Christine

King's Christine is one of his (few) books that I didn't enjoy that much, but what John Carpenter has done with the story is admirable. It's still a B-movie, but it's a proud one. Entertaining and suspenseful, stylish from the opening credits to the very end. It doesn't matter that one might cringe at some of the scenes or the actions of some of the characters, because that's the kind of thing that fits here. Scenes like the first "self-correction" or the one in the flames are unforgettable. (04/28/2019)

As a horror movie, Christine is not entirely scary. It could be that it’s just not possible to make a serious horror flick about an old red car that, like a Transformer, repairs itself when it gets damaged. But you will enjoy the one scare and the suspense, which is surprisingly effective for such an absurd subject. Carpenter also succeeded in capturing the bizarre charm of the subject matter, which is a typical feature of King’s books. Here it's the detailed focus on a young outsider’s fetishistic love for a car, which becomes his idol and helps him to find himself. Christine is also built on and works well with the characters, their transformation, the motif of trying to save a friend and so on, narrative parameters that contemporary horror filmmakers rather don’t give a damn about. (09/18/2020)

Despite being overly long, Christine was a surprisingly not boring film. Someone might say I’m contradicting myself, but that’s not quite true. The story does move pretty slowly, there are very few action scenes, they talk quite a lot (about nothing really interesting), but you can feel Carpenter, so if refuse to get bored, you won’t get bored and you will truly enjoy Christine. The main problem for me is that it is not scary, at all. That’s not that big of an issue in horror, as long as it offers some other kind of enjoyment. Unfortunately, this film is made precisely in a style that is meant to be scary, but fails miserably at that. To wrap up, I want to point out to the scene with the burning moving car, that one’s really great. (08/27/2008)

The catchy hit "Bad to the Bone" frames a piece about the devilishly autonomous Plymouth Fury, regardless of the average chrome exhaust tip, and the unhealthy fixation of men on their four-wheeled darlings. It follows closely behind James Brolin taming the black car in '77. A little twist of the runtime on the odometer, pour in some high-octane horror fuel, and add imaginative scenes like self-bodywork accompanied by organ music, and it could start overtaking. By the way, when a bulldozer isn't enough to destroy Christine, why not take her on a busy freeway and break her down psychologically? (09/16/2020)