{"id":23239,"date":"2021-07-28T14:28:48","date_gmt":"2021-07-28T21:28:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=23239"},"modified":"2021-07-28T14:28:48","modified_gmt":"2021-07-28T21:28:48","slug":"blasts-from-the-past-blu-ray-review-siege-1983-aka-self-defense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=23239","title":{"rendered":"Blasts from the Past! Blu-ray Review: SIEGE (1983) aka SELF DEFENSE"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This title is currently available on Blu-ray from Severin\nFilms.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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While Canada has a relatively small film industry in\ncomparison with the US, the country isn\u2019t without its major share of artfully\ncrafted efforts. And, there are just as many smaller genre titles have been\nreleased, although over the years many have gotten lost and faded into semi-obscurity.\nFor the past few years, Severin has been attempting to rectify this problem by remastering\nfascinating \u201cCanuxploitation\u201d titles like Sudden Fury<\/em> (1975), as well as\nunusual family fare like The Peanut Butter Solution<\/em> (1985). They have\nnow focused their efforts on Siege<\/em>, an extremely tense and effective thriller\nshot in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The movie holds up remarkably well and, thanks to\nthe efforts of the distributor, can now be enjoyed by viewers all over the\ncontinent and beyond. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The title isn\u2019t likely to sound familiar to most readers and\nthat is because it has been very hard to track down for decades. This reviewer\nmanaged to watch it on VHS decades ago and the transfer did the title no\nfavors. The movie looked dark in spots and it was hard to make out what was\ngoing on in certain scenes. Severin have given the film a 2K scan from the\nrecently discovered camera negative that was hidden away in a Halifax archival\nsite. The image looks absolutely stunning and the presentation is a revelation\nthat will do nothing but add to the film\u2019s unique allure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The story is loosely based on a police strike that actually occurred\nin Halifax in 1981 (although nothing horrible actually occurred in the city,\nbesides a few broken windows and some street racing). This narrative uses newscasts\nthat aired during the actual protest, showing officers walking from the jobs. However,\ninstead of what actually occurred, in this tale the creeps immediately take to the\nstreets. The story follows a group of militaristic, right-wing extremists who decide\nto take advantage of the situation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Four dimwits led by Goose (Jeff Pustil) arrive at a LGBTQ\nbar and threaten the clientele. When they accidentally murder the owner, the frightened\nmembers call in their leader, Cabe (Doug Lennox). He begins executing the patrons\nto remove any witnesses. One customer named Daniel (Terry-David Despres) escapes\nand makes his way to a very quirky, run-down building by the port. Inside are Horatio\n(Tom Nardini), Barbara (Brenda Bazinet), neighbor Chester (Daryl Haney) and a\nfew friends (Keith Knight and Jack Blum from the comedy classic, Meatballs<\/em>).\nWhen the residents refuse to give Daniel up, the entire group come under attack\nby the gun-toting mob and must resort to elaborate tricks to avoid being\nslaughtered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This story still feels relevant\ntoday and the initial raid is appropriately harrowing. The pacing is excellent\nas Daniel flees and it\u2019s extremely tense to watch the protagonists hunker down\nto avoid gunfire and try to protect themselves. While the low-budget might\ninitially be seen as a big problem for the filmmakers to overcome, it actually adds\nauthenticity to the proceedings, as well as a layer of tension. The leads\ncertainly adapt some creative defense methods in their bohemian abode, including\ntraps involving electricity and homemade explosives. However, Cabe is a clever leader\nand things don\u2019t always go as planned for the overwhelmed heroes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Viewers certainly have to accept\na few eccentric elements, like a vintage medicine cabinet that opens into the\nadjacent apartment (which doesn\u2019t seem very practical for the resident, but provides\na great action set-piece after the complex is invaded). Still, these little\nabnormalities make the real apartment seem like a character in and of itself.