Christine: 2004 Special Edition DVD

Americans have always enjoyed a so-called “love affair” with the automobile. Several years back Stephen King took that concept a step further with his best-selling novel, Christine — Christine was a cherry red, obsessively jealous 1958 Plymouth Fury who would stop at nothing to keep her driver, 17-year-old Arnie Cunningham, all to herself. Before the book was even published, horror-master John Carpenter got behind the wheel and agreed to present a big screen version of this eerie, often humorous, tale of road rage. The movie came out in 1983 to lukewarm reviews and box office.

Keith Gordon (then probably best-known for his role in Dressed to Kill) took on the persona of high school loser Keith and he did a great, over-the-top job of morphing from chump to champ. Before Christine rolled into his life, Keith was a nerd (pocket protector, brown bag lunch, black-rimmed glasses… you get the picture) whose only friend was an unlikely one: Dennis, the handsome, popular jock (John Stockwell). Life takes a hairpin turn when Dennis helps Arnie find his first car. Christine is just an old beater when the nebbish teen buys her for a mere $250.00 but almost overnight, she makes an incredible transformation.

So does Arnie. As Christine’s insidious evil seeps into her driver, Arnie turns to into a total jerk, blowing off his friends and family, dressing like a stud, driving like a speedster,  and dating the hottest girl in school (Alexandra Paul). But like any deal with the devil, all the perks start to twist and turn into hellish liabilities.  When everyone figures out that Christine is haunted, she turns on those headlights and puts the pedal to metal, squashing everyone in her path. Hell hath no fury like a Plymouth Fury!

The car, Christine, is a terrific character. I guess you could even say she’s hell on wheels: She only plays 50s music on her radio, has locks that jam when people are inside, and her engine roars like the devil whenever Arnie pays too much attention to his flesh and blood girlfriend. In the original Stephen King novel the creepy car had four doors, but there never was a 4-door 1958 Plymouth Fury — in fact, some of the cars used in the movie were an amalgam of ’57 and ’58 Furys melded with Dodge Belvederes. The 1958 Plymouth Fury was already quite rare in 1983 and several of the cars were smashed for the sake of the movie (no CGI then!).

Christine is not a scary horror movie, but it’s sort of a guilty pleasure all the same – it’s a silly sidetrip that’s fun to take.

Features on the 2004 issue of the DVD include 20 deleted and alternate scenes, plus brand new commentary with director John Carpenter and star Keith Gordon. This is particularly interesting, since Gordon has since become a successful director in his own right (I loved his 2003 nightmare/musical/fantasy, The Singing Detective). They both talk a lot about the movie — preproduction, production, and the aftermath — plus filmmaking and acting in general. It’s a good commentary for diehard fans of the movie, and aspiring filmmakers.

You’ll also find a few fact-filled featurettes: “Christine: Fast and Furious”; “Christine: Finish Line”; and “Christine: Ignition”.

(by Staci Layne Wilson)