Whenever horror and/or film fans in general have a discussion about some of the greatest directors of all time, almost every conversation should include John Carpenter. His legacy really has contained some of the best, if not the best string of films that anyone from any section of taste can absorb and at least get pulled into to instantly become a fan. In The Mouth of Madness, They Live, Halloween, Big trouble In Little China, The Thing-you could go on for weeks naming off his core offerings as a legendary director, but there are also some "in-between the cracks" movies that he has helmed over the years that are just as great that no one really seems to talk about. I believe Christine to be one of them. It is first and foremost an adaptation of a Stephen King novel, and it has Carpenter's fingerprints all over it. That is absolutely a great thing because I don't think anyone could have procured this piece any better than him. It is mainly about a 1957 Plymouth Fury that comes off the assembly line with a fiery red paint job while all the rest of them bore a bland khaki/eggshell color to them which should have automatically signaled everyone that something is up with this particular machine. And it did-which leads to a man dying and another one getting his hand smashed by the hood. Christine gets her name from a former owner who ended up killing himself in the car at some point, and then it is found out later that "she" made him do it. Arnie and Dennis are driving home from school one afternoon, Arnie becomes overly obsessed with it and buys it from some weird old guy without consulting his parents or anyone about it. He ends up getting together with the school's newest hottie, Leigh, and basically pours all of his teenage angst and energy into restoring Christine because that's what "she" wants. What a jealous, jealous little car.
Turn of the key-the hum of the engine.
George Thorogood? Hell yeah!
Ashing your cigar in a newly built car? The hell is wrong with you?
That's noise pollution? You don't know the half of it, lady.
"You've got nothing to lose but your virginity."
Shut up and take your Bon Scott looking ass to the office.
"He was so mean, you could have poured boiling water down his throat and he would have pissed ice cubes."
Side strategy-I like it.
Cars just don't "come back"-oh, okay. I get it.
Just when parking it was getting good.
Oh boy-Arnie isn't going to like this.
Buddy and his boys end up completely destroying Christine in the restoration garage that Arnie stores her in (human feces on the dash and all) and this is where us as well as Arnie get to see her actual possessive powers-as well as her ability to restore herself from basically being a mangled heap of metal and glass. Not only is this a story about a demonic car that can do all of that and possess it's owner, but it's also about a lost teenage boy that wants to be on top and break free from his tyrannical parents. Christine is basically a metaphor for any angry male in their high school years latching onto something to make their reality better and more viable. Every guy during that time in their lives wants to feel number one-a hot babe and a hot car? You can't do any better than that, really. Unless you end up having to crush it with a damn bulldozer.
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