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Daniel Craig has delighted fans by signing on for another James Bond movie but the big question remains: who will be the next Bond girl? The untitled 25th Bond movie has been scheduled for November 2019, penned by Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, and speculation will continue to mount in the buildup, while the most influential betting sites are sure to get in on the action realising attractive odds for the role. Here are some of the leading contenders for the coveted role:

Marion Cotillard

The Oscar-winning actress has enjoyed a long and glittering career, taking in critically acclaimed films like La Vie En Rose, Two Days, One Night and Rust and Bone. But she has also shown she is not averse to starring in huge blockbusters, including Inception, The Dark Knight Rises and Assassin’s Creed, while she has also showed her fun side in Anchorman 2. She has the smouldering looks typical of a Bond girl, but would also bring serious credibility to the role and is currently the favourite to land it.

Margot Robbie

Robbie was catapulted to superstardom with her eye-catching role in Wolf of Wall Street and has since gone on to improve her standing with several lauded performances in slightly more serious films. She too is a big name and has the right looks to make a success of the role, but there have not been too many blonde Bond girls in recent years.

Gal Gadot

Playing Wonder Woman was a dream role for Gadot, who has become a symbol of feminine empowerment. The Bond franchise has a bit of a sexist history and hiring Gadot could be a good way of cutting ties with the past and presenting a new Bond, who takes as good as he gives.

Jennifer Lawrence

Lawrence is the highest-paid actress in the world and also the highest-grossing female action star of all-time thanks to her starring roles in The Hunger Games. She is another Oscar winner and another passionate advocate of feminism and gender equality. She might not be too keen on a role as a mere sidekick to a historically chauvinistic character, but she would be a huge coup for the producers if they could land her services. She has appeared in various X-Men films alongside The Hunger Games and might be tempted by a role that made her as forceful a presence as Mystique and Katniss Everdeen.

Natalie Dormer

Another Hunger Games alumni is also on the list of potential Bond girls after dazzling as Margaery Tyrell in Game of Thrones. Landing the role of Bond girl would be a big stepping stone in her career and could help her gain more high-profile roles going forwards, so she would be an interesting option at around 16/1.

Priyanka Chopra

One of India’s highest-paid and most powerful stars would be an interesting choice if the Bond franchise was trying to boost its appeal in that huge market. She has enjoyed a hugely successful Bollywood career and has earned awards since making the transition to US television, but has not quite hit the heights of superstardom in the west, so this could be a great role for her.

Alicia Vikander

This 20/1 shot looks a great bet to be named the next Bond girl after finishing top in a survey conducting by the aptly named organisation The Next Bond Girl. It analysed the 72 previous Bond girls spread across 50 years of movies starring the famous spy, and focused on age, hair colour, height, nationality, number of films under their belt and years since making their film debut. Vikander, who has recently starred as Lara Croft, finished top of the ladder, ahead of Rachel Hurd-Wood, Ellarica Gallacher and Lily Collins.

In 2006, the US Congress and President Bush created a law called the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA).  This law made it illegal for purveyors of “games of chance” to accept payments from credit card companies and ewallets.  The term “games of chance” was never fully defined.  The UIGEA also added a layer of enforcement and prosecution to enterprises violating the law.

A Huge Market Abandoned

The effect of the law was that most online casinos and game developers pulled out of the US online gaming market.  A few casinos, Grande Vegas prominent among them, stayed on.  Under the law, funding gambling activities at an online casino for US players is never simple.

There have been proposals ever since the law was passed and signed to make all or some online gambling legal.  It has long been assumed if not proven that land based casino interests, socially conservative voters, government-run lotteries, and pari-mutuel gambling interests such as horse racing, dog racing, and jai alai formed a coalition in opposition to the legalization of online gambling.

Equable Treatment of Gamblers

The first reason to legalize online gambling is simple fairness.  Not everyone who likes to gamble enjoys going to a racetrack, dog racing track, or jai alai stadium.  They may prefer slots or the several classic table games.  Their analytical bent may be more toward making the right plays in blackjack than determining which horse will win this particular race.

