12 November 2024
Escape from New York (1981)
97 min.
Directed by John Carpenter.
With Kurt Russell, Adrienne Barbeau, Isaac Hayes, Donald Pleasence.
This gloomy futuristic ragtag horror from Carpenter is full of panache.

It's got Russell's overblown adventure hero antics, it's got massive dark post-apocalyptic sets and...it's got Adrienne Barbeau, to boot!

The isle of Manhattan is now a closed prison state, inside its fortified walls scuttle the lowest dregs of scum (hey, isn't this supposed to be fantasy sci fi?)...no one gets in or out.

And that's the way the government likes it.

But when the U.S. President (played by Pleasence: don't ask!) accidently crash lands inside the Big Apple, it's up to semi-iconic anti-hero Snake Plissken (Russell) to go in and get our leader out.

It's no classic, but Escape is undeniable matinee fun, with an overall atmosphere of musty distrust and tense paranoia.

Also not to be missed is the funky 1983 Italian imitation from director Sergio Martino, 2019: After the Fall of New York.

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