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 (novel), Bill Phillips (screenplay)

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:

friendship | killer car | year 1978 | year 1957 | murder | 

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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

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

Did You Know?

Trivia

According to Bill Phillips on the DVD Documentary, the movie technically didn't have enough violence to justify an "R" rating. But they were afraid that if the movie went out with a PG rating (PG-13 didn't exist yet) nobody would go to see it. So he purposely inserted the word "fuck" and its derivatives in order to get the "R" rating. He then recalls that they were criticized at the time for their use of the word.

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Goofs

At the the end of the film, Dennis uses the Caterpillar tractor to ram Christine. He also immobilizes the car by dropping the teeth of the loading bucket into the roof. Then we see close-ups of the car repairing itself completely. The next shot, just before the tractor starts to crush the car, shows the car in its previous smashed-up condition again.

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Quotes

Arnie Cunningham: [Christine won't start] Come on.
Arnie Cunningham: [Christine still won't start] Come on, Christine.
Arnie Cunningham: [Christine still won't start] Come on, baby, please. It's all right. Everything is the same.
[Christine starts and the radio comes on]
Arnie Cunningham: [smiles] Okay.

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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 Riding the Bullet (2004)

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Soundtracks

Not Fade Away
Written by Buddy Holly and Norman Petty
Performed by Buddy Holly
Courtesy of MCA Records, Inc.
MPI Communications, Inc. & Wren Music Co.

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.