John Carpenter’s San Francisco-set, supernatural spin on Hollywood’s Chinatown tropes populates the storied neighborhood with mystical beings. Kurt Russell is antihero Jack Burton, an outsider who’s clueless without his Chinese American friend Wang Chi (Dennis Dun). Teaming up to save Wang’s fiancé from the vicious Lords of Death, the pair embarks on a curiously supernatural adventure through the street of this historic Bay Area district. Originally written as a period Western, this cult favorite is an off-kilter, distinctly Carpenterian take on traditional action films, buoyed with the filmmaker’s signature wry comedy. —Adapted from a note written by Arthur Dong.
