Christine (1983)

Christine (Trailer)

Let me start by saying that Christine is a must see movie.

Although the director John Carpenter has said that he only did it for the money, and had no real feel for the material, It is probably one of his best films.

And as Horror movie a day says:

it’s his only King film, and he’s gotten it right more than almost any of his peers.

One of the reasons Kings novels are so good, is because the characters are every day folk that are really easy to identify with. Often, this strength is lost in movies, and instead we get the larger than life, gory monsters that movies are so good at, but lack the quiet terror of normality gone wrong.

Although the movie is from 1983 and is about 1978 it doesn’t feel dated, probably due to the fact that the effect and horror part of the movie is very short.

The story line:

Like Stephen King’s Stand By Me, it’s not so much about the horror but about the nostalgia and well acted character dynamics. In fact, horror/violence only takes up maybe 15 minutes of the entire film (most of that in the climax), the rest is just detailing Arnie’s withdrawal from his old life, becoming, for lack of a better word, possessed by his own car. He ignores his best friend, freaks out his girlfriend so much that she eventually dumps him, and slaps around his own dad. Watching Arnie transform from the pathetic nerd in the first part of the film to the tragic and terrifying guy at the end is far more interesting than watching a car run over a fat dude in an alley.

Horror movie a day says that Sony has put together a great special edition DVD for more about that go here.