Christine (1983)
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Christine is a 1983 American supernatural horror film directed by John Carpenter and starring Keith Gordon, John Stockwell, Alexandra Paul, Robert Prosky, and Harry Dean Stanton. The film also features supporting performances from Roberts Blossom and Kelly Preston.
Plot
In September 1957, a red-and-white 1958 Plymouth Fury slams down without warning and crushes the hand of a line worker inspecting its front end. Another worker climbs in to sit behind the wheel, letting the ash from his cigar fall on the front seat. At the end of the shift, the line supervisor notices the car still has the radio playing - he opens the door to turn it off and the worker falls out of the car to the floor dead.
21 years later, in September 1978, Arnie restores an old car and names her Christine, but he is unaware that she has an evil presence within her. When anyone tries to come between her owner and her, they are not spared.
Good Qualities
- While Christine (1983) may not be 100% faithful to the novel, it stays the spirit of the franchise.
- Dennis Guilder and Arnold "Arnie" Cunningham are pretty likable characters.
- Very decently written story that stays true to the elements of the Stephen King book.
- The effects, and the editing is amazing, such as the scene where a destroyed red-and-white 1958 Plymouth Fury gets suddenly transformed back into repair.
- It is pretty much like a "Terminator" style movie, but with scary-tone throughout each movie based on its book.
- Decent sub-plots that share the couple with Arnold "Arnie" Cunningham and Leigh Cabot.
- Pretty good acting for the most casts.
- Amazing Cinematography by Donald M. Morgan.
- The performances from Roberts Blossom and Kelly Preston were great.
- Most of the scenes are very scary, mostly is that "Christine" can be driving by herself, and threatens to kill a lot of people, and even the bullies at night, by running over them, or the other vehicles, she can pushed, or grabbing another vehicle.
- Amazing soundtrack that was performed by the same director, John Carpenter, with tons of suspense, and scary moments throughout each soundtrack.
Bad Qualities
- At times, Arnie Cunningham can be a pretty unlikeable jerk at times, because he was being a total disrespect toward his parents, such as beating his dad up near the entrance of his parents' house.
Reception
The film received mostly positive reviews from critics and audiences alike, earning a 69% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Trivia
- One of the 2 surviving screen-used Christine cars from the movie (out of 17 used for the movie), went up for bid at the 2020 Saratogo Motocar Auction for a starting price of roughly $400,000. The car was won by Scott Edminster after a total of over 40,000 bids. In 2018, the car found its way into the collection of Ron Pratte, whose collection was sold in 2018, where it would eventually find its way into the Rochester Auto Museum.
- Columbia Pictures gave invitational passes (tickets) to a special preview screening of 'Christine' which would be held at the Town and Country Theatre in San Jose, California on December 8th, 1983 at 8 PM, one day before the film's theatrical release in the US.
- The cast of Christine actually built a full-size gas station in Santa Clarita, California directly in the middle of nowhere just for the sake of blowing it to smithereens. With this, Roy Arbogast could play properly with pyrotechnics.