Who will Pay Taxes?

One well-worn objection to the legalization of online gambling is that it would be difficult to collect taxes both from the casino itself and also from winners.  This ignores the absolute difficulty of collecting taxes on winnings at any legal gambling emporium.  When a gambler cashes in his or her chips, the casino can’t know if the chips represent winnings or the money left over minus losses.

So taxes go uncollected.

Online gambling actually lends itself far more to the collection of taxes because there is a digital record of every play and every movement in a player’s account.  Thus, every dollar deposited is followed by the computers.  This applies only to the top online casinos that monitor each game and each account in real time primarily as a way to resolve conflicts between players and the casino.

Thus, by legalizing online gambling, the government would either be forcing poorly run casinos to monitor gameplay or fold their tents.  It would make online gambling safer for players.

Less Crime

It would also make the streets safer for gamblers and tourists alike.  A comparison here with the changes that have occurred in Major League Baseball since the inception of free agency is appropriate.

Counter-intuitivity in Baseball

When free agency was ordered by the court, MLB owners screamed that it would bankrupt the leagues.  Instead, revenues are up, baseball is more popular than ever, attendance is up, and crowds are far better behaved than they ever were.

At one time, attendance of 1,000,000 over the course of a season was considered good.  Now anything under 2,000,000 is considered bad.  Where it was rare indeed to have attendance of 3,000,000, now even small ballparks like Wrigley Field in Chicago fill up regularly and seasonal attendance is always above 3,000.

What happened is that teams marketed tickets to large corporations and other organizations and marketed a visit to the ballpark as a great place to have a date.  Where stadiums during Friday night games were once called “open-air saloons”, ballparks became a place to relax, have a few, but always stay in control.  And the leagues flourished even as salaries continued to rise.

Not Just Casinos

If land based casinos cease to be the only place Americans can go to play casino games, they can be marketed as vacation destinations with some gambling offered as well.  This is the “integrated resort” idea being pushed by Singapore among others as way to offer gambling mixed with shopping, convention centers, top restaurants, concerts, and more that would normally be considered aspects of a full-fledged vacation.

An integrated resort would attract far fewer of the low-lifes that seem to gravitate to places like Atlantic City and Las Vegas. So even as online gambling would grow, land-based casinos would realize a rebirth.  It would be a true win-win situation.

Responsible Gaming

The single biggest caveat to this entire argument is that a society suffers when gambling is seen as a get rich quick scheme.  We can only imagine the number of families who throw away their hard-earned cash on Powerball tickets.

Online casinos all support the notion of responsible gaming.  Most pay lip service to it but some, like Grande Vegas, take the notion very seriously, indeed.  These casinos set limits on the amounts players can deposit unless they can show that they can easily afford to do so.

There is a big difference between a high roller who knows not to bet more than he or she can afford and a high roller who is addicted to gambling.  The best online casinos monitor their players and make every effort to deny access to those players who they deem are possibly problem gamblers.

No land-based casino can monitor all the people who come through the doors.  Land-based casinos honour chips from other casinos.  So, a problem gambler can gamble in Vegas until their bankroll is used up and no one will know.  This cannot happen at a regulated and responsible online casino.

Earlier in 2017, the Tom Cruise-led move The Mummy hit cinemas, and it did not go down well. As the last set of films to come out bearing the same name (The Mummy, 1999, The Mummy Returns, 2001, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, 2008) were such a hit, it’s possible that people were expecting a more campy comedy adventure movie, but reviewers see fundamental flaws in the film itself.

While The Mummy 2017 was based more on the Universal Monsters film series from the 1930s through 1950s, it clearly didn’t live up to expectations. In fact, review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes has The Mummy standing at a rather rotten 16% rating from 252 reviews, as well as only 32% of the 46,590 audiences saying that they liked it. People cite many reasons, from fundamental flaws in the plot, an unlikable lead character, taking little bits from many old horror movies that it didn’t do anything original, all the way to the film simply failing to achieve anything of substance, but one reason may be the theme of the movie.

