CHRISTINE

John Carpenter, the director of this 1983 Stephen King adaptation, needed a job after the failure of 'The Thing' even though he didn't think the story, about a supernatural car, was sufficiently frightening.  

But whilst some critics indeed thought that the car wasn't scary, and Stephen King himself said that the film was boring, I found quite a lot to enjoy.

For starters I liked the way the early scenes do a good job of establishing the main teenage characters.  There's Arnie, a nerd who becomes obsessed with restoring the 1958 Plymouth Fury (the titular Christine); his close friend, likeable Dennis; Leigh the very attractive new girl who every boy wants to date; and of course the obligatory gang of bullies.

The film is also very pleasing on the eye. For example in the scene at the drive-in where Leigh is choking to death in the car, the way the interior of the car is lit up against the surrounding darkness is quite stunning.  Best of all, because we are pre-CGI the film's production team had to use practical effects for the scenes where Christine repairs herself.

The unknown cast do a splendid job especially Keith Gordon as Arnie, and I am surprised he didn't go on to have a more illustrious acting career.

That being said whilst I could readily believe in a car that has a mind of its own I did find it a bit hard to accept that Arnie had the skills to restore the car, speaking myself as a nerdy person with zero practical skills.  And his relationship with Leigh comes out of nowhere, so that I feel a couple of early scenes showing them getting to know each other wouldn't have gone amiss.

The climactic encounter is rather contrived, but Leigh's last line in the film did make me laugh out loud.

RATING: ✓ Cheers