\nThe movie is incredibly well-edited, unique and compelling from beginning to\nend. It is a remarkably effective low-budget genre picture that delivers the exploitation\ngoods and should have reached a much wider audience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Beside the stunning image upgrade, the film includes a commentary\ntrack with co-director Paul Donovan moderated by Jason Eisener, the man behind Hobo\nwith a Shotgun<\/em>. The track is incredibly informative and a real asset to anyone\ninterested in learning more about low-budget filmmaking. Donovan explains that\nhe was inspired by independent production of the era like Dark Star<\/em> and Assault\non Precinct 13<\/em> (the latter movie\u2019s influence is very evident). He describes\nhow he managed to raise about $200,000 for the production from small,\ninternational distributors on the hunt for B-movies. At this time in history, home\nvideo was exploding and many companies wanted extra product to eventually release\non VHS and Beta formats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Donovan wrote the movie in 10 days with his girlfriend at\nthe time, Maura O\u2019Connell (who co-directed the finished product). They\nliterally struggled to keep the movie in focus shooting at night with limited\nfocal-length lenses and nominal film supplies. In fact, the shooting ratio was\nabout 3.5:1, which means that there wasn\u2019t much a lot of footage shot that didn\u2019t\nend up in the finished product. He talks about techniques used to pull off the\nelaborate effects and also goes into detail about his experiences with distributors.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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When the movie was picked up in various territories, the\ntitle was often altered. Donovan mentions that he hated the various moniker invented\nfor the film, including the US release title, Self Defense<\/em>. Perhaps one\nof the most interesting points he makes is about working with actors, expressing\nhis dislike for filmmakers who spend all of their time behind a video monitor\nand relay messages to the actors from a distance or through an assistant director.\nHe describes ways of getting around this problem and working with the cast more\nclosely to get the best out of them. The two also discuss the movie\u2019s influence\nand growing fandom, with the pair noting that they heard the makers of The\nPurge<\/em> were in part inspired by this film. It certainly makes sense given\nthe similarity of the concept. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another fantastic extra is the \u201cJapanese version\u201d which is\nincluded on this disc. After the film was sold, the distributor from this\ncountry insisted on a longer running time. Donovan and the crew shot a couple\nof added prologue sequences exclusively for Japan to push the movie over 90\nminutes. They include a scene with Goose abusing his wife and an introduction\nto the heroes of the story. Neither scene is essential and this longer version\nisn\u2019t favored by those on the commentary track or this reviewer, but it is\ngreat to finally see these bonuses and a slightly altered cut of the movie.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Donovan enjoyed a successful film career in Canada, going to\nwrite and direct films like DEFCON-4<\/em> (1985), Norman\u2019s Awesome Experience<\/em>\n(1988) and George\u2019s Island<\/em> (1989) (which is a personal favorite of\ncommentary moderator Eisener). But Donovan may have ended up earning the most\nnotoriety for producing the cult 90s science-fiction TV series, Lexx<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Siege<\/em> is a really remarkable low-budget feature that is\nfar more successful than one would expect and served a great calling card for\nthe filmmaker. Severin have once again delivered a superior Blu-ray product\nthat fully displays just how impressively shot and crafted the movie is. This\nnew release comes highly recommended and the film is certain to win over new fans\nwho appreciate genre films. Check it out!  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This title is currently available on Blu-ray from Severin Films. While Canada has a relatively small film industry in comparison with the US, the country isn\u2019t without its major share of artfully crafted efforts. And, there are just as many smaller genre titles have been released, although over the years many have gotten lost and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":23240,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[115,697,2923,2954,2957,3073,3464,3818,3845,6175,7207,10420,10525,11555,12317,15820,17922,18082,18083,18378,18379,18380,18381,19769,22825,23028],"class_list":["post-23239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dvdblu-ray-reviews","tag-115","tag-action","tag-blasts-from-the-past","tag-blasts-from-the-past-film-review","tag-blasts-from-the-past-movie-review","tag-blu-ray-review","tag-brenda-bazinet","tag-canada","tag-canuxploitation","tag-doug-lennox","tag-exploitation","tag-jason-eisener","tag-jeff-pustil","tag-keith-knight","tag-lgbtq","tag-paul-donovan","tag-self-defense","tag-severin","tag-severin-films","tag-siege","tag-siege-blu-ray","tag-siege-movie-review","tag-siege-review","tag-terry-david-despres","tag-thriller","tag-tom-nardini"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23239\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}