The cool, clinical kill
It is interesting how just a little care and feeling for atmosphere can transform a routine-style police melodrama into a film of quality.
John Carpenter's ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 (X, Odeon, Kensington, and Screen on the Green) is about an attack on a Los Angeles police station by a gang of fantastical youths.
The usual bloody shoot-out is made strangely haunting because the station is virtually deserted and on the point of closing down. Just one young cop (Austin Stoker) is making a routine call in an area due for demolition.
The attackers have guns with silencers and as part of the building is soundlessly reduced to ruin the effect is as eerie as a nightmare.
