Day 28 - Christine - October Horror Movie Challenge

CHRISTINE (1983)

Let me tell you a little something about love, Dennis. It has a voracious appetite. It eats everything. Friendship. Family. It kills me how much it eats. But I'll tell you something else. You feed it right, and it can be a beautiful thing, and that's what we have. 

Arnie is a loser in high school with his one long time friend Dennis who's on the football team and has a girlfriend. But Arnie's pretty content, he's more focused on buying a car. One catches his eye, a 1958 Plymouth Fury nicknamed Christine. It's pretty banged up but Arnie buys it, despite Dennis telling him not to, and his parents refusing to let him park it in their driveway. He ends up renting a space where he can work on Christine and rebuilds her to her former glory.

But the more time Arnie spends with Christine, the more he changes. He gets rid of his dorky glasses, he dresses better, becomes more confident which turns into arrogance. Dennis does a little research and discovers that the previous owner of Christine became obsessed with her as well and eventually died in her.

A group of bullies at Arnie's high school, who look to be middle aged men but sure we'll say they're in high school, decide to vandalize Christine. Arnie is of course completely devastated by this but watches in awe as Christine magically begins to mend herself.

But now enemies of Arnie are mysteriously being killed and people are saying they're seeing Christine out and about, with no one driving. Dennis is becoming very worried about his friend and how much he's changed. Will Christine claim another owner?

Alright...what did I love about this movie?

• I mean....it's a Stephen King adaptation...that's actually good.
• Artie when he's in his nerd form is so cute. And his transformation throughout the film is genius. A beautiful display of acting. In the scene where he picks up Dennis near the end and they go for that terrifying drive on the highway, the look in his eyes is completely mental.
• That epic scene where Christine is on fire and chasing after that 40 year old John Travolta lookalike....beauty of a scene.
• All of the acting in this movie is great really.

What didn't I love?

• Honestly, nothing. It's a pretty damn great film.

Overall?

Christine, directed by the ever amazing John Carpenter, is of course based on the novel by Stephen King. In fact during this time Stephen King was so popular that the film went into production before the book had even been released.

Unfortunately the reception at the time of this film was dismal. Stephen King fans weren't happy (but when are they?) and neither were John Carpenter fans. But I think this movie holds up over time and I really enjoyed it. I remember reading the novel when I was about 15 but actually watched the movie a few years before when I was 12. It's fun to re-visit and I'll have to re-read the book later this year as Christine is one of the only Stephen King books I've only read once.

Also...the actor who played Arnie, Keith Gordon, also acted in Jaws 2! Double booking this week!

Christine is a fun return to the 80's and I recommend people taking a re-watch because it's really become a classic I think.

8/10

Alright, I'm off to the airport! See you fools tomorrow when I'll be reporting from a beach. Except reality will be from my hotel room because I actually don't love beaches. I'm just there for the dolphins and the Jurassic Park island, and the haunted abandoned temple.

Stay spooky!