Assault on Precinct 13
Action! If there’s one word associated with cinema, the tension of movie sets, and the focus of attention, it’s this one. Action is very often at the heart of popular cinema: Harold Lloyd hanging from the clock hands in Safety Last! (1923), Cary Grant threatened and strafed by a plane in North by Northwest (1959), Franka Potente gasping for air in Run Lola Run (1998)... Westerns, swashbuckler films, martial arts or adventure flicks, thrillers, all these genres rely on action—sometimes frenetic, sometimes meticulously measured.
From movies by Sergei Eisenstein to Gilles Carle, from John Ford to John Boorman and Werner Herzog, via Paul Verhoeven, Kathryn Bigelow, Park Chan-wook, Érik Canuel, and Nicolas Winding Refn, this series will take you through the full range of emotions, from laughter to thrills, from fear to satisfaction.
The story follows a group of police officers and convicts as they join forces inside a soon-to-be-closed L.A. police station. The reason? They must defend themselves against Street Thunder, a vicious gang who have taken a blood oath to kill someone trapped inside the precinct. Combining gritty action with arthouse style, Assault on Precinct 13 features powerful CinemaScope compositions, a pulsing synth score, and an immersive mood that only Carpenter can deliver.
John Carpenter
John Carpenter is an American director, screenwriter, producer, and composer. With a cinematic career spanning nearly forty years, he has directed numerous horror and science fiction films that have gained international renown over time. He is generally recognized as a master of the horror genre. His films are characterized by a minimalist style and simple storylines, crisp, unadorned editing, and minimalist music that he composes himself. As an independent filmmaker, he directed his first feature film, Dark Star, in 1974. Two years later, he helmed the action film Assault on Precinct 13 before turning to horror, which quickly became his preferred genre, with Halloween in 1978. The film was a tremendous success. From then on, Carpenter's career took off, and productions continued, with Hollywood opening its doors to him.
