Review of Assault on Precinct 13

Aside from the slow-paced exposition built during the first thirty minutes, an armed gang and a prison van converge at the titular police precinct, enabling the nail-biting action to unfold at a sustained yet breakneck pace. With grimy indoor and outdoor scenery, suspense-driven interplay and ever-looming threat elevating the dark atmosphere, the film's taut plot resembles the "outnumbered siege" structure of "Rio Bravo" and "Night of the Living Dead", albeit with outgunned vengeful gangs in place of mindless zombies, however, an effective synthesizer score enhances the unsettling mood of the film into near-horror territory.