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CHRISTINE
I’ve always liked this John Carpenter directed Stephen King adaptation. Matter of fact, I’d say it’s one of Carpenter’s all-around best films, a darkly comedic haunted car chiller that’s dated extremely well.
The Package
CHRISTINE was a minor hit back in 1983 and received a number of
enthusiastic reviews, but for some reason it’s been maligned in the years
since. John Carpenter himself has largely dismissed it, claiming he “slept
through” the production, which I find hard to accept. The script by Bill
Phillips admirably streamlines Stephen King’s 500-plus page novel, which
stretched a rather thin narrative about a nerdy teen transformed into a monster
by a haunted car (sort of like THE CAR meets MASSACRE AT CENTRAL HIGH) to
interminable lengths.
The film also contains excellent performances by then
up-and-comers like John Stockwell, Keith Gordon and Alexandra Paul, in addition
to a rich variety of supporting turns by Robert Prosky, Harry Dean Stanton,
Christine Belford and DERANGED’S legendary Roberts Blossom, all old pros. Not
one but two of CHRISTINE’S leads went on to auspicious directorial careers:
Stockwell, who helmed CHEATERS, BLUE CRUSH and TOURISTAS, and Gordon, a Brian
DePalma veteran (from HOME MOVIES and DRESSED TO KILL) who’s become an indie
superstar with A MIDNIGHT CLEAR, MOTHER NIGHT and THE SINGING DETECTIVE.
The Story
Arnie is a teenaged dork who becomes unaccountably obsessed with an old
car: a red and white 1958 Plymouth Fury named Christine that plays fifties-era
pop tunes on its radio. Arnie buys Christine from an old man for $200, not
realizing the codger’s brother asphyxiated himself in the car years
earlier...and that Christine severely injured two men the very day she came off
the assembly line!
Arnie and Christine make quite a pair: he fixes “her” up and in turn loses
much of his nerdiness, becoming a bonafide cool dude and nabbing one of the
prettiest girls in the school. Neither Arnie’s parents nor his jock buddy
Dennis know what to make of his transformation. The school bullies are equally
puzzled, and respond to the new Arnie by smashing up Christine. She in turn
reconstitutes herself and goes after the bastards, brutally killing each of
them. Arnie for his part is increasingly becoming a total asshole, verbally
abusing his girlfriend, neglecting his friends and physically assaulting his
parents. Dennis decides he’s had enough and challenges Arnie and Christine to a
final car-bulldozer duel.
The Direction
From a visual standpoint this is one John Carpenter’s most inventive films,
with masterful widescreen photography and ever-probing camerawork courtesy of
ace cinematographer Donald Morgan. The roving POV tracking shots from HALLOWEEN
are back, and utilized in consistently invigorating fashion: particularly
notable is a library sequence in which the protagonist tries to get up the nerve
to ask a pretty girl out, conveyed through a POV shot that pans past the girl in
question and continues, ashamedly, toward the bookshelf behind her. It’s the
teenage characters in the film and Carpenter’s sensitivity to their problems
that makes CHRISTINE the warm and absorbing--and darkly funny--thriller it is.
Much like Stephen King at his best (which the novel CHRISTINE in my view isn’t),
the characters are interesting enough to carry the film on their own without the
horror business.
That’s not to say the scary stuff isn’t well executed. Carpenter is as
always at his best in scenes of pure horror, and despite the fact that he’s
stuck with the inherently unscary concept of a haunted car, he manages to
pull off some crackling imagery, such as Christine driving down a nighttime
highway engulfed in flames, or the sight of a demolished Christine magically
reconstituting herself before her owner’s astonished--and sexually aroused--eyes
(the pre-CGI special effects here and elsewhere are impeccable).
The performances also deserve a mention, even if most of the “teenage” cast
members are clearly far older than the parts they’re playing. In interviews
Keith Gordon has repeatedly evoked the tremendous amount he learned from John
Carpenter, and how the atmosphere Carpenter created on CHRISTINE allowed him to
do great work acting-wise and was a major inspiration on his own directorial
career--in other words, somebody other than me has recognized this film’s
considerable power.
Vital Statistics
CHRISTINE
Columbia Pictures
Director: John Carpenter
Producers: Richard Korbitz, Larry Franco
Screenplay: Bill Phillips
(Based on a novel by Stephen King)
Cinematography: Donald M. Morgan
Editing: Marion Rothman
Cast: Keith Gordon, John Stockwell, Alexandra Paul, Robert Prosky, Harry Dean
Stanton, Christine Belford, Roberts Blossom, William Ostrander, David Spielberg,
Malcolm Danare, Steven Tash, Stuart Charno, Kelly Preston, Marc Poppel, Robert
Darnell