{"id":69629,"date":"2021-02-18T22:52:49","date_gmt":"2021-02-19T05:52:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=69629"},"modified":"2021-02-19T20:30:46","modified_gmt":"2021-02-20T03:30:46","slug":"christine-1983","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=69629","title":{"rendered":"Christine (1983)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;It&#8217;s that car &#8212; I swear, it&#8217;s the car.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Christine-Poster.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Christine-Poster-192x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"192\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-69630\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Christine-Poster-192x300.png 192w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Christine-Poster-655x1024.png 655w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Christine-Poster-82x128.png 82w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Christine-Poster-173x270.png 173w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Christine-Poster.png 723w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 192px) 100vw, 192px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nA football star (John Stockwell) is concerned when his bullied friend Arnie (Keith Gordon) purchases and restores a run-down 1958 Plymouth Fury named Christine from a local coot (Roberts Blossom), begins dating a beautiful new girl (Alexandra Paul) at school, and shows increasingly car-obsessed behavior. But a detective (Harry Dean Stanton) sent to investigate wonders: is it Arnie or Christine that&#8217;s causing so much mayhem and murder around town?\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Character Arc<\/li>\n<li>Harry Dean Stanton Films<\/li>\n<li>Horror Films<\/li>\n<li>John Carpenter Films<\/li>\n<li>Possession<\/li>\n<li>Stephen King Adaptations<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Response to Peary\u2019s Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nPeary writes that <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Christine_(novel)\">Stephen King&#8217;s &#8220;undistinguished&#8221; novel<\/a> &#8220;about a killer automobile &#8212; a subject that&#8217;s been done to death on television and in film &#8212; is given a visually impressive but extremely impersonal treatment by John Carpenter.&#8221; He argues that this &#8220;unpleasant film has few surprises&#8221; (I disagree) and that it &#8220;lacks an important transition scene in which the shy Gordon becomes a ladies&#8217; man capable of approaching someone like Paul&#8221; (agreed). Peary adds that &#8220;also missing are scenes in which Gordon at least tries to ward off Christine&#8217;s control &#8212; Gordon becomes thoroughly obnoxious so quickly that we don&#8217;t really care what happens to him&#8221; (though I&#8217;m not sure this is so important, given that Christine-the-car is clearly possessed by a malevolent spirit that has infected Gordon as well). Ultimately, Peary posits that &#8220;Carpenter paid so much attention to the special effects relating to Christine&#8221; (which are nicely handled) &#8220;that he forgot about character development&#8221;, which I would concede is the case. However, it&#8217;s undeniably freaky watching Christine take her revenge on those she feels have wronged her &#8212; and the film is well-made enough to recommend to those enjoy this type of fare. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Several exciting chase and hunt sequences<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Christine-Hunt2.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Christine-Hunt2-1024x559.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"349\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-69633\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Christine-Hunt2-1024x559.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Christine-Hunt2-300x164.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Christine-Hunt2-128x70.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Christine-Hunt2-768x419.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Christine-Hunt2-1536x839.png 1536w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Christine-Hunt2-495x270.png 495w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Christine-Hunt2.png 1815w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/reviews\/christine-1983\"><\/a>\t<\/p>\n<li>Fine special effects<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Christine-Rebuild.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Christine-Rebuild-1024x570.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"356\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-69635\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Christine-Rebuild-1024x570.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Christine-Rebuild-300x167.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Christine-Rebuild-128x71.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Christine-Rebuild-768x428.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Christine-Rebuild-1536x855.png 1536w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Christine-Rebuild-485x270.png 485w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Christine-Rebuild-1038x576.png 1038w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Christine-Rebuild.png 1823w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nNo, though it&#8217;s worth a look by fans of the genre. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0085333\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tvguide.com\/movies\/christine\/review\/2030344428\/\">TV Guide Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.moriareviews.com\/horror\/christine-1983.htm\">Moria Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/classic-horror.com\/reviews\/christine_1983.html\">Classic Horror Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/reviews\/christine-1983\">Roger Ebert&#8217;s Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s that car &#8212; I swear, it&#8217;s the car.&#8221; Synopsis: A football star (John Stockwell) is concerned when his bullied friend Arnie (Keith Gordon) purchases and restores a run-down 1958 Plymouth Fury named Christine from a local coot (Roberts Blossom), begins dating a beautiful new girl (Alexandra Paul) at school, and shows increasingly car-obsessed behavior. But a detective (Harry Dean Stanton) sent to investigate wonders: is it Arnie or Christine that&#8217;s causing so much mayhem and murder around town? Genres,&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=69629\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-69629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-responses-to-peary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69629","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=69629"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69629\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":69664,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69629\/revisions\/69664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=69629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=69629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=69629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}