Christine starts in 'Detroit, 1957' where a brand new red Plymouth Fury rolls off the production line, as a mechanic works on it his fingers become trapped as the bonnet shuts on them & in another incident later on that day a man is found dead in the front... The film informs us that it's 'Rockbridge, California September 12 1978' & Arnie Cunningham (Keith Gordon) is your average typical school nerd complete with dorky spectacles & who gets picked on by Buddy Repperton (William Ostrander) & his gang of mates. While driving home from school one day with his best friend Dennis (John Stockwell) he notices a beat up car for sale, a red Plymouth Fury. After talking with the cars owner George LeBay (Roberts Blossom) Arnie decide to buy it & fix it up himself at a do-it-yourself garage run by the overweight foul-mouthed Will Darnell (Robert Prosky). Within a few weeks the car which is now known as Christine is as good as new & Arnie has undergone a transformation, he is now confident, doesn't wear geeky glasses anymore & is dating Leigh Cabot (Alexandra Paul), one of the prettiest girls in school. Then Arnie changes even more, he becomes selfish, forgets about his old friends, he becomes aggressive & uncaring as Christine takes over his life. When Buddy & his gang smash Christine up Arnie & Christine set out for revenge...
Directed by John Carpenter I really didn't think too much of Christine as a whole, although certain aspects show the idea had promise & potential. Christine was in fact based on a novel by Stephen King & was one of three King adaptations in '83, the other's were David Cronenberg's thriller The Dead Zone (1983) & Lewis Teague's rabid dog horror Cujo (1983), King was so popular at this point that the film Christine apparently went into production before the book Christine was published. The script was written by Bill Phillips & I have to admit right now that I have not read King's book that Christine is based upon, it's only been a few hours since I finished watching it & all I can think about is how silly a premise it is. I mean a possessed car that can rebuild itself? Quite why Christine is possessed & by whom or what I don't know as the film never explains this which is odd considering that in my opinion it's a pretty important aspect to the plot. Christine is a little on the slow side too with not much happening during the first half of the film while Buddy & his gang sometimes feel at odds with the rest of the film & only ever appear to either be antagonists or to be killed off as they otherwise get no screen time. Apart from Buddy & co. the character's in Christine are actually very well developed & surprisingly I found myself liking & caring for them from the beat upon nerd Arnie & the cool cop Rudolph Junkins (Harry Dean Stanton) to the funny foul-mouthed Darnell, some really good acting also helps. I was also pleasantly surprised to find an original film for a change & something just a bit different, I don't think I've seen another film quite like it anyway. Technically Christine is polished, with a supposed budget of about $9,700,000 it's certainly well made with some great special effects when Christine rebuilds herself & a cool ending scene with Christine against a Bulldozer. The cinematography is fine, the synthesiser type music reminds heavily of Halloween (1978) & the production design is nice enough. Director Carpenter creates some good sequences especially as a flame covered Christine hunts Buddy down chasing him & eventually running him over. There is no gore or violence really, a burning body & a broken slither of glass in someone's stomach, that's it. The acting is strong throughout which helps bring the character's to life. While Christine isn't exactly a brilliant film, it's slow & very silly, it entertained to an extent & at least it tries to be different & have strong character's. Hard to recommend but I think Christine has some merits that unfortunately are lost within & outweighed by it's negative aspects, worth a watch for King & horror fans alike but everyone else should probably give it a miss I'm afraid.
Directed by John Carpenter I really didn't think too much of Christine as a whole, although certain aspects show the idea had promise & potential. Christine was in fact based on a novel by Stephen King & was one of three King adaptations in '83, the other's were David Cronenberg's thriller The Dead Zone (1983) & Lewis Teague's rabid dog horror Cujo (1983), King was so popular at this point that the film Christine apparently went into production before the book Christine was published. The script was written by Bill Phillips & I have to admit right now that I have not read King's book that Christine is based upon, it's only been a few hours since I finished watching it & all I can think about is how silly a premise it is. I mean a possessed car that can rebuild itself? Quite why Christine is possessed & by whom or what I don't know as the film never explains this which is odd considering that in my opinion it's a pretty important aspect to the plot. Christine is a little on the slow side too with not much happening during the first half of the film while Buddy & his gang sometimes feel at odds with the rest of the film & only ever appear to either be antagonists or to be killed off as they otherwise get no screen time. Apart from Buddy & co. the character's in Christine are actually very well developed & surprisingly I found myself liking & caring for them from the beat upon nerd Arnie & the cool cop Rudolph Junkins (Harry Dean Stanton) to the funny foul-mouthed Darnell, some really good acting also helps. I was also pleasantly surprised to find an original film for a change & something just a bit different, I don't think I've seen another film quite like it anyway. Technically Christine is polished, with a supposed budget of about $9,700,000 it's certainly well made with some great special effects when Christine rebuilds herself & a cool ending scene with Christine against a Bulldozer. The cinematography is fine, the synthesiser type music reminds heavily of Halloween (1978) & the production design is nice enough. Director Carpenter creates some good sequences especially as a flame covered Christine hunts Buddy down chasing him & eventually running him over. There is no gore or violence really, a burning body & a broken slither of glass in someone's stomach, that's it. The acting is strong throughout which helps bring the character's to life. While Christine isn't exactly a brilliant film, it's slow & very silly, it entertained to an extent & at least it tries to be different & have strong character's. Hard to recommend but I think Christine has some merits that unfortunately are lost within & outweighed by it's negative aspects, worth a watch for King & horror fans alike but everyone else should probably give it a miss I'm afraid.