ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 (1976) Revisited: Dark and Brilliant!

John Carpenter, the director of Assault on Precinct 13. A singular and distinguished figure in cinema. A true master of science fiction and horror from years past. A creator who, for almost his entire career, had to cope with a small or medium budget, and often also with a lack of understanding. Do you remember the brilliant The Thing with Kurt Russell? It is hard to believe, but right after the premiere this now classic film was ignored by the audience, who considered it too dark and overwhelming.

This is not the only such case in the director’s career. Big Trouble in Little China also faced rejection, although for different reasons. Carpenter had one major hit to his name (Halloween), a few films that did reasonably well (The Fog, Escape from New York), but he often suffered from budget shortages and encountered moderate viewer interest (Prince of Darkness, They Live). If you have looked closely at the titles and have some familiarity with pop culture, you realize that we are talking here about films that are cult and canonical, or at least interesting and original.

His work in the 90s lost its edge, which coincided with a shift in the tastes of viewers, who were never particularly kind to the works of our dark man with a mustache. Today – partly thanks to the retro trend, and partly due to the well-deserved elevation of the master (whose work gains with each passing year, especially when contrasted with the sloppy productions of today) – Carpenter is quoted and imitated more and more often (largely in terms of music – many contemporary synthwave artists refer to his sound).

New versions of his films also appear (The Thing, The Fog, Halloween, Assault on Precinct 13). He is even outright copied – Luc Besson was sued for making a film based on the idea of Escape from New York (the reference is to the mediocre Lockout). Recently he has been achieving success more as a musician than as a filmmaker. He recorded two albums – Lost Theme sand Lost Themes 2 – which evoke the atmosphere of his own soundtracks.

An electronic retro ambience leaning towards horror and science fiction appealed to listeners, and the director – a thin man wrapped in gray hair, himself looking like a character from a mysterious film – set off on tour to pump a little darkness into the audience through their ears. However, for most of us Carpenter will remain the author of many cult titles. Today we will look at one of his strongest works.

Assault on Precinct 13 is the second film by the creator of Christine. The earlier Dark Star was a low-budget science fiction comedy (an alien looking like a beach ball, cardboard sets, and so on), but only his next work showed that we were dealing with a true pope of darkness. Carpenter received one hundred thousand dollars and twenty days to make this film. He did not hire stars. He wrote the screenplay himself. He handled the music. On such foundations he built a very solid construction.

The set-up of the story intertwines several threads. A police officer is assigned to spend one night at a station that is in the process of being shut down. An automatic weapon falls into the hands of a gang – its members drive around the city and observe potential targets (which can be practically anyone). A bus transporting convicts to prison is forced to stop at the station. A man who has shot one of the gang members ends up there as well. Soon the station will become a trap, and the people gathered in it will be forced to fight for their lives.

We are dealing here with cinema of the highest order. Strong, atmospheric, and engaging. Carpenter squeezes from this story as much as can possibly be squeezed. The tension is almost unbearable. The darkness – thick and suffocating. There are no sentimental threads. The claustrophobia seeps into the viewer. There is also one shocking scene that breaks a cinematic taboo. The director regretted placing it in the film, but there is no denying that it is a powerful jolt to the viewer, who will from then on sit as if struck by electricity. A bit of humor is introduced by the excellent character of the multiple murderer, Napoleon Wilson.

Carpenter has this alchemical ability to blend cinematic tropes with his own ideas or to mix genres in such a way that they not only mesh well but also create a sense of freshness. Here he transplanted the motif from Rio Bravo into a contemporary setting and boosted the whole thing with a stylistic touch typical of horror. The gang attacking in waves is a swarm of silent figures hiding in the darkness, with only one goal – to reach everyone in the building.

They are apathetic and stripped of emotion. Inhumanly cold. Their motives remain unclear. It is known only that they will not stop until they kill the people hiding in the station. The director does not hide that he was inspired by the zombie characters from Night of the Living Dead by George A. Romero. Shifting the accents toward horror resulted in a film with a particular flavor. The thing seems unreal, and on the other hand – because of the palpable danger – decidedly down-to-earth, oriented toward a survival spectacle.

And how did the defending team fare? There is no weak performance here. Austin Stoker, playing the lieutenant, creates the role of an ordinary man. He tries to act and think logically in a situation for which he was not prepared. He cares about people and wants to get everyone out of the trap, which earns him Napoleon’s respect. The latter is definitely an interesting type. A murderer operating according to his own kind of ethics. A reflective man, somewhat melancholic, but also effective in combat.

A bond will form between him and the policeman in accordance with the principle that nothing brings men together like a solid shootout (and this appears in Assault frequently and in large quantities). His relationship with Leigh – the station’s secretary, who is strong, intelligent, and keeps a cool head – is also interesting. There will be no romance, but there will be an intriguing interaction between characters who are well-drawn and free from formulaic reactions.

There is someone to root for and something to look at. The station sliced by quiet gunshots (the gang uses silencers) is a good backdrop for a fight to the death. The ascetic, dark scenery enhances the atmosphere of entrapment. The music seems ahead of its time. Carpenter is a specialist in minimalist soundtracks, as confirmed by expressions of praise from young retro-electro artists who build their nostalgic impressions on the tricks of the creator of The Fog. The distinctive main theme from Assault is already a classic of electronic music.

It is simple, strong, and catchy. It builds tension excellently. Can you imagine Carpenter’s films scored with classic instrumentation? I cannot. The creator chose synthesizers because they were cheap, but this path pushed him toward a rough, pulsating sound that became an essential component of his works. Recently the music from Assault was used to score the orgy scene in Love by Gaspar Noé – another example of the great vitality of the director’s works.

There is nothing here to criticize. This is precise craftsmanship in a clearly Carpenterian style and an example of what results can come from combining creative discipline with the instinct of a cinematic beast, with which the creator is undoubtedly endowed. This almost penny-budget film could not even recoup its costs after the premiere and irritated critics. However, it was appreciated in Europe, which allowed it to quickly make up for the losses.

In two thousand and five its remake appeared, starring Ethan Hawke and Laurence Fishburne. The film was dozens of times more expensive than the original, but it was merely a solidly executed homework assignment from a classic. The atmosphere was not as dense as in the nineteen seventy-six film, and the whole did not captivate.

In truth Assault on Precinct 13 is not about precinct number thirteen – that number was added by the producers when they were renaming the title (initially it was to be The Siege). This does not hinder anything, however. The film – although old – stands up brilliantly. This is a distillate of action, tension, and atmosphere. Whoever has not seen it should catch up immediately.