Christine

Steven Haynes
Oct 29, 2016
2 min read

In my last post I wrote about In The Mouth Of Madness, John Carpenter's film about a Stephen King style writer. So today I thought I would take a look back at a Carpenter adaptation of a King novel, 1983's Christine.

A nerdy, teenage outcast named Arnie, Keith Gordon, spots a rundown 1958 Plymouth Fury for sale one day on his way home from school. He instantly feels a bond with the car and buys it against the wishes of his parents and best friend Dennis, John Stockwell. Once he has the car, that he names Christine, he begins to change. He loses his glasses and becomes cooler, even landing a date with the popular girl in school named Leigh, Alexandra Paul. But his sweet manner also disappears and he starts to act like a jerk. It turns out that the car has a life of it's own and has a strange, almost girlfriend like, hold on Arnie. Christine will also mow down anyone who gets in Arnie's way or comes between them. Dennis and Leigh team up to try and stop Christine and hopefully rescue their friend from the sinister hold that the car has on him.

King's writing and Carpenter's direction really compliment one another. Oddly enough, Carpenter didn't want to make this movie, but after The Thing bombed at the box office, he felt he needed to take it to keep his career afloat. He felt that it wasn't that scary. That being said, he doesn't phone it in and delivers a solid picture, like he does most of the time.

The cast, which also includes Harry Dean Stanton and Robert Prosky, is great, especially Gordon. He makes you feel sympathy for the character even when he's gone over to the dark side. The studio originally wanted Scott Baio in the role of Arnie and Brooke Shields in the role of Leigh. Luckily they decided to go with unknowns. Kevin Bacon was then cast as Arnie, but decided to pass on it so he could do Footloose. For me, it's hard to imagine anyone but Gordon in the role. Both Gordon and Stockwell are director's now.

King and Carpenter share a love of classic rock n roll, which works in favor of the movie. The songs used are a perfect fit. George Thorogood and the Destroyers Bad To the Bone, which has been used a lot in films since Christine, has never been used to such great effect as it is here.