Christine (1983)

A nerdish boy buys a strange car with an evil mind of its own and his nature starts to change to reflect it.

Director:

John Carpenter

Writers:

Stephen King (based upon the novel by), Bill Phillips (screenplay by)

Stars:

Keith Gordon, John Stockwell, Alexandra Paul

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Keith Gordon	...	Arnie Cunningham
John Stockwell	...	Dennis Guilder
Alexandra Paul	...	Leigh Cabot
Robert Prosky	...	Will Darnell
Harry Dean Stanton	...	Detective Rudolph Junkins
Christine Belford	...	Regina Cunningham
Roberts Blossom	...	George LeBay
William Ostrander	...	Buddy Repperton
David Spielberg	...	Mr. Casey
Malcolm Danare	...	Moochie
Steven Tash	...	Rich
Stuart Charno	...	Don Vandenberg
Kelly Preston	...	Roseanne
Marc Poppel	...	Chuck
Robert Darnell	...	Michael Cunningham

Storyline

In 1957, in Detroit, a red Plymouth Fury is built and is the cause of two accidents, one of them fatal, still in the assembly line. Twenty-one years later, the outcast and bullied nerd Arnold "Arnie" Cunningham is getting a ride with his best and only friend Dennis Guilder and he sees the wrecked car for sale in a garden. Arnie immediately falls in love with the car. The car was given the name Christine by its first owner. He brings the car to a repair shop of the despicable Will Darnell and works hard to restore the classic car. While he works in the restoration, he changes his personality to a cocky teenager and he dates the most beautiful girl in the high-school, Leigh Cabot. Soon Arnie becomes selfish and jealous of the supernatural Christine that kills everyone that is a threat to them.

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Plot Keywords:

killer car | friendship | bully | drive in | year 1978 | 

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Taglines:

She'll possess you. Then destroy you. She's death on wheels. She's...

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Genres:

Horror | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Did You Know?

Trivia

Dennis' car is a 1968 Dodge Charger 440.

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Goofs

When Arnie visits Dennis in the hospital and places the paper cup on Dennis' toe, the foot does not match Dennis' foot. As the camera angle changes, you can see the bottom of Dennis' foot and looking at the toes, the shape does not match the foot in the scene with Arnie.

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Quotes

[Arnie is pulling a worn out, smoking old Christine into Darnell's Do It Yourself garage as Darnell and Dennis look on]
Will Darnell: 'Kiddo, you sold him that piece of shit, you oughta be fuckin' ashamed of yourself.
Dennis Guilder: I didn't sell it to him. I tried to talk him out of it.
Will Darnell: You shoulda' tried harder.

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Crazy Credits

In the opening credits when the titles are appearing, Christine's engine can be heard.

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Alternate Versions

There was a home video release during the 1980s that was an extended cut which included many of the deleted scenes found on the Special Edition DVD.

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Connections

Referenced in The Cinema Snob: Trick or Treat (2016)

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Soundtracks

Bony Moronie
Written by Larry E Wiliams
Performed by Larry E Wiliams
Courtesy of Specialty Records, Inc.
Venice Music c/o ATV Music Corp.

User Reviews

Don't Mess With Christine!

I'm not particularly a fan of horror movies and I couldn't fix an ailing automobile if my life depended on it so the workings of cars don't fascinate me.....but this movie fascinated me. The '58 Plymouth Fury, alias "Christine," is absolutely gorgeous. What a piece of machinery!

This is a horror story but there are no ghosts or monsters nor is there any gore. A car is the star of the film, a very jealous and vengeful one at that. Man, that sounds silly but, if you're reading this you have probably watched the movie so no sense going into details. It's hard to describe the story in a paragraph without it sounding stupid....but it's not. Maybe the quickest way to explain it is that it is about a car that is alive, like a human, and you mess with it, you pay!

It is definitely one creepy, well-made, unique and always-entertaining film.

The car is a lot better than any of the people, sad to say. No, I didn't like any of the kids in this film (high schoolers who all look 30 years old!) and the language is a little too rough in spots, but that can be filtered out.

The car, the '50s music, the unique story, the satisfying revenge angle all make this very watchable.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

9 December 1983 (USA)

Also Known As:

John Carpenter's Christine

Filming Locations:

Pickwick Drive-In Theater - 1100 W. Alameda Avenue, Burbank, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$9,700,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$3,408,904, 11 December 1983

Gross USA:

$21,017,849

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$21,017,849

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures, Delphi Premier Productions, Polar Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

110 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Stereo Dolby Digital Dolby Atmos

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1