Christine

1983 "How do you kill something that can't possibly be alive?"
6.8| 1h50m| R| en| More Info
Released: 09 December 1983 Released
Producted By: Columbia Pictures
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website: http://www.theofficialjohncarpenter.com/christine/
Synopsis

Nerdy high schooler Arnie Cunningham falls for Christine, a rusty 1958 Plymouth Fury, and becomes obsessed with restoring the classic automobile to her former glory. As the car changes, so does Arnie, whose newfound confidence turns to arrogance behind the wheel of his exotic beauty. Arnie's girlfriend Leigh and best friend Dennis reach out to him, only to be met by a Fury like no other.

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Reviews

Exoticalot People are voting emotionally.
Moustroll Good movie but grossly overrated
Stevecorp Don't listen to the negative reviews
InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.
Sam Panico Christine was not a film John Carpenter had planned on directing, as most of his films were personal projects, not just jobs. But after the poor reception that The Thing received, he needed a project that would jump-start his career. It may not be frightening. But sometimes, you need to make money to live on.Richard Kobritz, who produced Salem's Lot, was given some two unpublished manuscripts from King to consider for their next film adaptation. He chose this one over Cujo, as he felt that story was silly. One was "Christine" and the other was "Cujo." Korbitz chose Christine because he thought Cujo was too silly.This film was already in production as the book was being published. In its original prose form, it's made clear that the original owner of the car, Roland D. LeBay, is the one possessing it. But in the film, from day one, there's an evil force that powers this 1958 Plymouth Fury (a '57 and two other Plymouth models, the Belvedere and the Savoy, were also used to create the car).That malevolent spirit shows up on the assembly line, when Christine cuts a man's hand off and then kills another worker who dares to ash his cigar on her upholstery.Fast-forward 21 years and Arnie Cunningham (Keith Gordon, Dressed to Kill) has only one friend - Dennis (John Stockwell, who became a director and helmed Blue Crush, Turistas and Crazy/Beautiful, amongst others). His life gets better when he buys Christine for $250, an action that no one understands.Arnie not only restores the car, he restores himself. Tossing his glasses, he begins to become more arrogant and dresses like a 1950's greaser. That allows him to hook up with the new girl in town, Leigh.Dennis worries about Arnie, so he begins to study the dark past of his car - like how it killed its previous owner and his family. It tries to do the same to Leigh, jealous of anyone who gets close to its owner.After a fight with Arnie leads to him being expelled, Buddy Repperton and his gang completely destroy Christine. As Arnie watches, it comes back to life, repairing itself and hunts the gang down, one by one. There's an incredibly directed scene here where a flaming Christine (obviously this scene influenced the close of The Strangers: Prey at Night) chases Buddy to his death.The murders don't stop there, as Christine even kills Darnell (Robert Protsky, Grandpa Fred from Gremlins 2), the owner of the garage where Arnie fixed up the car. This leads state policeman Rudolph Junkins (Harry Dean Stanton, always a welcome face) to investigate Arnie.Dennis and Leigh try to save Arnie by luring Christine to Darnell's. They think it's just the car coming to battle them, but Arnie is behind the wheel as it crashes, sending him flying through the windshield to his death. They finally get the car into a crusher, but even as it's deposited into a junkyard as a cube, it's already reforming to the tune of "Bad to the Bone." If you look close enough, the singer of that song, George Thorogood, is working in the junkyard.There's a lot more that was jettisoned from the book, like how crooked Darnell was, the romance between Leigh and Dennis, Junkins getting killed by Christine and her coming back and hunting down the rest of the gang after she's crushed.There's just enough Carpenter (and a great score alongside frequent collaborator Alan Howarth) to make this movie worthwhile. It's not the best of his films. Nor the best King film. But it's an enjoyable enough way to pass ninesome oddodd minutes.
darill-28027 I truly enjoyed this movie when I first went to see it at the theater. Of course I was a kid then. However, I have always look forward for part 2 to come out but that never happened. I was disappointed by that because the movie had misled me to thinking there would be a 2nd part of it. I would love to see a reboot of this movie so then they can continue on to make part 2 of it. I can understand it would have to be a different car since the car is very old now. But that's no problem. A reboot would be awesome!
chimera3 To this day, I both love and fear muscle cars because of the way that they were built. I guess my love and fear for them started after I first read this book (I was about 9 or 10) and then watched the movie. Whenever I see someone selling a muscle car (and that is usually a rare occurrence), I smile and then just walk away. You may never know the history behind those cars. As I said, they are meant to be revered and to be feared because while they are truly beautiful to look at, they are also dangerous to be near because they don't have seat belts and you would definitely be in a world of hurt if you ever got into an accident. They are also made of solid steel, not like fiberglass with today's cars.If a car like "Christine" were to be on the road today against our modern-day cars, it would be no contest. That is the beauty behind a good Stephen King story. You have to be very careful whom you encounter, whether it be an animate object (like a person or an animal) or an inanimate object (like a car or laundry machine). Without giving anything away, it is just that simple. When you have someone like King team up with John Carpenter for one of these stories, you have to really watch your step. Like with so many others, this one will definitely have you watch your back when you walk down the street and see a red muscle car that looks like Christine.
zkonedog Right off the bat, there are two ways of interpreting this film: If you haven't read the novel, you might find it a decent effort from filmmaker John Carpenter. If you have read the Stephen King masterpiece, you'll be left feeling more than a bit unsatisfied.For a basic plot summary, "Christine" tells the story of an evil car who first grips young Arnie Cunningham (Keith Gordon) with "her" menace, then schemes to murder his best friend Dennis (John Stockwell) & girlfriend Leigh (Alexandra Paul).The one nice thing I have to say about this film is that, if having read the book, it provides some nice visuals. The characters are roughly what I pictured while reading, and the car scenes are very well done.Unfortunately, the pleasantries end there. The plot (so magnificent at the pen of King) is an utter mess via Carpenter's camera, while the characters are more like caricatures of the actual King lifebloods. I realize that some things need to be chopped in the name of film, but this was one of the worst jobs I've ever seen. Without the knowledge that the book gives, I can't see anyone getting into this movie on an level deeper than "horror flick".To top things off, director Carpenter tries to add his "Halloween touch" by using the same visual style and music (almost to a "tee") as the first two Halloween films. What a rip-off! It really doesn't add much to this middling effort, and just made me think of Carpenter as a one-track wonder.Thus, this film can easily be skipped before or after reading the novel. If the material must be covered in some format, leave the storytelling to Mr. King...in this case, where it belongs.