Film Review: Christine (1983)

Nine years after Carrie turned Stephen King into master of American horror literature and five years after Halloween turned John Carpenter into master of American horror films those two reputations converged in Christine, Carpenter’s adaptation of King’s best-selling novel. The resulting film, while having solid quality, was deemed underwhelming by most of the critics.

The plot begins in 1957 Detroit car factory when freshly produced Plymouth Fury gets involved in two separate incidents leaving one of the workers maimed and another killed. In 1978 the same car is rusting in Rockbridge, California before he is spotted by Arnie Cunningham (played by Keith Gordon), nerdish high student who depends on Dennis Guilder (played by John Stockwell), his only friend and school athlete, for transportation. He gets an idea to get it and, despite disapproval by Dennis and his parents, buys it from menacing-looking George LeBay (played by Roberts Blossom) and names it “Christine”. He then spends all of his free time and local do-it-yourself garage in order to restore the car to its former glory. Result of this effort is not only complete restoration of the car, but also Arnie transforming his looks into archetypal 1950s greaser and getting enough confidence to start dating Leigh Cabot (played by Alexandra Paul), the most beautiful girl in the school. That relationship, however, starts to decay when Leigh begins suspecting that Arnie loves “Christine” more than he loves her. To make things even worse, the car apparently has a will of its own and during the date in drive-in cinema Leigh nearly chokes in an incident that convinces her that “Christine” is jealous of her. Soon after that, the car is wrecked by a gang of school bullies led by Buddy Repperton (played by William Ostrander), former student who wants to get even for being expelled after previous conflict with Arnie. Devastated at first, Arnie soon sees that “Christine” has ability to spontaneously regenerate and soon afterwards Repperton and his gang become prey of a car with murderous intentions.

Christine has flaws, but initially hostile reaction by critics is hardly justified. It can be best explained by expectations based on Halloween and De Palma’s adaptation of Carrie, which were too lofty and unrealistic to be actually met. Carpenter didn’t consider this film as personal project and was motivated mostly by desire to remain in good graces of big Hollywood studios, but he nevertheless did professional job. Christine is superbly directed and edited and it contains many memorable scenes. With the use of special effects and superb stunt work Carpenter created a car that functions as a character of its own. He also spiced the film with bits of black humour and semi-ironic treatment of 1950s nostalgia, best seen in the scenes when “Christine” starts doing something while the radio suddenly starts playing 1950s rock&roll songs with lyrics that serve as sarcastic commentary of what is going on. This include a final showdown in which Carpenter uses a lot of ingenuity and applies ideas that would later inspire James Cameron for the similar final scene in Aliens.

Carpenter is helped by very good cast. Keith Gordon, one of the more underappreciated actors of his generations, is great in rather complex role of character that starts as harmless nerd with whom audience could sympathise only to end as murderous lunatic. John Stockwell is also good in the role of his friend who serves as some anchor to normalcy, although this character is somewhat underused. Alexandra Paul, who would later become famous for her Baywatch role, is also good in somewhat thankless role and despite lack of proper chemistry with Gordon. Like in many other Carpenter’s films, impression is even better thanks to character actors like Robert Prosky in the role of menacing garage owner and veteran Harry Dean Stanton as intelligent police detective investigating the increasingly macabre events. Carpenter is less fortunate with his music score, which is forgettable and sometimes annoying when it is compared with much more impressive 1950s rock and pop classics. Some of the character subplots aren’t handled well and Arnie’s character transformation is too quick. Some of the scenes also depend on too many characters acting stupid, like targets of “Christine” deciding to use middle of the asphalt road as the best route to escape pursuing car. But those flaws can be forgiven due to Carpenter’s superb skill and Christine can be recommended to audience broader than his fans, old car enthusiasts and those nostalgic for second half of 20th Century.

RATING: 7/10 (++)

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Movie URL: https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/8769-christine
Critic: AA