Where's Robocop when you need him, right? Paul Verhoeven's classic Sci-Fi masterpiece revolves around a half-man/half-machine law enforcer that was tested for the first time during a police strike in the grim streets of a futuristic Detroit. But in 1981 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, there apparently also was a massive police strike, and this underrated exploitation/cult gem illustrates what happens if the cyborg-alternative doesn't exist!
Okay, admittedly, my intro paragraph sounds a bit degrading, but "Self Defense" truly is a great film and a must-see for fanatics of US/Canadian exploitation flicks of the 70s and early 80s. The plot is fresh & original, albeit slightly inspired by "Assault on Precinct 13", the tone and atmosphere are (unexpectedly) very dark and disturbing, and the violence on display is extreme, uncompromising, and relentless. This film even shocked me a couple of times, and that's the best thing an experienced and skeptical horror/cult freak like me could hope for.
The Halifax police inactivity seems like the ideal time for a local posse of middle-aged, frustrated, beer-gulping, and fascist suburban rednecks to go out and "cleanse" the streets. They invade a gay bar and intimidate the customers, but obviously it goes wrong, and they accidentally kill the owner. Their leader, a genuinely menacing creep named Cabe, decides to execute all the witnesses. One person escapes and eventually finds shelter in a ramshackle apartment block where the residents help to protect him.
Straight from the opening credits, you notice that "Self Defense" means serious business. The music and credits are uncanny, and the first couple of sequences showing the abandoned streets of the city are quite ominous. I also very much admire how writer/director Paul Donovan took the effort to give some well-illustrated background to the leading "good" guy and the leading "bad" guy. It's extremely significant how the fascist protects his property with barbed wire, and even more so how he treats his wife. The poor woman clearly knows what'll happen if he goes out with his drinking buddies, and it even costs her a precious pottery collection. The intro of the helpful Horatio neatly indicates how he's always the right guy in the wrong place. There are many fantastic supportive characters, including the sadistic creep-leader, but also a sort of amateur-MacGyver and two blind blokes with super-hearing powers in the good camp. It sadly doesn't happen too often that I get pleasantly surprised and overwhelmed by a newly discovered gem, but "Self Defense" is a real winner!
Okay, admittedly, my intro paragraph sounds a bit degrading, but "Self Defense" truly is a great film and a must-see for fanatics of US/Canadian exploitation flicks of the 70s and early 80s. The plot is fresh & original, albeit slightly inspired by "Assault on Precinct 13", the tone and atmosphere are (unexpectedly) very dark and disturbing, and the violence on display is extreme, uncompromising, and relentless. This film even shocked me a couple of times, and that's the best thing an experienced and skeptical horror/cult freak like me could hope for.
The Halifax police inactivity seems like the ideal time for a local posse of middle-aged, frustrated, beer-gulping, and fascist suburban rednecks to go out and "cleanse" the streets. They invade a gay bar and intimidate the customers, but obviously it goes wrong, and they accidentally kill the owner. Their leader, a genuinely menacing creep named Cabe, decides to execute all the witnesses. One person escapes and eventually finds shelter in a ramshackle apartment block where the residents help to protect him.
Straight from the opening credits, you notice that "Self Defense" means serious business. The music and credits are uncanny, and the first couple of sequences showing the abandoned streets of the city are quite ominous. I also very much admire how writer/director Paul Donovan took the effort to give some well-illustrated background to the leading "good" guy and the leading "bad" guy. It's extremely significant how the fascist protects his property with barbed wire, and even more so how he treats his wife. The poor woman clearly knows what'll happen if he goes out with his drinking buddies, and it even costs her a precious pottery collection. The intro of the helpful Horatio neatly indicates how he's always the right guy in the wrong place. There are many fantastic supportive characters, including the sadistic creep-leader, but also a sort of amateur-MacGyver and two blind blokes with super-hearing powers in the good camp. It sadly doesn't happen too often that I get pleasantly surprised and overwhelmed by a newly discovered gem, but "Self Defense" is a real winner!