Games exploring the theme better

Source: Xbox Addict, via Twitter

One area of gaming which is booming right now, and has a huge array of games in the Ancient Egypt theme, is in casino games. Over at Spinit online casino, a wide range of Ancient Egypt themed games are played by iGaming enthusiasts, such as Rich Wilde and the Book of Dead, Temple of Luxor, Hidden, Platinum Pyramid, Pyramid: Quest for Immortality and Gods of Giza.

Another game that was recently released and, in quite the opposite to The Mummy, has turned out to be a huge hit after it was expected to flop, has been Assassin’s Creed: Origins. Taking the gameplay of Assassin’s Creed – which some see as played out – to Ancient Egypt has revitalized people’s love of the game thanks to its setting and all of the incredible elements included from the era. The well-rounded Ancient Egypt based game delves into the most intriguing aspects of the time, expanding far beyond the somewhat niche area that the movies have mostly focused on.

Going back to Ancient Egypt

Many movies have tried and failed to utilize the Ancient Egyptian theme to its maximum potential, and The Mummy was simply another casualty of this plight. The Mummy from 1999 managed to use the Ancient Egyptian theme as a basis for a lighter enactment as well as the fast-paced adventure, so it brought strong entertainment value to the film.

The mummified leaders, some human-form gods, and Christianity have been the focal points in films when other, more interesting areas of Ancient Egypt could result in fascinating and entertaining films. Ancient Egyptian movies could revolve around one or some of their many more interesting gods, such as Anubis, Horus, Thoth, Sobek, Amun-Ra, or Sekhmet (all of which could make for incredible viewing on the big screen if done well); or around the various times of the Egyptian kingdom and their many foes in both lower and upper Egypt; or the many mysteries surrounding their traditions and structures; or their connections to the Roman Empire.

STARBURST takes a look at </SCORPION>, a US TV show that may well have passed you by but is well worth checking out if you’re a fan of the likes of MR ROBOT and CSI…

Imagine if Sheldon Cooper from The Big Bang Theory had assembled his own version of The A-Team. Imagined it? Well, as flippant a comparison as that might be, it goes some way to offering a sense of what CBS show </SCORPION> is about. Instead of ex-Special Forces, each with their own individual, very specific set of skills, here we have a team of highly intelligent outsiders (and rather geeky outsiders at that), each with their own specific set of skills. Sound interesting? Well, in all honesty, it is, but there is also a curious background to the story, a background that follows the truth-is-stranger-than-fiction adage, and one which rather adds to the interest.

Walter O’Brien was born in County Wexford, Ireland in 1975. Growing up on a farm he attended the local school before continuing his education at the University of Sussex, where he obtained a bachelor’s degree in computer science and artificial intelligence. So far, so relatively normal. Except for one or two rather interesting ‘facts’. O’Brien claims to have an IQ of 197 – possibly the fourth highest ever recorded – and that aged just 13, he hacked into NASA under the pseudonym ‘Scorpion’; apparently, the teenager wanted to put blueprints of the space shuttle on his wall. He also claims that this led to his arrest by Homeland Security, but due to non-disclosure agreements signed at the time, cannot reveal anymore ‘facts’ about the event. Since then, he and Homeland Security have remained ‘in touch’, and O’Brien now runs Scorpion Computer Services, a think tank of geniuses.

Although this sounds very much like the standard preamble to a pilot show and too fantastical to be remotely true, and that may well be the case, O’Brien is very much a real person. He also stands firmly behind those claims to this day, although their validity is often questioned, and they remain unproven and unconfirmed. But, regardless of the legitimacy of the story, it does provide an intriguing basis upon which to produce a television show, and one that a few of Hollywood’s elite players including Alex Kurtzman (The Mummy, Star Trek), Justin Lin (Fast & Furious 6, Star Trek Beyond) and Roberto Orci (Transformers, The Amazing Spider-Man 2) decided to take on.

