''Self Defense'' (also known as ''Siege'') is a 1983 Canadian action-thriller-film directed by Paul Donovan and Maura O'Connell, and starring

Tom Nardini Tom Nardini is an American film actor who had a lengthy career in television. His best-known roles were in '' Cowboy in Africa'' (1967), and in ''Cat Ballou'' (1965), for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe award. Early life Born in Los ...

, Brenda Bazinet, Darel Haeny, and Terry-David Després.

Gerald Pratley Gerald Arthur Pratley (September 3, 1923 – March 14, 2011) was a Canadian film critic and historian. Piers Handling"Gerald Arthur Pratley" ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'', September 18, 2011. A longtime film critic for the Canadian Broadcasting Cor ...

, ''A Century of Canadian Cinema''. Lynx Images, 2003. . p. 197.

Plot

A fascist group who call themselves New Order want to set some "new rules" in town while the police in

Halifax, Nova Scotia Halifax is the capital and most populous municipality of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the most populous municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of 2024, it is estimated that the population of the H ...

are on strike. They try to scare the patrons of a

gay bar A gay bar is a Bar (establishment), drinking establishment that caters to an exclusively or predominantly lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer (LGBTQ+) clientele; the term ''gay'' is used as a broadly inclusive concept for LGBTQ+ communi ...

, but by accident the owner of the establishment is killed, and the leader of the fascist group then decides to execute all witnesses. One man escapes and takes refuge in an isolated block of flats. The young tenants in the house refuse to hand over the survivor, and the bullies then decide to kill all the residents in the house. This turns out to be not so easy when the young people in the house barricade their apartments and set up traps and arm themselves in order to fight back.

Cast

... Horatio * Brenda Bazinet ... Barbara *Darel Haeny ... Chester *Terry-David Després ... Daniel *

Jack Blum Jack Blum is a Canadian writer, producer, director, story editor, actor, educator and communications consultant based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. With his longtime partner Sharon Corder, he has written and produced more than fifty hours of tel ...

... Patrick * Keith Knight ... Steve *

Doug Lennox Douglas Joseph Lennox (21 January 1938 – 28 November 2015) was a Canadian actor, writer and radio personality, who was perhaps best known for his book ''Now You Know, The Big Book of Answers'' and his many appearances in movies such as ''X-Men' ...

... Cabe *

Jeff Pustil Jeff Pustil (born October 9, 1957) is a Canadian actor, director and writer. He is best known for his role as Jack Christian in the television series '' Check It Out!''. Early life Pustil was born in Toronto on October 9, 1957. He graduated fro ...

... Goose *Fred Wadden ... Ian *Gary Dempster ... Lloyd *Dennis O'Connor ... Clark * Richard Collins ... Rosie

Reception

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media In mass communication, digital media is any media (communication), communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital content can be created, vi ...

'' said "the film is reminiscent of '' Assault on Precinct 13'', though it is not quite as effective." Canuxploitation called it “an unheralded landmark of Canadian B-film.”

References

External links

* 1983 films Canadian action thriller films English-language Canadian films 1983 action thriller films 1980s action drama films Homophobia in fiction Films about violence against LGBTQ people Canadian LGBTQ-related films 1980s LGBTQ-related drama films Films shot in Halifax, Nova Scotia Films set in Nova Scotia Films about home invasion Alliance Atlantis films 1983 drama films Siege films 1983 LGBTQ-related films Films directed by Paul Donovan 1980s English-language films 1980s Canadian films English-language action thriller films English-language action drama films {{LGBT-film-stub