Review of Christine (1987) by Jon C — 26 May 2014

Strong direction from John Carpenter makes "Christine" a pretty solid horror-thriller. Who knew you could actually pull of making a movie about an evil car? That's the premise of this film based on the Stephen King novel. The car in question is a bright red 1958 Fury and a temperamental, murderous one at that. Right from the assembly line, it's thirsty for blood. In 1978, we're introduced to our two main characters. There's Arnold "Arnie" Cunningham (Keith Gordon) and his best/only friend Dennis Guilder (John Stockwell). Arnie is an unpopular boy who gets picked on by bullies and suffers his overbearing parents while Dennis is a popular jock. On the first day of school, a gang of bullies are picking on Arnie and things take a really dark turn when their leader Buddy (William Ostrander) threatens him with a switchblade. Arnie and Dennis manage to stand up to them and Buddy is expelled when the shop teacher intervenes. On the way home, Arnie spots the titular car, which is now for sale and in need of serious repair. Against Dennis' advice, he buys it for $250 (not a good deal considering the condition she's in). His parents are furious but Dennis is immediately smitten. He brings the car to a local garage run by grouchy Will Darnell (Robert Prosky) and begins repairing it. As Arnie restores Christine to her original beauty things start looking up for him. He gets a job at the garage, gets rid of his goofy glasses and even starts dating the high school hottie, Leigh (Alexandra Paul). Unfortunately it's more than Christine's slick charms that begin rubbing off on the teen. Soon everyone is becoming quite worried about him... and rightfully so.

I'm going to start with some of the not-so good elements of the film. The most glaring flaw is really the bullies. Like in many Stephen King stories, they're pretty much one-dimensional jerks that have nothing better to do than pick on our protagonists. All of the other characters in the film are well fleshed out but the leader of the bullies, Buddy is particularly bad. He's so despicable he gives the car a run for its money as ultimate villain. It really doesn't help that William Ostrander's performance isn't very good. There is also one promising and interesting element in the film that doesn't really lead up to anywhere, the car's odometer. When the car if first purchased, it reads over 93,000 miles. As the car gets fixed up and drives around though it actually starts going backwards so you think it's going to lead up to some big reveal or something but really there's nothing to it. It could've been dropped entirely from the story to focus more on some of the under developed characters.

Now let's get to the good stuff. I'll start with the very first element that hits you, which is the music. I can't think of a film that contains a better or more appropriate use of George Thorogood's "Bad to the Bone". It's a memorable intro that gets you pumped right away. There are numerous songs (mostly rock 'n roll) used throughout to give Christine a "voice" whenever she "disapproves" of what's going on around her. It's a nice touch and an organic way to give her some character. When you hear soft music playing while someone is choking or otherwise threatened while inside Christine, it's because the melody of the song and the vocals reflect the mood of the car. Now that's creepy. On top of that we've also got a great score courtesy of John Carpenter himself (the master who came up with the excellent theme to "Halloween" ). Take a look at the scene where we get our first kill and notice how the music slowly builds to create the mood. If you go into this movie thinking it's going to be a gore-fest with people getting run over, turned into pulp by screeching tires or getting their skulls cracked over the windshield then you might be disappointed because this movie focuses on characterization. "Christine" runs at about an hour and 50 minutes and for the first hour there might be some suspicious actions going on but no real kills to speak of. The upside of this is that you will actually care about the people involved in the story. You really get to see Arnie change as a character. First he's a nerd, a virgin that can barely stand up to his parents. As the movie progresses though, he becomes confident but aggressive and even mean. Thanks to the deliberate pace of the movie the change feels organic yet otherworldly. You also get plenty of moments to build up the relationship between the two best friends. There are several moments that aren't necessary to the story but add a lot because it's just these two guys driving around or talking, discussing what they're going to do and throwing in a couple of digs at each other here in there, just like real people do. You even get some fun side characters including my personal favorite, this blonde girl that really wants Dennis to ask her out and perks up whenever he walks by her. She doesn't have any dialogue and it isn't over-played so it's not a big running joke, it's a moment that reminds you of real life. There are even some nice moments between Dennis and Arnie's parents; it's really refreshing to see a horror movie where the people feel like actual people instead of sacks of blood and guts just waiting to get cut up.

When the action really kicks in at the hour mark, you are treated to some very fine moments. The special effects are really amazing to see. This stuff here wasn't done by computer either. I'm so impressed seeing Christine repair any injury she suffers that I struggle to understand how it was made. My guess is a combination of trick photography, stop motion and models but who knows. When we get Christine at her most murderous is when you really get a payoff to all of that buildup. Not only do the bullies that you've genuinely come to hate get it, and get it good, but you really see the tension reach a climax as Arnie becomes totally obsessed with the car. There is also some impressive cinematography more than just once or twice. A particular standout is during a football game when Dennis is running for the in-zone. As he gets closer to his goal, we get a reveal of Dennis and his fixed-up Christine. It's a shock for him and for us. I can't do it justice just with words, but it's very well done. Next, check out the scene where the first bully gets attacked. The soon-to-be victim climbs over a fence and is immediately followed by Christine who just blows recklessly through the obstacles in order to get him. That's when the score is pumping and you really get excited. Finally, there's the scene where Christine drives out of an inferno that used to be a building. It looks like a demon straight out of hell, so not only do you have some really memorable shots but you've got some great stunt work here too. With those stunts, that cinematography all set to the music and amped up with the pyrotechnics and the excellent special effects... wow what a show. And throughout the film there are a lot more things going on than just what's on the surface.

This might actually be one of those movies that is just as good, if not better than the novel it was based on. There's plenty of character development thanks to the running time, what's on visually is really impressive and the little subtle things really make the movie an underrated adaptation of Stephen King's massive library or work (in my humble opinion of course). One of the really cool things about the movie is the ambiguity. You see the car, it's evil. No nonsensical explanations about curses or demonic rituals or any of that. It's an evil car, it rubs off on its new owner and they start lashing out at the world together... or do they? The car windows are tinted whenever it attacks so you won't know if Arnie is at the wheel or if Christine is driving herself and that's the fun part of it. As I said, you can't ignore some of the flaws, particularly a big "what the?!" moment where several characters must have been waiting outside for hours just so they could get to Arnie. Everything that works though, it works really well. Maybe it's because the people working on the film knew the premise was kind of silly and therefore didn't take the premise too seriously, while still giving it their all. I'm giving this one a strong recommendation, particularly if you're tired of those lame horror movies where you can predict everything that's going to happen because they're just uninspired schlock more concerned about bare breasts and broken bodies than actual storylines. It's criminally underrated so needless to say you should check it out. (Theatrical version on Dvd, October 27, 2013).