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| Christine
Year: 1983
Classification: Horror
Directed:
- John Carpenter
Actors/Actresses:
- Kelly Preston as Roseanne
- Keith Gordon
- John Stockwell
Christine (1983)
Director: John CarpenterBR>Cast: Keith Gordon, John Stockwell, Alexandra Paul, Robert Prosky, Harry Dean Stanton.BR>Running Time: 110 minutes.BR>Rated R for violence and language; not nearly as graphic as it could be--a Carpenter trait.
Based on Stephen King's highly popular bestselling novel, "Christine" is perhaps director John Carpenter's second best film (behind "Halloween", obviously) and a sure-fire treat for all those who enjoy King adaptations, Carpenter created films, or just good ol' fashioned suspense. The film centers around a demonically possessed 1958 Plymouth Fury with a strange history--the workers who completed the construction of the car were mysteriously killed and the initial owner of the vehicle took his own life after his wife suddenly died.
Keith Gordon stars as Archie Cunningham, a classic geek in high school who wears nerdy frames and eats packed yogurt for lunch. He is the butt of many jokes, but jock star Ryan Stockwell is still his best buddy. After school one day, Archie comes across Christine, the devilish car. He fixes her up and proceeds to become obsessed by her. A new-found confidence prompts Arnie to ask the cutest girl in the school (Alexandra Paul) out for a date and they quickly fall in love--but Christine does not approve. The car demands Arnie's complete and unquestioned devotion and when outsiders seek to interfere, they become the victim's of Christine's horrifying wrath.
A superb performance from Gordon in the lead role, transforming himself from a laughing stock class dork to an arrogant, obscene maniac who gets so comsumed with Christine that will be anything to preserve the safety of the car. Excellent script from Bill Phillips, unraveling the King masterpiece with a quick deliberance that keeps the audience on the edge of their toes and waiting for Christine's next move. Outstanding direction and musical score creation by Carpenter, using specific lighting arrangements and camera angles to add to the suspense, all the while producing a terrifying musical accompanyment. Even though it is not overly terryfying with sudden jolts of scares, "Christine" is horror/suspense at its very best and a hidden gem of the thriller genre. One of the best, most unheralded horror films of the early part of the decade.
What's Under This Hood Is Purely And Simply EVIL
Stephen King's novels have formed the basis for a great many horror films over the last quarter century. Some have been superlative (CARRIE, THE SHINING), others just terrible (PET SEMATARY, MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE). CHRISTINE can be counted among the superlative ones. Under the expert hands of HALLOWEEN director John Carpenter, this film provides the requisite chills and atmosphere minus a lot of unnecessary blood and gore.
Keith Gordon stars as a geeky high school student named Arnie Cunningham who is always getting picked upon by the local school bullies (sound familiar?). But when he eyes a rusted old 1957 Plymouth Fury, his life really turns around. Over the objections of his best friend (John Stockwell), he fixes it up at a local garage (run by a salty-tongued Robert Prosky) to a point where the car is as good as new. Gordon even starts up a relationship with the high school dream queen (Alexandra Paul). There's just one problem, though. Christine won't let it go that far.
For this '57 Fury is definitely possessed, and pretty soon it takes possession of Gordon. When the school bullies retaliate against Gordon by trashing Christine, the car repairs itself and goes after the perpetrators one by one. But the car also reacts in a jealous and homicidal way against Paul, who nearly chokes on a hamburger at a drive-in with Gordon. And when Paul and Stockwell come to realize that Gordon is indeed totally over the edge, they plot to destroy the car, using a bulldozer inside Prosky's garage. Unfortunately, Gordon dies in the final melee. And although Christine itself seems to be crushed to a metal cube, in the tag end scene, a metal piece can be seen repairing itself...
Although the setting of the film is changed from King's novel (there, it was western Pennsylvania; in the film, it's southern California), CHRISTINE for the most part stays true to the basic essentials of the book in its depiction of high school bullies and teenage life during 1978-79, which is the era depicted. There is a certain appropriateness to having Christine's radio play nothing but early rock and roll records, like Little Richard's "Keep A Knockin'", and Thurston Harris' "Little Bitty Pretty One", while most of the other songs are of the late 70s ("Runaway" by Bonnie Raitt, "Bad To The Bone" by George Thorogood and the Delaware Destroyers).
Carpenter makes sure that the emphasis on the movie is on the situations in Gordon's life that lead him to Christine, and how letting his life get totally dominated by that car eventually scares the living daylights out of Stockwell and Paul. Furthermore, he does this in the same suspenseful fashion that made HALLOWEEN work to such a tee. His and Alan Howarth's synthesizer-dominated music score lends further atmosphere to the proceedings. Some may complain about the slight excess of profanity in the screenplay, but it is typical of King's work and appropriate in the way it depicts teenage behavior.
CHRISTINE does, as man
Horrible- if you read the book
This movie was the biggest disappointment of any Stephen Kings books. If anyone read the book they would know about the deep characters built, and the story line. Instead the worthless John Carpenter skipped the real story of Christine, didn't even have the Lebay alive at the beginning and just his brother- please. This is like a movie version if you bought Cliff notes. I was never more disappointed in a SK book to movie in my life.
Buy Christine at Amazon.com
Buy posters at Allposters.com
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