ThiefHott Too much of everything

BroadcastChic Excellent, a Must See

Freaktana A Major Disappointment

Aneesa Wardle The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Ed-Shullivan I like a creative storyline in which the viewer really is not sure what (to expect) will happen next but when the film rolls along we get to see a very interesting and unique film. The characters in this film starting with the dorky Arnie Cunningham (Keith Gordon) who transforms into a super cool dude strangely just like his beat up old car Christine does.So the new and cool dressed Arnie with his super cool car Christine drive around town with the prettiest girl in school Leigh Cabot, (Alexandra Paul) as his eye candy. As Arnie transforms from the geeky high school kid into Mr. Cool whose only friend seems to be a jock named Dennis Guilder (John Stockwell) Arnie loses touch with his own reality and is blind to the fact that his souped up Christine seems to be possessed with a mind all of its own.My wife Ms. Shullivan is not a fan of horror/science fiction films but even she put her book down as the films content has a little bit of everything for everyone to draw the film goer into. Christine is not only a classic car, but John Carpenter has another classic film on his lofty resume. I give this classic film an 8 out of 10 rating. Vroom Vroooom

calvinnme This is John Carpenter's film version of the Stephen King bestseller about an evil car. The film's namesake, a bright red 1958 Plymouth Fury, doesn't even make it off the assembly line before maiming and killing people. Cut to the present, and awkward, clumsy high school nerd Arnie Cunningham and his jock best friend Dennis. Arnie is a total social failure, the target of bullies and totally ignored by the girls. On the way home, he spots the decrepit wreck of the '58 Fury, and he's instantly obsessed. He buys the car, despite the protests of his friend and parents, and starts working to restore it in a large garage complex owned by the loathsome Darnell. As Arnie spends more and more time with Christine, as he's named the car, his entire persona changes from the sweet, if dorky, nerd to someone more confident and dangerous. And while he's now dating Leigh, the hottest girl in school, his heart truly lies with Christine. And Christine has a mind of her own...This is one of the better King adaptations, and Carpenter's excellent camera-work and pacing keep the film moving along even through the rough patches. His usual great synth scoring works well too, but will no doubt bother some viewers. There are lots of vintage rock hits on the soundtrack, as well. The cast is good, led by Keith Gordon as Arnie and John Stockwell as his worried best bud. Alexandra Paul is fetching, if a little wooden, as Leigh. Roberts Blossom has a great cameo as the disturbing former owner. But it's Robert Prosky, a veteran stage and screen supporting player, who steals every scene he's in as the grotesque Darnell. The great Harry Dean Stanton has a small bit as a cop, too, although his role goes nowhere. William Ostrander, a John Travolta lookalike, plays the lead high school bully, despite looking 35. Look out for Kelly Peston in an early role as another student. Incidentally, both male leads, Gordon and Stockwell, have gone on to successful directing careers in film and television.The scene of the unstoppable car, engulfed in flames as it slowly closes in on a victim on a deserted road at night, is one the better images in horror films of the time.

Sooner_88 I admit, I'm a John Carpenter fan. Always have, and always will enjoy his work and choices of projects(I taken an inspiration from him). This is no different. It's an 80's tent pole of that era. Throwback to the 50's, spice it up to 80's music, and you have a classic film.The actors themselves do a fine job and are very likable. Especially, the flawed and gullible Arnie Cunningham. And of course, you can't forget the amazing classic that is the 1958 Plymouth. What a beauty of a car(a dream car of mine even though I was born in 88'). Destroyed 18 times making me appreciate this movie even more for the fact that practical effects(another reason I love Carpenter's work) can never be forgotten. Sad, that among Stephen Kings adaptations that this is criminally overlooked, but only by the majority. And I'm happy to hear that this has cult following, that I'll happily join anyday. 8/10

kira02bit Back in the mid-80s, novelist Stephen King was prolific and it seemed that barely a few months went by that a new film adaptation was not making its way to the screen, often with varying degrees of success. Christine was one of his more popular books of the time taking that old nutshell of the possessed car and making seem a whole lot more plausible and less silly than it should be. Hopes were raised when it was announced that horror director John Carpenter was helming the film. Carpenter was in a downswing and desperately needed a hit. After making the classic Halloween, Carpenter had a more modest success with the underrated The Fog. Unfortunately, his badly thought out Escape from NY tanked and his disastrous remake of The Thing (which now has an indefensible cult following) had been eviscerated by critics and imploded at the box office, so he was in need of a hit and King's novel offered fertile ground.Alas, it was not to be. King's story, told through the eyes of sensitive jock Dennis, recalling past tragic events involving his nerdy high school best friend Arnie and the dilapidated 1958 Plymouth Fury that Arnie falls in love with, buys and starts to restore with sinister impact, had a lot going for it. The story of a killer car is foolish, but King takes everything very seriously and populates his tale with sympathetic characters, has a good ear for how high schoolers talk, and has a strong number of requisite set pieces that stay in the memory long after one puts down the book. By contrast, Carpenter's film feels rushed, shallow and forgettable.Carpenter makes major changes in the plot and characters, ostensibly for budget purposes, and literally all of them function as detractions. Barring a couple of amazing shots of Christine's regenerative powers, the film looks cheap. Given how much Carpenter has excised, his film still has stretches of boredom. He seems incapable of garnering sympathy for his characters and even the villains come across as half-hearted cardboard nothings.His cast is not the best either. Veterans like Harry Dean Stanton, Robert Prosky and Christine Belford are completely wasted. The gaggle of actors playing the bullying tormentors of Arnie seem entirely too old to be in high school. In the lead, Keith Gordon, who has been much better elsewhere, makes the leap from nerdy doormat to arrogant, self-confident and ultimately psychotic with such speed that the audience never has a any rooting interest in his plight. Truthfully, this could more be the fault of the rush in the screenplay than the actor. As our protagonist, Dennis, John Stockwell is goofy, awkward and off-putting. Alexandra Paul is cast as "the prettiest girl in school", which is debatable here, and she as well has been better elsewhere. There is not much time placed in developing her relationship with Arnie so that anyone buys how badly his transition has impacted her or the lengths that she is willing to go in the film's latter portion.Carpenter's changes in story often make no sense. Truthfully, in King's novel, Christine was fairly neutral. It was the rancid soul of her detestable former owner that possessed her and galvanized the action and change in Arnie. By omitting that character from the film and oddly mixing the characteristics with a still living character, Carpenter makes nonsense stew. Carpenter also omits the clever touch of how the souls of Christine's victims become trapped in the car and end up making diabolical passengers during attack scenes.Worst of all, King's novel features some stunning attack sequences set in a wintry Pennsylvania, including the snow drift attack on Arnie's chief tormentor and a terrific sequence where another character is attacked in their isolated home during the height of a blizzard, but Carpenter axes all such sequences for incredibly cheap affairs. The latter character dies in the film when he inexplicably decides to hop into the driver seat of the still-smoldering car that he just witnessed driving itself into a garage and the car seat pushes itself forward so far that it crushes him. An incredibly memorable sequence has been swapped out for an unintentional embarrassment.This all combines to make Christine a misfire. The studio obviously was not willing to cough up the budget necessary for a good film, the cast fails to inhabit their characters, and Carpenter was not inspired enough to do much with what he had, so the end result is an exceedingly mediocre testament of what might have been had anyone cared.