Self Defense

The city police is on strike, which is great news for the street scum. A gang of idiots decide to show off their strength at a local gay club, but things get a little out of hand and suddenly one of the waiters is lying dead on the floor. They must get rid of the witnesses, the police won’t be on strike forever, but one of the clubgoers manages to escape. Chased by the gangsters, he takes refuge with nice people who had the misfortune of letting him into their home, who then refuse the offer to avoid trouble and give away the refugee. That’s the beginning of one of the best home-invasion thrillers I have ever seen. This unknown Canadian flick from the 1980s reminds a lot to the recent The Purge, but it’s considerably better in every aspect. Tense, dark, atmospheric, brutal, chilling. A great surprise and a must-see for horror fans :) (04.01.2014)

A police strike, and murder is just fine! One might smile at the acting performances, the accuracy of the improvised bazooka, or the contribution of the blind expert on wiretaps with a glass on the wall, but from the initial character setup, we’re on a ride more thrilling than those on precincts built by American carpenters. The mass execution in the bar, the faces of homophobic "scarecrows" from the New Order, the use of limited space and its claustrophobic effects, and the final shot, which is stylistically "shocking" yet, given the preceding events, feels natural. Within the home invasion genre, it’s a dusty gem from Canadian soil. (06.03.2023)

The Canadian thriller Self Defense is not really a horror movie in the classic sense and is more of an action-thriller, albeit with strong horror elements mainly due to the tense atmosphere. It uses the cat and mouse thing with innocent people trying to survive when faced with those out to execute them. Although Self Defense might have looked unremarkable and is not that well known, it is a hidden gem that turned out to be something worth seeing. (05.12.2019)