‘Jack Burton, a truck driver, gets dragged into the mysterious underworld beneath Chinatown where he faces an ancient sorcerer named Lo Pan.’

Big Trouble in Little China was one of my most rented videos in the late 80’s. I loved it. On rewatching it now it retains the charm, brilliant vision and amazing special effects which have aged brilliantly well. It’s also one of the noisiest films I’ve ever seen.

Carpenter was furthering his talents here as the film skilfully blends horror, comedy, martial arts and camp all in one gleefully bonkers movie.

Jack Burton goes down in history as yet another great Kurt Russell character that is just as iconic as Snake Plissken and McReady. His dialogue is endlessly quotable.

Big Trouble in Little China was a flop at the box office as 20th Century Fox decided to invest more into another forthcoming release, Aliens. Whilst this is a great film, just imagine if they had got behind this Carpenter classic. A missed opportunity.

4.5 out of 5 stars