John Carpenter’s original Assault On Precinct 13 is one of my all-time favourite thrillers.

This movie is a master-class in how to make a low-budget exploitation classic. Carpenter shows a sure-hand throughout, beginning with the ear-worm electronic theme tune he composed himself, and he expertly builds the tension before bringing all the characters together in the besieged police station for the second half of movie. The brutally casual killing of a young girl which triggers the assault by street gangs remains one of the most shocking moments in 70s cinema.

The cast of unknowns are sketched out with memorable small moments and lines (“Can’t argue with a confident man” being my favourite). The movie owes an obvious debt to both Rio Bravo and Night Of The Living Dead, but whilst riffing on both those classic movies it manages to be distinctly original.

Given it was a low-budget release, it is perhaps no surprise that most of the posters created for the movie were somewhat underwhelming. The UK quad now fetches inexplicably high prices at auction, but is essentially a grainy photo of a man-hole cover! An exception is this French ‘grande’ poster, which rather excellently captures the vibe of the movie. I really like this poster but, as I am unlikely to ever display it, it is up for sale here.

Carpenter’s career had a few other fabulous highs after Precinct 13 (Halloween, The Thing – both of which I love), before going off the rails rather spectacularly with a string of underwhelming horror/sci-fi efforts. Also, the less said about the 2005 remake starring Ethan Hawke (not made by Carpenter), the better.