When transported into the sandbox world of television drama, O’Brien’s mythical background and history becomes fantastic stock material for writers, and compares favourably to anything in the Marvel or DC Universes; although in those worlds, O’Brien would undoubtedly be the villain, a genius gone bad. Here, however, he can be portrayed as the ‘nerd with a conscience’; a super-intelligent computer expert who, along with his equally eccentrically-natured friends, can offer assistance and help with problems no-one else in the world is equipped to deal with.

Taking on the lead role is Elyes Gabel, an actor who brings a necessary vulnerability to the character of O’Brien, while still retaining a little Sheldon-like disconnect with the larger world. Balancing that awkwardness is Homeland Security handler Cabe Gallo, played by former Terminator and fan favourite Robert Patrick. Patrick lends authority to the show, blending charismatic officialdom and fatherly protection with the experience of a film and television veteran. Jadyn Wong (Happy Quinn, mechanical engineer) and Ari Stidham (Sylvester Dodd, hyper-sensitive ‘human calculator’) add to the team, alongside American Pie alumnus Eddie Kaye Thomas (Finch) as behaviourist Toby Curtis. Perhaps the most interesting character on the team, and one who joins following the pilot episode is Paige Dineen. Played by Katharine McPhee, Paige is the token ‘normal’ person in the group. Her purpose is to liaise with clients and, well, anyone who encounters the team, providing empathy and understanding in situations generally too emotionally fraught or real for them to handle. As such, she plays the layman to O’Brien’s genius, allowing the explanation of complicated problems, and the complex solutions to said problems, to be less expositional and patronising than they could have been.

So, with all these interesting elements thrown together, what is it about </SCORPION> as a show that makes it interesting?

Firstly, it’s in the realism. While most of us may not fully appreciate the daily tribulations of being a genius in our particular field – although here at STARBURST we do believe our readers rank in the higher echelons of the population – the characters remain likeably relatable. The quirks and foibles displayed may be exaggerated for dramatic effect, but behind them are normal people just trying to get along. Add to that a wit and humour often more akin to a sitcom than a drama, and you have a firm footing for the show.

Secondly, there’s the heightened realism. When the opening episode features a set piece in which a sports car is being driven along a runway at top speed while a passenger jet flies just thirty feet above, and the co-pilot is hanging on the undercarriage trying to pass an Ethernet cable to someone in the car who’s working a laptop, you know you’re in for some extreme scenarios. The remit of the Scorpion team is to protect the world from complex new threats that the ordinary authorities are unable to handle, and the showrunners have certainly run with that mantra. If we also add that Justin Lin, who’s helmed a couple of films in the Fast & Furious franchise, directed that episode, you know you’re in for something spectacular.

The interactions between the characters are also key to the show, and much of the credit must go to the actors. Reeling off line after line of complicated, equation-riddled rhetoric with charm and conviction is not an easy skill, but each one inhabits their character with an air of comfort and ease. You instantly accept that these are people, Paige and Gallo aside, who have lived and worked together for some time. At the head of that and their leader is Gabel; for the most part sympathetic to his cohorts, but also tough when necessary, he bonds the group and provides the focal point for their adventures together.

There are a lot of television shows available now, an awful lot, so choosing a new one to begin is often a tough decision. What </SCORPION> brings is genre-spanning entertainment; drama mixed with action, all warmly wrapped around characters you’ll actually care about within a very short space of time. This isn’t a show that can draw on the resources of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., tackle the tension of 24 or reproduce the wit and dialogue of Sherlock. But what </SCORPION> does is draw on the strengths of those three shows – and many others – combining them to produce a truly enjoyable series that challenges you not to be entertained. Groundbreaking it may not be, but </SCORPION> is a show that fills a gap, a show that never takes itself too seriously and one that carries you along for the ride, purely for the hell of it.

And remember, it actually might all be true…

</SCORPION> will premiere on CBS Action on November 22nd at 19:00, continuing every weekday. Sky 148, Virgin 192, Freeview 39, and Freesat 137.

