Cult is a four-letter word. It conjures images of weird cult leaders running compounds like Jonestown in order to swindle money and brainwash vulnerable people. But a cult classic? Why that’s just a movie! Granted, it has a tinge of a slur to it. These aren’t films universally appreciated by the masses. These are movies overlooked in their time but given second life thanks to underground enthusiasm. The kind of movies people talk about when someone complains about how there’s nothing to watch anymore and needs a hidden gem to discover. The kind of movies like John Carpenter’s 40-year-old masterpiece Big Trouble in Little China.
The big trouble with Big Trouble in Little China, and part of why it missed the mark theatrically, is that it's too big for a single genre. It does too many things too well to be ignored. Supernatural gangfights in Chinatown put you squarely in a martial arts picture only to be yanked through the fourth wall into a self-effacing satire by the wry charm of Kurt Russell. It’s a buddy cop movie with a damsel in distress, except there’s two damsels. There’s high fantasy magical rituals and a Freightliner FLC-120 semi-truck called “The Pork Chop Express.” It is a celebration of movies and what is possible onscreen. It does not concern itself with commitment.
