This owes more than a little to John Carpenter’s Assault on Precinct 13 (1976). When a young woman takes refuge in a veterans bar, a small group of old soldiers defend their last post against a murderous gang of drug fuelled crazies. As if paying homage to the the plot wasn’t enough there’s also references to the great man’s use of typeface, his style of titling, and the driving electronic beats that score all of his films. Beyond the obvious Carpenter references, it revels in the bright colour extremes and explosive gore you’d expect to see in one of Dario Argento’s “giallo” films of the 1970’s. There are great performances from a cast of veteran actors who feature in many of the VHS “grindhouse” films that might once have been slandered as “video nasties”. Entertaining stuff from new writers Max Brallier and Matthew McArdle, and the director Joe Begos, who’s other films I’ll be seeking out.
Darrin // Nightingale 