Reviewed by Melissa Garza
Arnie Cunningham (Keith Gordon) can’t catch a break. He constantly gets tortured by school bullies, he has no self-esteem and lives in the shadow of his only friend Dennis (John Stockwell). Although, Dennis is a popular jock and does what he can to save Arnie from being a punching bag, he still gets pushed around by evil students who love to terrorize.
Soon, things begin to look up as Christine comes into his life. Arnie finds the 1958 very beaten, hot red, Plymouth Fury and can’t help but fall in love with it. In fact, he becomes instantly infatuated with the car. His parents and Dennis can’t see the attraction, but Arnie knows that with a lot of work Christine would be amazing. He begins to dedicate more and more of his time, and soon people see a change in his behavior.
He’s no longer afraid. He dresses cooler, and cares about his parents approval much less. He becomes popular and even scores himself the girl of his dreams, Leigh (Alexandra Paul). Despite, all of the new focuses in his life, Christine still draws the most attention. She demands it. Leigh soon becomes jealous of the car. Jealousy turns to fear when she begins choking while in the vehicle as it seems to enjoy her suffering. Leigh refuses to go back into Christine and Arnie becomes irate. He doesn’t understand how noone else can see what he sees in the car.
Those who wronged Arnie prior to his new look begin dying one by one as Christine with noone in the driver seat mows them down. Arnie falls deeper into his obsession and remains loyal to the car. He spends less time with Dennis and when he does finally visit him, they get into an argument. He soon begins to feel as if Christine is the only thing that understands him and that nothing else matters.
This is by far one of my favorite Stephen King movies. I’m sure that John Carpenter’s hand in the directing had a significant impact. The way in which it was shot is what captures the atmosphere more than any other aspect. To create a full-length interesting movie about a murdering car seems like a difficult task, yet “Christine” from beginning to end, hasn’t any trouble keeping the attention of its audience. The mixture of old music blaring from the radio, and villains who deserve to die, made the entire picture entertaining. Though there are few actual scares, the sheer darkness of the scenes does provide an unsettling tone that is carried throughout the film.
Keith Gordon by far steals the show as Arnie. He makes it impossible not to feel for the character. The more he seeps into insanity, the more sympathy he invokes. He’s both villain and victim, nearly forced into what he becomes, by no fault of his own. He didn’t choose the car. The car chose him, and it was his weakness and self-doubt that allowed Christine to control him so much.
The dialogue is sometimes a bit over the top, and the highschool students seem much too old (even for horror films), but overall this movie did a great job in delivering. The conclusion is a bit predictable, but still eerie enough to be considered good.
Scared Stiff Rating: 7/10. May have received an 8 if the high school bully didn’t look 50 years old.