Anthology films are nothing new to horror cinema. The story collection format has been a hallmark of the genre, going all the way back to Paul Leni’s 1924 silent film, Waxworks. Leni’s film helped set the template for what viewers have come to expect from the horror anthology: a framing device helps set up the various stories that will be related over the course of the film, and then the mini-movies play out, returning to the interlinking tale in between each instalment. The omnibus usually wraps up with some sort of ironic twist ending, à la The Twilight Zone, before the credits roll.

It’s an effective setup, judging by the innumerable films that utilise the format: Tales from the Crypt and many other Amicus releases in the 1970s, Deadtime Stories and Creepshow in the 1980s, Grim Prairie Tales and Tales from the Hood in the 1990s, and all the way up through recent collections like Chillerama and the V/H/S series have all taken the anthology and made decent money and fandom from the format.

However, despite the success of these films with fans, there’s always something somewhat lacking in horror portmanteaus. Despite a robust frame tale, the real lack of through-line from one instalment to the next lends most collections feeling like compilations, rather than a proper movie. It was the rare feature such as 1985’s Cat’s Eye that managed to connect all the pieces in a robustly satisfying way. For the most part, anthologies have all had more in common with a dog-eared issue of Creepy than anything that might approach actual cinematic storytelling.

Lately, however, it seems that enterprising producers and directors are taking the anthology and making it into something more than just a collection, but rather a series of interconnected tales exploring a shared universe and characters. Michael Dougherty’s 2007 film, Trick ‘r Treat, took the concept of several tales all happening on the same night and became a movie that is definitely more than just a bunch of stories. Characters from one section pop up in the background of another, the story related in one instalment is shown in full later on, and the whole thing comes full circle by the end. It’s a brilliant concept, and was the high water mark for modern anthologies for the better part of a decade – that is, until the 2015 release of Southbound.

Southbound takes the idea of a shared cinematic universe for its short films and ups the ante in a big way. Premiering at the 2015 Toronto International Film Fest as part of the festival’s Midnight Madness lineup, Southbound immediately demonstrated that it was more than just another anthology. Toronto Film Scene writer Andrew Parker kicked off his review by stating that, “While anthology horror is back in vogue, the uniquely solid Southbound blows all other examples out of the water quite handily.”

It was a statement echoed by Perri Nemiroff at Collider, who went on to point out, in terms of anthology films, Southbound was “more even and has more connective tissue than most”, which really does a fine job of sorting out Southbound’s most enduring feature, which is that every story in the film is connected in some tangible way to the ones both preceding and succeeding it.

Starring everyone from musician David Yow of Jesus Lizard to stand-up comic Dana Gould, along with a slew of people whose faces you’re sure to recognise, Southbound hits a lot of genre sweet spots, while still offering up something new and exciting. The resulting film is one that bobs and weaves, interpolating strange creatures from beyond, wreaking vengeance on those who have done wrong, along with mystic symbolism, omniscient voices from beyond, and – obviously – ritual sacrifice.

There’s a lot of blood – an awful lot, really – but there’s a surprising amount of black humour to be found in every section. Even as Mather Zickel’s character, Lucas, is carrying the battered body of the young woman he nearly obliterated with his car, the viewer will find themselves giggling as things begin to fall apart (literally) in his hands. That levity keeps the film tied to its evolution from those previous V/H/S anthologies, all of which had at least one instalment which played in the realm of comedy for a minute or two, such as the bonkers final segment of V/H/S/2, Slumber Party Alien Abduction.

One of the film’s producer, Brad Miska – who also helped bring the V/H/S films to the screen – explained that the concept behind Southbound was that everyone involved wanted to make a film that was fresh and exciting and that while Trick ‘r Treat was definitely a movie they enjoyed, that wasn’t the primary inspiration.

“If anything, it was sort of a response to the V/H/S rip-offs and other anthologies that were coming out that felt lazy,” Miska told us. “We wanted to try and further the anthology and do something that felt different, even though Trick ‘r Treat will always be the gold standard.”

Southbound is certainly anything but lazy, and even goes one further than Trick ‘r Treat. Whereas that film features narratives that interweave, Southbound’s stories also lead from one to the other in a sequential fashion that’s not only direct but cyclical. All of the characters in this dusty desert universe pass by one another, if not interacting directly. It’s a complicated skein from which to pull, but it really succeeds in making Southbound a film that bears up under multiple viewings.

