saw this on its release in`76.still along with starman,one of john carpenters best films ever.tense,action packed,exciting and violent.the remake from a couple of years ago is pretty good but this film takes some beating.highly recommended.

Whether you're a John Carpenter fan or not, this film is brilliant. I first saw it as a teenager (should I be admitting that?) and thought it was the coolest films I had seen. As far as I was concerned it was in the same bracket as 'The Warriors'. I agree this version is more believable with the Police Station being besieged by a ruthless gang in an area where the law is being overrun, rather than the remake's version (if this is your cup of tea, get 'The Negotiator' with Sam Jackson - same premise but much better film). As with the likes of Halloween, The Thing, Escape from New York etc. the film benefits from a great score which simply notches up the tension levels. Watched it last year and it does look dated but still loved it.

A truly excellent little film. Whilst the budget is obviously meagre, Carpenters knack for creating such strong atmosphere and suspense shines through the majority of the films duration, showing that he can make the maximum impact with the minimum of fuss. The obviously Howard Hawks inspired elements of the film never attributes to a loss of Carpenters own distinct visual style. He shows the early signs of his future directorial development, especially when making the faceless criminals laying siege on the Police station seem weirdly like a supernatural force. Carpenters ultra cool, and Memorable synth score underpins the majority of the slow build-up of tension.

There was a time when John Carpenter was the master of suspense, when his movies did not have direct to DVD written all over them. This is one of the classics, with it's western set-up, brilliant music score, this is a masterclass in low budget film making. as a gang of psycho's lay siege to Precinct 13. The suspense is brilliantly sustained, and the silenced shoot-out is text book in iconic movie moments. Of course the movie looks dated, and for anybody looking for high octane action will be disapponted. But for a master class in low budget film making this movie is hard to beat. These reasons make this movie an all time classic!

Another Carpenter classic this time set around an assault on an abandoned police station. I like this version better than the remake for certain reasons. The setting in LA was better with hot whether and really added to the film and I preferred the street gang instead of the swat team which made it darker in my opinion. There's some cool music in this like all of Carpenters earlier films and some good actors also. To me the remake seemed more straight forward with action but the original builds up tension in Carpenters eerie style and more cleverly done. It has its fair share of action and violence which is still pretty good to watch. Don't be put off by the date it was made and I will admit it has its corny moments but its another brilliant film by Carpenter and still holds up well and a must see.

John Carpenter's second film and easily one of his best (after 'The Thing' and just ahead of 'Dark Star'). It's tension and fear of the unknown personified as a band of faceless thugs track down a man who (justifiably) wasted some of their crew. Make no mistakes, you may find a dusty copy of this lying in the thriller section of your local video store, but this is nothing short of a horror film. 'Assault...' is a slim remake of the Howard Hawks/John Wayne classic 'Rio Bravo' (John Carpenter recently recorded a commentary track for the new 2 disc edition of it), with elements of George A. Romero's 'Dead' films thrown in for good measure and has received the popular and unnecessary remake treatment. But if that's what it takes to remind people how good the original was in the first place then so be it and bring on 'Escape from New York'. If you want extra features then you'll have to order it from America, with a Q&A with director and star and a typically engaging commentary from Carpenter.