Review of Christine (1987) by David F — 29 Sep 2014

When I first heard about this movie I couldn't do much more than laugh at the premise. An evil car that starts possessing its owner? I mean how do you make a car scary? I was totally surprised that with some good mood music, and creative lighting they actually managed to manufacture some moderately scary moments.

Perhaps the most intense of these is when Leigh starts to choke while sitting in Christine. All that being said, the entire story of this film is still kind of ridiculous. It worked best for me when it was questionable whether there was anything mystical about the car.

There were moments when it seemed like the car only had an ominous aura that causes people to go crazy or die. Sadly, there is a moment when Christine goes full-on magical, and this is where I lose any fleeting interest I had in the story.

I must admit, though, that I did enjoy the way Christine's radio dialed up an oldie with lyrics that perfectly fit the situation at hand. The acting of the teens is typical 80s cheese, possibly worse than the acting of the car.

Everyone's going over-the-top, most notably Keith Gordon as Arnie. My biggest problem with his performance is that the shift from nice guy to bad boy was nearly instantaneous, which doesn't seem right.

But, as a self-proclaimed horror film hater, Christine is not a movie for me. It is not terrible, but it's also not something I think anyone would consider a must-see.