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    Christine

    Reviewed by
    adamwatchesmovies@

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    Strong direction from John Carpenter makes “Christine” a solid horror-thriller. Who knew you could actually pull off making a movie about an evil car? Based on the Stephen King novel, Christine is a bright red 1958 Fury and a temperamental, murderous one at that. Set in 1978, Arnold “Arnie” Cunningham (Keith Gordon) and his best/only friend Dennis Guilder (John Stockwell) happen upon the vehicle. Instantly, Arnie is smitten. Against Dennis’ advice, he buys it for $250 (not a good deal considering the condition she’s in)

    I’m going to start with some of the not-so-good elements present. The most glaring flaws are the bullies Arnie encounters at school. Like in many Stephen King stories, they’re one-dimensional jerks that have nothing better to do than pick on our protagonists. All of the other characters are well fleshed out but the leader of the bullies stands out as flat. It doesn’t help that William Ostrander’s performance isn’t very good. There is also one element in the film that doesn’t lead anywhere: the car’s speedometer. When the car is first purchased, it reads over 93,000 miles. As the car gets fixed up and drives around, it starts going backward. What does it mean? I don’t know.

    Now for what works. I can’t think of a film that contains a better or more appropriate use of George Thorogood’s “Bad to the Bone”. It’s a memorable intro that gets you pumped right away. There are numerous songs (mostly rock ’n roll) used throughout to give Christine a “voice”. It’s a nice touch and an organic way to give her some character. Without any dialogue, you instantly “get” Christine. It speaks volumes that she plays soft music while someone she doesn’t like is struggling to survive. On top of that, we’ve also got a great score courtesy of John Carpenter himself. Take a look at the scene where we get our first kill and notice how the music slowly builds to create the mood.

    If you go into this movie thinking it’s going to be a gore-fest with people getting run over, turned into pulp by screeching tires or getting their skulls cracked over the windshield then you’ll be disappointed. “Christine” runs at about an hour and 50 minutes and for the first hour, there might be some suspicious actions going on but no real kills to speak of. The film’s focus is on its characters. You slowly see Arnie change for the worse. First, he’s a nerd, a virgin that can barely stand up to his parents. As the movie progresses, he becomes confident, but aggressive, even mean. Thanks to the deliberate pace the change feels organic. There are several moments that aren’t necessary to the story but add a lot because it’s just our two main characters driving around or talking, discussing what they’re going to do and throwing in a couple of digs at each other here in there, just like real people do. They feel real. You even get some fun side characters including my personal favorite, a blonde girl that really wants Dennis to ask her out and perks up whenever he walks by her. She doesn’t have any dialogue and it isn’t over-played so it’s not a big running joke, but it’s a nice touch. There are even some nice moments between Dennis and Arnie’s parents; it’s really refreshing to see a horror movie where the people feel like actual people instead of sacks of blood and guts just waiting to get cut up.

    Once Christine gets to her most murderous, your patience is rewarded. Not only do the bullies that you’ve genuinely come to hate get it, and get it good. The special effects are terrific. I’m so impressed seeing Christine repair her “injuries” that I struggle to understand how it was made. My guess is a combination of trick photography, stop motion and models but who knows. There is also some impressive cinematography more than just once or twice. One particularly noteworthy scene has Christine drive out of an inferno that used to be a building. It looks like a demon straight out of hell, so not only do you have some really memorable shots but you’ve got some great stunt work here too. With those stunts, that cinematography all set to the music and amped up with the pyrotechnics and the excellent special effects... wow what a show.

    This might be one of those movies that’s just as good, if not better than the novel it’s based on. There’s plenty of character development thanks to the running time, the visuals are impressive and the little details give “Christine” great re-watch value. You could probably argue the fact that there is a killer car in this movie due to a few ambiguous moments where it’s just Arnie and Christine together. It’s an underrated adaptation of Stephen King’s massive library of work. Maybe it’s because the people working on the film knew the premise was kind of silly and therefore didn’t it too seriously, while still giving it their all. I’m giving this one a strong recommendation, particularly if you’re tired of those lame horror movies where you can predict everything that’s going to happen. They’re just uninspired schlock more concerned about bare breasts and broken bodies than actual storylines and “Christine” is much more than that. (Theatrical version on Dvd, October 27, 2013)

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    adamwatchesmovies@  11.9.2016 age: 26-35 2,867 reviews

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