In Detroit in 1957 a worker on the Ford assembly line stops the line in front of a cherry red Plymouth Fury. He opens the hood of the car and rests his hand on the engine block as he looks under the car chassis. The hood slams down on his hand. As he is taken away to the hospital another worker sits in the front seat. Ash from his cigar drops onto the seat of the car. Later, when a third worker opens the car door, the second worker is found dead from asphyxiation.
In Rockport, California 1978, nerdy high school senior Arnie Cunningham (Keith Gordon) is heading home with his friend and fellow senior, Dennis Guilder (John Stockwell) when he sees something off to the side of the road. In a small field is a beat-up formerly cherry red Plymouth Fury. The owner of the car, George LeBay (Roberts Blossom) tells Arnie that his brother bought the car when it was brand new and that the car’s name is Christine. Arnie is in love with the decaying rust-bucket and buys Christine for $250.00. Dennis thinks that Christine is garbage, but Arnie buys her anyway.
Arnie’s mother, Regina Cunningham (Christine Belford) is pissed about Arnie buying Christine and refuses to let him keep the car at home. Arnie takes the car to the local garage run by Will Darnell (Robert Prosky). Darnell allows Arnie to scrounge around in his junk yard for parts in exchange for cleaning up around the place. Arnie gets to work fixing his car. As Arnie works, his mild-mannered and dorky personality begins to change.
Soon Arnie is driving around town in his restored Fury with the new girl in town, Leigh Cabot (Alexandra Paul), as his girlfriend. Dennis becomes injured in a football game which ends his dream of a career in football. He is also out of the picture for a while. Arnie’s obsession with his car interferes with his relationship with Leigh and with his parents. Late one night, the local bullies, led by Buddy Repperton (William Ostrander), trash Christine. Arnie, at first devastated, becomes full on manic about Christine and realizes that the car is actually sentient. Christine in turn goes into revenge mode and kills anyone who tries to interfere with her and Arnie.
“Christine” or “John Carpenter's Christine” was released in 1983 and was directed by John Carpenter. It is an American supernatural horror movie. The film was based on the 1983 novel by Stephen King. It is one of several “killer car” movies and a cult favorite.
There are a lot of really good effects in the film, especially the scenes where Christine, and everyone else, is on fire, as well as the restoration scenes when Christine comes back to life. Whenever the car is killing someone, the windows appear dark. That was so you couldn’t see inside the car at the stunt driver. This also helped in promoting the spectral feel where you weren’t sure if Arnie was in the car driving or if it was actually a possessed car. The soundtrack is also a lot of fun. The main soundtrack was written by John Carpenter. It’s fast paced and dark. Carpenter’s music blends nicely with the old rock and roll tunes that somehow match what Christine, as a sentient car, is feeling. A killer sentient car and cool music, what could go wrong?
I’ve seen where anything from 14 to 28 cars were used in the film, in various states of repair. I’ve also seen that most of the cars used were actually Belvederes or Savoys. It is estimated that about fifteen percent of the film’s budget was used on the cars alone. Reportedly, by the end of filming only two were not destroyed.
Writer Stephen King named the car Christine after George Romero’s wife.