Christine (1983)

Acting:		Partying:		Girls:
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Some things are just born evil, or in this case made evil. Christine is the seventh feature film from the great John Carpenter, who was coming off of two big horror successes with Halloween and The Fog and the undeserved commercial failure of The Thing. Carpenter has said that he took the job only because it was all that was offered him at the time, but don't let that seeming lack of enthusiasm fool you. Christine is still an atmospheric and convincing horror film that, despite being fairly tame, fits well into Carpenter's oeuvre.

Based on Stephen King's novel of the same name, Christine tells the story of Arnie Cunningham (Keith Gordon), a lonely high school nerd whose life changes after the chance discovery of a run down 1958 Plymouth Fury named 'Christine'. Neither his best friend Dennis (John Stockwell) nor his overbearing parents can understand his obsession and their concern only pushes him away further. He spends all of his time repairing Christine at 'Darnell's Do It Yourself Garage' and it's not long before Arnie himself starts changing. Soon, Arnie and Christine are unrecognizable as they both have a shinier appearance and a new aggressive attitude.

The driving force (pardon the pun) of the film is the sheer bizarreness of the situation. In some regard it's relatable because we've all known someone who loves or has obsessed over their car, but here that is taken to a whole new level. Arnie is not just obsessed with his car, he is enamored with it. Roger Ebert said it best: "I've seen a lot of movies where the teenage guy parks in a car with the girl he loves. This is the first one where he parks with a girl in the car he loves." Even after his newfound confidence scores him Leigh (Alexandra ...

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