An LA gang’s revenge-fuelled killing spree leads them to a half-abandoned police station in the throes of closing down. Under siege with power and phone lines cut, a lone cop and his skeleton staff recruit a condemned killer from the cells in a desperate battle to survive the night.

A cult classic from one-man band John Carpenter (who wrote, directed, scored and edited the film) this is the quintessential B-movie that became a director’s big breakthrough. So successful, Assault on Precinct 13 enabled Carpenter to subsequently reinvent the slasher with his horror hit Halloween.