On a basic level, the interconnectedness begins when Mitch (Chad Villella), from opening tale The Way Out, enters a hotel where the band The White Tights are staying in the next instalment, Siren. At the end of Siren, The White Tights’ Sadie (Fabianne Therese) runs into the road to be hit by the protagonist of The Accident, who is on the phone with Sandy (Maria Olsen), who leaves the door open in The Trap, allowing Danny (Yow) to enter in. Finally, it’s Danny’s sister who attracts the notice of Jem (Hassie Harrison) in The Way In, who is killed by Mitch from The Way Out.

The original idea for Southbound came from the fact that Miska had a concept for a new kind of anthology and started talking with writer Matt Bettinelli-Olpin back and forth a bit, as well as some communication with directing team Radio Silence, with whom Miska had worked on the V/H/S segment, 10/31/98.

“[Radio Silence] came back and put their own spin on my nugget of an idea, and really wanted it to feel seamless,” Miska says. “It was the seed of a direction but enough to start discussing at lengths. I immediately called Roxanne Benjamin – one of my favorite people, who produced V/H/S and V/H/S/2 with me – and asked if she’d do this project with me. She asked, ‘Can I direct one?’“

Miska had no hesitation in her getting behind the camera because, he says, she’s incredibly talented, and Miska knew “she would kick ass” –  which she does, knocking it out of the park with the film’s strongest segment, Siren, about a garage rock trio encountering a strange family after blowing a tire. Benjamin then rounded David Bruckner back up, and Miska was able to get MPI Media to back it based off a pitch. From there, Miska continues, they mixed in Patrick Horvath, who would do Jailbreak, arguably the film’s strangest segment. Miska had always wanted Horvath for V/H/S, so it was a bit of a coup. From there, the writers, directors, and producers started a sort of brain trust.

“Everyone would meet to discuss ideas and plans, and worked together to create the seamless atmosphere,” explains Miska. “The biggest win, I think, was the decision to shoot in the desert.”

The desert setting of Southbound is vast and uncompromising, and it is desolate, although sparsely populated. The film is almost monochromatic in how washed-out the harsh, unceasing sunshine makes everything, be it during daylight or nighttime. The heat’s almost palpable and lends a certain panicked urgency to every character and their situation. Along with the omnipresent radio DJ – voiced by genre icon Larry Fessenden – the desert is both the connective tissue of and character in the film.

The decision to make the segments all part of one overarching story came from Radio Silence, who wanted them to interweave and the producers decided on the desert setting.

“Once everyone started bringing in treatments we played around to see in what order they work,” Miska continues. “It’s dangerous because you’re committing to that lineup and there’s no reorganising it. Also, it was tough having to use the same crew for the entire shoot, although it was the best I’ve ever worked with. It was like the best summer camp ever.”

Also connecting the film is the way the brain trust worked together. When talking with Miska, the topic of coordinating five interweaving stories came up, especially given that the V/H/S films have a wraparound story, but the interior sections are mostly disconnected from one another, whereas Southbound’s segments tie into one another quite a bit. The producer described it as akin to making several films at once.

“As somebody who loves puzzles, making an anthology is a super frustrating and nearly impossible task that feels incredibly rewarding when assembled,” he says. “It’s a lot of fun figuring out how to put all the pieces together and make it work. You also get to work with several talented people at once and build relationships that last a lifetime.”

In terms of impact, Southbound made a big splash on the festival circuit, and then again on home video, as well as when Mondo released the film’s score by the Gifted on vinyl earlier this year. However, it keeps finding fans, especially now that it’s streaming. Being able to call the film up on Amazon Prime means that someone might just happen upon it, and end up pleasantly surprised – much like Miska’s relations.

“Personally, I love that was able to actually show my family. As proud of V/H/S as I am, it was embarrassing and weird showing that film to friends and family who don’t like horror,” Miska explains. “Southbound is safe enough for anyone, and we were really proud to make something that looked so gorgeous, which juxtaposes how ‘ugly’ the V/H/S films were.”

