Christine (1982)

[slayrrr666]

Another of the "Never-ending Shame" series, and with one more to go, I'm nearly done:

“Christine” is one of the better imaginings of Stephen King’s works.

**SPOILERS**

In 1957, one of the cars on the assembly line in Detroit seems cursed from the beginning. Strange events plague its creation for over twenty years, where geeky Arnie Cunningham (Keith Gordon) needs to break away from his domineering mother (Christine Belford). His friend Dennis (John Stockwell) agrees, since he’s tired of protecting him from the goons at school. While driving home, he and Dennis spot the fabled car collecting rust on a farm and buys it against Dennis’ and his parents wishes. Fixing it up causes Arnie to start acting differently around Dennis and his mother, which causes everyone around him to become concerned for him. Suddenly, people around Arnie begin dying in mysterious ways, and a police inspector (Harry Dean Stanton) comes in to investigate the case, and discovers something that defies explanation. Soon, Dennis and Arnie’s girlfriend Leigh (Alexandra Paul) have to try to help Arnie from being in Christine’s deadly grasp.

The Good News: This is probably as action-packed a film as Stephen King will ever do, and Carpenter was the perfect choice to do so. He uses such a great style with his trademark of not showing too much and only what is needed is a style that suits this movie perfectly. We get so many scenes that could’ve been ruined which weren’t because of the way Carpenter shoots the movie. His way of filming is the only kind that would’ve worked for the film. Once we get going, the film is non-stop until the end. Seeing the car hunt down the people who have deserved it are some of the greatest action/suspense scenes ever filmed. Special mention goes to the one scene where it mowed down the lead bully. After killing his two friends earlier, the bully takes off into the night, running down the street. Christine takes off after him, flaming from being in the middle of a fire, and the flaming car is chasing after him down the street. It is a wonder site to behold, seeing the flaming car in action. A lot more action than what was expected, and even some great suspense as well. The radio constantly turning on, the car’s ability to simply appear out of nowhere, and the creepiness that follows when you know you are being followed are some great examples. Seeing the car is like a warning that something will happen, and the uselessness of running is seen in the few lives taken in the film. All this aside, the one thing that really got me was the theme. This has to be one of Carpenters most underrated themes ever, and I think it is just as creepy and fear inducing as “Halloween’s” theme was. This is the perfect theme for the movie, as it gets under your skin and keeps you on the edge of your seat at the same time. This has great theme music for the film that helps out to keep the viewer interested in the action and the scene.

The Bad News: The movie could’ve had a faster opening, but this is it. The beginning was slow to start, but after that, it was great.

The Final Verdict: Christine is a major classic that many horror fans need to see. It is a master example of setting up a scene and getting to a level of suspense through characters and action. Required viewing for Carpenter fans and all supernatural fans.

Rated R: Graphic Language, Violence and mild drug use

[Quorthon]

I absolutely love this movie and the book. In fact, the movie follows the book fairly closely. Far closer than, say, Jurassic Park's movie followed the book.

One major difference, however, was that the car wasn't just alive in the book. The corpsey spirit of the previous owner was driving it as well.

I also love that car--I think it may have something to do with my admiration for 50's cars. 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air--best car ever.

[Termination]

1982?? WoW, I didn't remember it being that old. I first watched it when I was only 5 or 6 than.

Glad you liked it slayrrr666. Christine is one of my favorite "car" movies period! From the start of the film, yeah ok, it did start out slow, no arguments there, but at least there were a few good scenes while it was being made in the factory. I don't know any movies where the "car" is the villain. What I liked about this movie the most was the cars ability to fix itself. For 1982 those were some pretty damn good f/x.

[Quorthon]

**SPOILER**

That's about my favorite scene in the entire movie:

Arnie: "Okay. Show me."

Car repairs itself for Arnie. I wish I had a car like that. One that kills people. Er, I mean, one that repairs itself... Oopsy.

[slayrrr666]

I was thinking about adding that scene in the review, but didn't know if that would be spoiling it, and I know how you guys hate my spoilers, but since you mentioned it, I will now repeatedly kick myself in the balls for not doing so. It was a great scene in the film and drove home so much suspense that followed.

[Quorthon]

That scene's kind of a toss-up. It's a famous horror scene that most everyone knows about, but also, it's very important to the story.

Were you surprised when you first saw the car fix itself? Should I put a Spoiler Warning on my last post?

[slayrrr666]

That was my dilema, Q. I loved the scene, but thought it was too important for the plot to give away. I'd just put the word in capital letters like I do and leave it at that.