Halloween Horror: Christine (1983)
Christine finds John Carpenter working at the height of his formal powers. It’s no minor marvel that Christine is as scary as it is, considering the ludicrous concept: a nerdy teenager buys an old 1958 Plymouth Fury named Christine, refurbishes it, and discovers that the Fury is possessed by an evil spirit that empowers the teenager’s worst impulses as it wreaks vengeance upon anyone seeking to do him harm. Thus, what easily could’ve been a goofy adaptation of a Stephen King novel (there are more than a few) is instead a riveting horror movie, with astounding practical effects and a compelling coming-of-age narrative beyond the horror.
Like so many Stephen King stories, Christine has a classic set-up that plays on the archetypes of Americana. Arnie (Keith Gordon) is a nerdy teenager in a small town with only one friend, the football star, Dennis (John Stockwell). In early scenes, we watch as Arnie is tormented by bullies at school and is hectored by his overbearing parents. Arnie is a classic Stephen King outcast protagonist, essentially a male Carrie White without the religious hysteria. And much like in Carrie, Arnie becomes empowered by supernatural forces that allow him to stand up to his bullies; here, that empowerment comes in the form of a red 1958 Plymouth Fury that bewitches Arnie the moment he lays eyes on it.
Arnie spends his free time refurbishing the car and soon enough, he acts more confident. He stops wearing glasses. He dresses like a greaser from the 50s. He gets a girlfriend, the quiet new girl, Leigh (Alexandra Paul). Superficially, Arnie has grown up as a result of working on the Fury. But the key to King’s storytelling, and Bill Phillips’ adaptation of his novel, is that all these new hallmarks of maturity—confidence, independence, and a strong work ethic—are actually the worst aspects of Arnie coming to the surface. He becomes impulsive and dismissive; he stands up for himself, but acts emotionally abusive to his parents and condescending to his friend. Inevitably, he starts getting revenge on the bullies who torment him, which allows Carpenter to pull out all the stops in conjuring exciting cinematic methods for Christine to hunt down and kill these individuals.
The core revenge sequence of the film starts after the bullies trash Christine, leaving Arnie devastated, since there’s nothing he loves more in the world than his car. However, miraculously, the car reassembles itself in order to take revenge on the bullies and satisfy Arnie’s bloodlust. This sequence of Christine coming back to life has some of the most impressive practical effects of the eighties and is akin to the monstrosities of Carpenter’s The Thing.
In the repair garage, Arnie watches as Christine’s broken headlights shift and shutter until they pop forward brand new. The dents in the metal body undent themselves and the car transforms itself back into showroom quality, its red paint sparkling under the garage lights. Carpenter and his special effects team, led by supervisor Roy Arbogast, actually shot the sequence after initial production wrapped, realizing the cut needed a showstopping special effects moment. Although it’s clear that Carpenter is reversing the footage to give the impression of Christine coming back to life, the effect is so seamless that the obviousness of the effect doesn’t matter. It’s the most remarkable moment in the film.
Of course, there are other memorable images throughout the film, as Christine goes on a rampage getting revenge on the bullies that terrorized Arnie and tried to destroy it. Carpenter’s iconic roving camera is perfectly suited to the sequences of Christine racing down the blacktop in pursuit of its victims, taking on the point of view of the car similar to how it did the point of view of Michael Myers in Halloween. At one point, Christine drives through an exploding gas station and gets engulfed in flames. However, instead of stopping, the car keeps driving while on fire, chasing down a victim who is running for his life on the road. There are stunning shots of the bully running for his life framed from the POV of Christine, its headlights and the flames lighting the bully up like spotlights. The inevitability of the car’s fury, the mechanical way that it terrorizes its victims, gives the film its powerful dread. It cannot be bargained with or stopped, since it lacks anything resembling a soul.
But like with the best Stephen King narratives, the human-side of the horror is also affecting, and works hand-in-hand with the supernatural to make the work so compelling. Arnie’s transformation from underdog to petulant menace is distressing, as is the way that his confidence unleashes the misogyny and selfishness that is lurking in so many adolescent boys. Wisely, Carpenter teases out the most interesting social elements of the transformation without allowing the film to become a simplistic metaphor for the terrors of disaffected male rage.
Christine is not the best Stephen King adaptation, perhaps not even the best King adaptation of 1983 (that might be David Cronenberg’s The Dead Zone), but it’s a strong argument for the cinematic power of King’s work, and a demonstration of John Carpenter’s formal prowess at his height.
8 out of 10
Christine (1983, USA)
Directed by John Carpenter; written by Bill Phillips, based on the novel by Stephen King; starring Keith Gordon, John Stockwell, Alexandra Paul, Robert Prosky, Harry Dean Stanton, Christine Belford, Robert Blossom.