The producer explains that the look of Southbound was something they tried to do this with the V/H/S: Viral segment, Gorgeous Vortex by Todd Lincoln, but fans rejected it in a big way.

“Which bums me out,” Miska says because he thinks it’s stunning. “I loved how unapologetic we were with that franchise – but, hey, Southbound was for the V/H/S haters in some way, I guess.”

Given that film is circular and cyclical, and that the fan theories as to what the hidden meanings of the different segments allude, spawn a fascinating rabbit hole down which to escape, it almost seems like a given that Southbound would have some sort of follow-up in the works, in the way V/H/S has spawned both a franchise and a spin-off in SiREN. When asked if he foresees any expansion of the Southbound universe, however, Miska’s, unfortunately, a little uncertain.

“Possibly,” replies Miska. “We have some ideas, but everyone is super busy right now. Producer Chris Harding has been trying to rope everyone into a room, but I’m not sure it’ll ever come to fruition. It’s a bummer because I think we have an INSANE concept.”

That said, Miska will continue to work on Bloody Disgusting, the horror movie news and reviews site he co-founded in 2001, as well as working on new projects.

“I’m a masochist who likes playing with fire, so I’m doing an indie sci-fi film,” Miska concludes. “Indie and sci-fi are two words that when combined could combust.”

SOUTHBOUND débuts on Horror Channel on October 29th. Sky 319, Virgin 149, Freeview 70, Freesat 138.

STARBURST takes a look back at classic John Carpenter film BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA …

“I’m not saying I’ve been everywhere and done everything. But I do know this is a pretty amazing planet we live on here. And a man would have to be some kind of fool to think we’re all alone in this universe.”

Wise, prophetic words spoken by truck driver Jack Burton at the beginning of what is one of the most iconic, well-loved and significant films of the ‘80s. Rarely does a film capture the imagination quite in the way this one does, combining Chinese mysticism and magic with the modern day; blending the exuberance of a boy’s own adventure with elements of horror, while its cast delivers some of the best one-liners ever committed to screen.

In fact, only one film truly does all this: Big Trouble in Little China.

If you are unfamiliar with John Carpenter’s masterpiece – we’ll leave that there and come back to it later – this is a film of unwitting adventurers battling an ancient evil; a simple, age-old story in essence. Simply plotted at heart, a tale of largely unprepared heroes-in-waiting setting out to rescue two women selected for marriage and/or sacrifice to a millennial Chinese sorcerer so that he may have eternal life. Well, perhaps not so simple, but let’s go back to the beginning.

At the dawning of the ‘80s, John Carpenter could do no wrong. Assault On Precinct 13 (1976) and his seminal slasher movie Halloween (1978) had established the writer, director, and composer as one of the key talents in the genre. While The Fog (1980) received a negative critical response, it still proved a commercial success, and Carpenter carried that momentum into making the cult favourite Escape from New York (1981) and horror staple The Thing (1982), both featuring Kurt Russell. But despite his relationship with horror, the director sought to try a new genre and after the award-friendly Starman (1984), he began to look for a martial-arts inspired script to fulfil a long-held ambition. Carpenter sated that ambition with Big Trouble in Little China.

“Ol’ Jack always says… what the hell?”

Originally conceived as a Western that incorporated Oriental influences by first-time screenwriters Gary Goldman and David Z. Weinstein, Big Trouble in Little China underwent various re-writes and alterations before Hollywood script doctor W. D. Richter was brought in by 20th Century Fox. With essentially everything from the original discarded, apart from the story of bad guy Lo Pan, Fox first offered the script to Carpenter in 1985. With Kurt Russell, Kim Cattrall, and Dennis Dun now on board the film finally went into production and was released to a lukewarm reception on July 2nd, 1986. With mixed reviews from the critics, and an uninspiring box office, how did this mishmash of cultural references and corny gags become one of the most beloved films of the decade? Watching Big Trouble in China now, the answer seems strangely obvious.

