Big Trouble in Little China (1986 film)

Promotional image for Big Trouble in Little China (1986 film)...

Summary

Chinese black magic, monsters and ghosts, sorcery, the six-demon bag: wind, fire and all that kind of thing! Hard-boiled truck driver Jack Burton gets caught in a bizarre conflict within, and underneath, San Francisco's Chinatown, where an ancient Chinese prince/Chinatown crime lord has kidnapped a beautiful green-eyed woman, the fiancee to Jack's best friend. Jack must help his friend rescue the girl before the evil Lo Pan uses her to break the ancient curse that keeps him a fleshless and immortal spirit.

Details

• Release Date: 1986
• Country/Language: USA, English
• Genres/Technical: Fantasy, Action/Adventure, Horror, Comedy
• Runtime: 1 hr 39 min
• Starring: Dennis Dun, Kurt Russell
• Director: John Carpenter
• Writer: W. D. Richter, Gary Goldman, David Z. Weinstein
• Producer/Production Co: Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
• View Trailer: (link)
• IMDb page: (link)
• Wikipedia page: (link)

Ratings

MPAA Ratings

• Rated: PG-13 (Violence and gore, mild Adult Content)

Tentacle Ratings

A rough measure of how "Lovecraftian" the work is:

• S____ (One Tentacle: Debateably Lovecraftian; has almost no direct connection to Lovecraft's work)

This film is not particularly Lovecraftian, though the setting, with its hardboiled investigator heroes, "Yellow Peril" tong gangs, kung-fu sorcery, undying ghoul wizards, strange rituals and cults, and weird underground Dreamlands and "Chinese hells" full of strange monsters could easily be adapted to Pulp Cthulhu, and, with only minor Chinatown-themed changes, Call of Cthulhu cults, monsters, tomes, etc. would easily fit right into the setting.

Note: This rating is not intended as a measure of quality, merely of how closely related to Lovecraftian "Weird" fiction the work is.

Reviews

Review Links:

• Richard Scheib at the Science Fiction, Horror and Fantasy Film Review (3/5 Stars) (link) - "It is by no means what one might call a great film but it entertains considerably and is certainly not the failure that a lot of people who lambaste John Carpenter like to call it."

Synopsis

 Spoiler Section (Highlight to Read)
Hard-boiled truck driver Jack Burton gets caught in a bizarre conflict within, and underneath, San Francisco's Chinatown, where an ancient Chinese prince and Chinatown crime lord has kidnapped a beautiful green-eyed woman, who is the fiancee to Jack's best friend. Jack must help his friend rescue the girl before the evil Lo Pan uses her to break the ancient curse that keeps him a fleshless and immortal spirit.

Notes

Comments, Trivia, Dedication

• This film is not particularly Lovecraftian, though the setting, with its hardboiled investigator heroes, "Yellow Peril" tong gangs, kung-fu sorcery, undying ghoul wizards, strange rituals and cults, and weird underground Dreamlands and "Chinese hells" full of strange monsters could easily be adapted to Pulp Cthulhu, and, with only minor Chinatown-themed changes, Call of Cthulhu cults, monsters, tomes, etc. would easily fit right into the setting.

Associated Mythos Elements

• setting: Pulp Cthulhu
• Lich (Lo Pan)
• cultists
• Ghouls
• witches, warlocks, wizards
• the Dreamlands