Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9435 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-03-07
• Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Dubbed, PAL, Special Edition
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: Arabic, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hindi, Italian, Norwegian, Swedish, Turkish
• Dubbed in: French, German, Italian
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 105 minutes

Amazon.com
She can't (and won't) drive 55.... Stephen King's novel about the twisted love affair between a boy and his car gets transferred to the screen, courtesy of suspense master John Carpenter. Although lacking some of the more outré supernatural elements of the source material, this high-octane cinematic tune-up more than delivers the goods, horror-wise (Christine's midnight rampages will never be forgotten)--as well as being a sly exposé of the random cruelties within the high-school pecking order. Keith Gordon (who has gone on to become a stellar director in his own right, with films such as A Midnight Clear and Mother Night to his credit) gives a wonderfully controlled central performance. Carpenter's atmospheric original score is backed up by a well-chosen collection of rock classics, including George Thorogood's "Bad to the Bone" (the titular character's all-too-apt theme song). --Andrew Wright

Synopsis
Based on the best-selling Stephen King novel, CHRISTINE is a dark and violent film about the dangers of obsession. When an unpopular young man, Arnie (Keith Gordon), buys a vintage car to restore, it changes his life completely. The more he works on the car, which he names Christine, the more his personality changes. He becomes moody and dark, spending more and more time with the car and less and less with his friends. The friends become concerned as Arnie's passion for the automobile turns to extreme, and he becomes unstable. But the car has powers over the young man, and takes on a life of its own, becoming as obsessed with its new owner as he is of it. Their devotion to one another quickly becomes violent, and separating Arnie from the car is a deadly task for his friends. With CHRISTINE, director John Carpenter delivers a faithful adaptation of the book by Stephen King. One master of horror adapting another's work seems ideal, and the results are as powerful as expected. With Carpenter's ability to make the supernatural seem plausible, even commonplace, the film excels in evoking plenty of scares and nail biting from the audience.

Customer Reviews

Christine is a compressing movie.
A kid, Arnie (Keith Gordon) inherits a car "Christine" with a dubious past. Poor thing needs some loving care. Parents say dump her. However Arnie is determined to fix her up even at the expense of his girl Leigh (Alexandra Paul) and despite the money grubbing garage owner. How will Christine respond to those who rival for her affection and those that despise her good looks?

She gets herself in to more tight spots. After each cursing experience Christine rebound with new enthusiasm (and a new paint job.) And talk about loyal to those who love her. Everyone knows that possession is nine points of the law; Christine had many points. This may have been the first car with an adjustable steering wheel.

Talk about fatal attraction.

Christine
I've said it before and I'll say it again, any film maker who takes on the challenge of trying to bring a Stephen King book to the big screen is going to have his work well and truly cut of for him to attempt to condense all the history and details Mr King crams into his novels, in a watchable format. To his credit, the director John Carpenter does pretty darn well here and makes a very worthwhile effort.

The problem I have with Christine is that it was never the best of Stephen King's books to start with and I've never found the idea of a possessed car that sinister, ok it's no dafter than a possessed dog or cat, but there's just something that little bit to cumbersome about the idea of having a car commit murders.

Arnie Cunningham is the typical high school geek, skinny and with glasses he's the ideal target for the mean school bullies and it's good news for him that the high school football jock her, Dennis Guilder, is Arnie's best friend.
Arnie, in an attempt to break free from his mother's very tight apron strings, buys a beaten up wreak of a car from a dodgy looking character called George LeBay. The car in question is a red and white 1958 Plymouth Fury which we learn from Mr LeBay belonged to his brother, until his brother ran a pipe from the exhaust and killed himself.

Arnie buys the car and sets to work renovating it although as much work Arnie puts in the car seems to be helping him along by regenerating itself. When the car is finished it's a sight to behold, a classic piece of American Automobile, it's no wonder that behind the wheel Arnie cuts a different figure and his new found good looks lands him the prettiest girl in the school, Leigh Cabot. But the bullies haven't given up all ideas of keeping Arnie down. They break into the garage where Arnie keeps the car and smash it to pieces. But when only days later is it more amazing that the car is fully restored again, or that the bullies are picked off one by one, with Arnie's prized car always being near the scene?

As I say, the film is extremely watchable if for nothing else the excellent smashes and scrapes the car gets itself into, and then amazingly out of again. The regeneration sequences are great effects and although some of the action scenes are quite jerky, there are some brilliant iconic images, like the Plymouth cruising down the highway whilst being on fire.

There's nothing really special about the performances although they are all adequately done. Viewers may spot that Keith Gordon (Arnie) also appeared in the pretty awful Combat Academy and John Stockwell (Dennis) turns up as the pilot "Cougar" in Top Gun. Harry Dean Stanton appears for a small role as the cop assigned to investigate the murders.

What I did like about the film though were the extra areas it covered that aren't in the book. The opening sequence showing Christine on the Detroit production line was a nice touch and I loved the ironic radio set with a mind of it's own, managing to not only switch itself on whenever Christine was up to no good, but playing a suitable classic Rock and Roll hit. A great example would be playing Bony Maronie whilst crushing garage owner Will Darnell against the dashboard.

This car is ACE
Christine is awesome. i haven't got the dvd but im gonna get it.
this film is ace, it's bout a car that is possesed and you really don't want to get on the wrong side of her coz you'll know bout it.
If you haven't seen do and if ya have get the dvd. coz it's worth every penny.