The first thing you notice about the film is the effortless chemistry between the actors. Reversing the usual trope, Russell’s Jack Burton is more a sidekick to Dun’s central Wang Chi, playing a more incompetent, everyman role than the Indian Jones-like character you would expect. The plot is driven by Wang Chi’s obsessive search for his kidnapped bride, and Burton is as much along for the ride as he is an able assistant in the quest. The witty dialogue feels as natural as it is funny, and you’re drawn to the true sense of friendship and respect between the pair. Add in a wonderfully over-acting, exposition-spouting Kim Cattrall as Gracie Law, part love interest for Burton, part brains of the group, and Victor Wong’s enigmatic local mystic, you have a core cast that blends perfectly.

There is also that extraordinary premise of the story. The early ‘80s was a period of cinema dominated by blockbusters such as Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) and Ghostbusters (1984), and horror had built on a strong late-‘70s with films such as Scanners (1981) and A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984). The fantasy genre was also experiencing a resurgence with and Dragonslayer (1981) and, most notably, Conan the Barbarian (1982) and its sequels. But with Big Trouble in Little China, Carpenter combined key elements from all those genres into a film that defies standard classification, and is all the stronger for it. Seat-of-pants action scenes, dark-magic-wielding bad guys, beautiful but strong damsels to be rescued… and, of course, true heroes. This is a film that challenges the conventional and discards traditional Hollywood rules, replacing them with bold, brash and brave filmmaking that, as mentioned, was met with mixed reactions at the time of its 1986 release.

Over the past thirty years or so, this outlandish comedy-horror-action-kung fu-thriller has grown in stature, rightly becoming one of the most revered and respected films of the decade.

“Sit tight, hold the fort, keep the home fires burning. And if we’re not back by dawn… call the President.”

So, what makes this John Carpenter’s masterpiece?

More than any other film he has made, Big Trouble in Little China is a John Carpenter-y film. The themes and tropes we are so used to seeing throughout his films are strikingly present here. A long-time fan of Westerns, all Carpenter’s films feature references to this genre but Kurt Russell’s Jack Burton ‘riding’ into town on his Pork-Chop Express resonates more than most. The challenge faced by an unlikely band of heroes, up against a seemingly invincible foe continues the Western theme. Never has Carpenter’s wry, cynical sense of humour been more present than it is in Big Trouble in Little China; Burton’s endless one-liners hiding both the character’s confusion at the situation he’s facing, and offering a blue-collar bravado also present in Carpenter and Russell characters Snake Plissken (Escape from New York) and R. J. MacReady (The Thing). The electric, synthesised soundtrack so synonymous from Carpenter’s films is both pounding and melodic here, with the main theme (Pork-Chop Express) a career highlight.

There is so much to relish. But the one, single most significant element that sets Big Trouble in Little China apart from any other John Carpenter film is its sheer, unashamed, unflinching enjoyability. From the opening scene of Victor Wong’s Egg Shen demonstrating Chinese magic to an office full of sceptical policemen, to Jack Burton’s final monologue aboard the Pork-Chop Express, this is a film resplendent in its ridiculousness, and revelling in its reverie. Almost every genre is touched by the unstoppably entertaining narrative, and the cultural importance of how balanced the interracial characters are should not be underestimated.

Big Trouble in Little China would be a masterpiece in any filmmaker’s career, but in one as prolific and influential as that of John Carpenter, it is an even greater achievement. So, take care of yourselves out there, always look that big ol’ storm right square in the eye and, as seems fitting, we’ll leave you with the words of the great Jack Burton himself…

“When some wild-eyed, eight-foot-tall maniac grabs your neck, taps the back of your favourite head up against the barroom wall, and he looks you crooked in the eye and he asks you if ya paid your dues, you just stare that big sucker right back in the eye and you remember what ol’ Jack Burton always says at a time like that.”

“Have ya paid your dues, Jack?”

“Yessir, the cheque is in the mail.”

Get reacquainted with BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA when it screens on Horror Channel on September 30th. Sky 319, Freeview 70, Virgin 149, Freesat 138.