Friday 10 May 2013

"Saturday Night Special": Self Defense (1983)



After the start of a police strike in Halifax, Nova Scotia, illegal groups who want to impose their own view of law and order form. A group of of right-wing extremists belonging to the "New Order" enters a gay bar and the bartender killed. All eye witnesses to the crime are then killed in the most brutal manner. Daniel (Terry-David Després) is the only one who manages to escape from his pursuers seeking refugee in a small building. A siege begins, in the course of Horatio (Tom Nardini) , his friend Barbara (Brenda Bazinet), whose blind brother Patrick (Jack Blum) and a neighbor called Chester (Daryl Haney) not only reject all attempts storming, but also bring the utmost determined "New Order"-people, man by man. Self Defense is written and directed by Paul Donovan and co-directed by Maura O'Connell. The acting is pretty good, the camerawork and editing is good. The soundtrack is nice. The pace is good and this is a gritty urban-survivalist flick similar to Assault on Precinct 13 which surely was a major inspiration. I like the concept of fighting against the odds, making do with the stuff that they have at hand (Chester is a survivalist) while the attackers have silenced guns, night vision scope and so on (more similarities with Assault on Precinct 13). There´s brief gore, death by broken bottle, arrow through the throat, squibs as people get shot and so on. There´s no T & A in this.
Self Defense is also known as Siege and Night Warriors.
This review is based upon the Austrian region all (region 0) DVD release from Dr. Dressler.it´s uncut, engllish audio is available.
Rating: 7 out of 7. I love this flick! it´s a solid action flick! I must have seen it at least 10 times throughout the years since I first watched it on VHS as a teenager. Violent and gritty. I love the concept of urban survival. Highly recommended!

/JL


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