Action fantasy adventure

Press, 14 July 1987, Page 17

Action fantasy adventure

“Big Trouble in Little China” (M), is the lead title in the July releases from CBS-Fox, and it’s billed as an hour and a half of serious fun. Kurt Russell (as Jack Burton) battles goblins and demons, meets a 2000-year-old evil magician, and faces the Room of Upside-Down Hell in this action fantasy adventure. Burton is a tough truck driver who doesn’t believe in ghosts or magic — until he’s swept headlong into an amazing adventure within the mysterious world beneath San Francisco’s Chinatown. Jack’s pal, Wang Chi, must rescue his fiancee, who has been kidnapped by the evil Lo Pan, a 2000-year-old ghost who requires a green-eyed maiden to free him from an ancient curse and restore him to his physical body. Accompanied by a variety of would-be heroes, Jack and Wang venture deep into the catacombs beneath Chinatown to confront the wicked Lo Pan and retrieve Wang’s girl; but before they do they will encounter ghosts, evil spirits, monsters, Kung Fu masters and, of course, the w K th of Lo Pan. “The Lightship” (M), is high drama and serious viewing. Captain Miller’s past was tainted by the accusation of cowardice. Now the skipper of a remote lightship off the United States coast, he finds his past catching up with him. First his son, Alex, alienated from Miller and in trouble with the law, is given refuge on the lightship. Then his crew rescues the sinister Casparv and his two henchmen from a disabled boat: the newcomers are killers on the run, and they’re not letting anything or anyone stand in their way. Robert Duvall is Caspary, Klaus Maria Brandauer is Miller, and Michael Lyndon is Alex in a deadly, claustrophobic confrontation between good and evil. “Red Fury” (G), is family entertainment in

the Disney tradition. Frankie, a 10-year-old Indian boy, becomes separated from his family when he accidentally falls off the train on which they are travelling. The lost and frightened boy is taken in by a farmer and after an accident in which Frankie saves his life, he rewards the young boy with his prize stallion, Red Fury. A selfish neighbour, who also had his eye on the horse, is insulted by the fact it was given to an Indian. Playing upon the common prejudice against Indians, Stenslough uses his influence to turn the whole town against Frankie, but the brave boy overcomes the bias of a harsh adult world and learns about love, struggle and survival. “Chase” (PG). When beautiful big-city lawyer Sandy Albright returns to the rural town where she grew up, she steps into a minefield of prejudice and corruption. She finds herself in a trap, defending the suspected murderer of her old friend Judge Pettitt, and having to protect him from the corrupt county policemen who want him dead. When her defendant, Dixon, is sprung from jail in an attempt on his life, both of them head for the hills. Face-to-face with a possible killer and a bunch of assassins closing in on the rough terrain, the chase has just begun! Starring Jennifer O’Neil (“Scanners” and “A Force of One”) and Richard Farnsworth (“Into the Night”). “Sorority House Massacre” (M). When Beth visits her friends at the sorority, she gets a strange feeling from the house: it seems hauntingly familiar. The girls want to have fun, but Beth suffers from nightmares of a knife-wielding killer. Little does she know, a dangerous psycho has escaped from the mental ward and is heading straight for the sorority. The girls’ night of fun quickly becomes a night of terror as the killer stalks them one by one.