I’ve always found this movie to be completely relentless. It’s such a great precursor to the magic that Carpenter would create later on. He does so much with such a small budget and manages to keep his audience on edge from the opening frame.I think a lot of the tension has to do with his score. Carpenter created some amazing scores early on his career. The Halloween theme is obviously his most popular, Escape from New York and The Fog are quintessential Carpenter, but the score in this film does a fantastic job of creating an atmosphere of unease from the very beginning.Carpenter also creates a setting of “anything goes” with the murder of the cute kid in the first 30 minutes (not to mention, that kid was Kim Richards of Disney’s Escape to Witch Mountain fame). He basically gives his audience the ultimate middle finger with that death. Anything goes, and Carpenter is calling the shots.What I love most about this movie is when the precinct is actually being “assaulted.” Carpenter keeps most of the baddies in the shadows giving them an uncompromisingly sinister look. They just keep coming no matter what. They’re in every corner and the odds are always against our protagonists. There really isn’t any moments where we feel like the good guys have a standing chance which just increases the tension to an infinite degree.I caught this movie late in my movie buff life. I’ve always been a fan of Carpenter but this one had always managed to fly under my radar. A few years ago I finally sat down and watched it and.... wow, I was blown away. Carpenter did so much with so little (as he would often do with most of his movies). If you haven’t checked this one out, I highly recommend it. Even if you’re not a fan of Carpenter, this is a fantastic and unrelenting thriller.Side note: I love Nancy Kyes even though she didn’t do much outside of Carpenter movies. I’ve learned that the actress had a problem with anxiety which is why she didn’t do much in front of the camera but Carpenter found a way to utilize her talents so well. She does a great job in this one as well as anything else she did that was Carpenter related. via /r/movies https://ift.tt/3uJgu39
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