, the survivors of a street gang, whose members were gunned down by police, ride around L.A. with their guns pointing out their car windows, seeking anarchy and vengeance. A father and daughter are driving around having a fun day when the father stops at a phonebooth to make a call and the daughter goes to get ice cream from a nearby ice cream truck. The owner of the ice cream truck sees the gang members’ car following him and, for no real reason, is paranoid. The little girl gets her ice cream from the man, but realises that it’s the wrong flavour. She brings it back at the worst moment leading to both the ice cream truck driver and the little girl being shot and killed. Her father sees his daughter die and chases the gang. 

Back on the prison transport, an inmate is coughing and sick forcing the bus to make a stop at the nearest precinct – which is the same one that Ethan Bishop is holed up at. The lead officer of the transport demands to use the holding cells for the convicts and use a telephone.

Somewhere nearby, the father of the murdered girl finally tracks down the gang and kills the member who shot his daughter. More gang members appear from the darkness and the father flees to the police station. A confused and worried Ethan takes the man in not knowing what is following him. The gang sieges the building and leads an assault on Precinct 13.

For an older film, this movie sets the groundwork for a lot of films to come. But it’s inspirations are very clear and include George A. Romero’s Night of The Living Dead — an assembled group all hiding from a relentless enemy within a police station. The film does a few things well right off the bat, such as building a believable world and characters, most of whom are just going through a day in their lives until the worst happens. Another thing Assault on Precinct 13 does well is building tension. Throughout the first act, the film sets up this sense of foreboding that builds and builds with each scene. You are left wondering how a certain event will transpire into the preceding events. This makes for an interesting plot dynamic, but unfortunately, it isn’t executed perfectly. Some scenes that should be filled with tension are just flat. For the siege itself, at first it seems like a real threat with gang members turning up from the bushes in the distance and unloading a hail of bullets, but then the plot meanders so long in character dialogue it’s hard to believe that anyone is in any real danger. By the time more gang members turn up, you have almost totally forgotten they were a threat in the first place. 

The gang themselves are quite interesting. In the beginning, all the characters are driving somewhere, and we see L.A. through their windows as they drive. The urban decay of the setting paints a picture of a bleak cityscape, perhaps unintentional but still manages to get under your skin. The gang members, just like the streets, are silent with crazed looks to them. Existing for seemingly nothing else but to harm others. Violence for no real rhyme or reason. Just men turning up by the dozen, each more dangerous than the last, which really creeps the viewer out.

The acting here is probably the most divisive I’ve ever seen in a film. While Austin Stoker and Laurie Zimmer (American Raspberry) drive a believable and great performance, Wells isn’t given the right dialogue or screen time for me to really get an opinion on. But, for little he does, Tony Burton did a decent job of making him feel like a convict in a tricky situation. 

Darwin Joston as a killer on death row is possibly the worst acting I have ever seen. In fact, it is so bad that he can make actors’ performances in scenes with him seem way worse than they actually are. This happens to Laurie Zimmer who has a romantic back and forth with Darwin on multiple occasions and it just felt like the most awkward parts of the movie. This is perhaps not entirely his own fault as his lines are definitely the worst written in the film. They come off hammy and cheesy at best and downright terrible at worst. I think the intention was for Darwin’s character to come off as Snake Plisskin did in Escape from New York – a gruff killer of men with a cool exterior. Instead, he is a guy in a convict suit who killed people and maybe did some creepy stuff to the bodies also. In turn, this make’s Laurie Zimmer’s character seem creepy too because she’s so into his… umm… charms.

A really special note has to be made to the film’s soundtrack written by Carpenter himself. Carpenter is no stranger to the synth machine keyboard and guitar, having scored many of his own films. The main title song is ongoing throughout and gets stuck in your head hours after. It has certain swells of sadness mixed in with a marching staccato sound all done in the 70’s synth. Awesome stuff worth a listen on its own.

If I am truly honest I could never recommend this film. Assault on Precinct 13 tries to do a lot with a little and that is great. What little it does has had a ripple effect on films much later. Certain angles and scenarios and even character dynamics are ripped straight from here. You see it in films like Lethal Weapon’s scenes of driving with the cityscape being shown through the windows of the car. The Warriors, a personal favourite of mine, shares the gangs’ facelessness, almost supernatural levels of drive to kill, the upfront grime and dirt of the city, and more than a small similarity in the soundtrack. Its influence is really everywhere which should make this film legendary, but, unfortunately, unlike Scorsese films, it’s not imitated it’s perfected by others. While the absolute foundations of the mechanics of film were indeed laid here, other directors would build upon it greatly. With Scorsese, the original is the best. 

So with that, Assault on Precinct 13 is a cult classic. It has aged badly, but if you’re a student of film you must check it out and you will see the origins of other great thrillers. John Carpenter’s career went on to become that of legend. He is known as the man who takes the small budget film (a lot like this one) and turns it into a masterpiece. For his ability to do that, he may simply say something like, “I did this already. Borrow from it if you need and I’ll go over here with a tiny budget and revolutionise cinema again”.

Rating:

Thomas C:

A good time to be had if you feel like soaking into a film that keeps you guessing for a few hours and you have the patience for bad acting. If not, give this one a skip and watch The Warriors.

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