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:

killer car | year 1978 | year 1957 | friendship | darkness | 

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Taglines:

Body by Plymouth. Soul by Satan.

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Genres:

Horror

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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:

$3,408,000, 11 December 1983, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$21,200,000

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures Corporation,Delphi Premier Productions,Polar Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

110 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Stereo

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Christine's license plate begins "CQB" which is an acronym for "Close Quarters Battle".

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Goofs

When Christine smashes into the silver Camaro at the gas station, the hood of the Camaro gets knocked off the hinges and twisted sideways. As Christine reverses and drags the Camaro backward, you can see down through the hood that the engine compartment is empty. Minus a transmission, as well.

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Quotes

Buddy Repperton: Some shithead's following me!

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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

CBS edited 15 minutes from this film for its 1987 network television premiere.

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Connections

Referenced in The Darkest Nothing: Paraphrenia (2018)

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Soundtracks

Beast Of Burden
Written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards
Performed by The Rolling Stones
Courtesy of Promotone B.V.
Cannel Ltd.

User Reviews

music

I don't know if anyone has mentioned this before, but the 50s music was interesting in that most of it came from artists who suffered untimely, tragic deaths....Buddy Holly and Richie Valens of course were killed in a plane crash at the height of their careers...Johnny Ace ("Pledging My Love") died playing Russian Roulette with a pistol....Larry Williams ("Bony Maronie") was killed in 1980 by a gunshot wound to the head; he had been involved with drug dealing for years and it was thought to be a gang execution....I think Dion was still alive at the time this movie was made("I Wonder Why"); I'm not sure about the rest of the Belmonts....