CHUD.com Community › Forums › CREATURE CORNER › Creature Corner Main › Hell hath no fury like "Christine"
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Hell hath no fury like "Christine"

post #1 of 11
4/26/03 at 4:28pm
Thread Starter 
Carpenter's career is speckled with some true classics, but I think "Christine" is often overlooked. I mean, we're talking John Carpenter taking on Stephen King for crying out loud. The combination is a sweet one.

There's a lot of great visuals, and when joined with Carpenter's moody score...the film just works. When the film was released my father had a "Christine" bumper sticker - an instant collectable - that he intended to put on this junker of a car we had...glad he didn't 'cause like Christine, that car bit the big one in the junkyard. Don't know, exactly, where that bumper sticker is now though.

I'm excited to see a <a href="http://www.creature-corner.com/dvd/apr24christine.php3" target="_blank">"Christine" SE DVD</a> on the way.
Reply
post #2 of 11
4/26/03 at 5:58pm
I like the movie as well, I was disapointed the fist time I saw it because I had read the book first and the book was great! The movie felt a bit crammed. But I still love it, the SE makes me glad I never forked out for the regular edition.
Reply
post #3 of 11
4/26/03 at 8:25pm
Yeah. I was disapointed the first time I saw it too. I wanted the corpse of Rollie LeBay to be driving Christine but they just cut that whole part out. I liked that 1958 Fury so much though that I did come to really like it after I viewed it again. 50's music and a teen killing car works for me. There is a guy who has, at any given time, 5 or so 1958 Plymouth Furys about 50 miles from where I live. He restores them and paints them red and white. It's fun to drive by and see how many killer cars he has for sale. The grills on those cars look just fucking evil! I'll be picking up that DVD for sure.

Reply
post #4 of 11
4/26/03 at 10:31pm
Christine's a good one! I thought the car effects were all done very well! SE looks good.
Reply
post #5 of 11
4/26/03 at 11:26pm
Loved this movie. Not one of Carpenter's best, no, but still a pretty damn tight movie. Haven't seen it in years, and am really looking foward to this dvd...glad that 10 buck barebones edition didn't tempt me. Carpenter commentaries are pure goodness.
Reply
post #6 of 11
4/27/03 at 2:31am
I'm with you Ryan, love this movie.
I think it's often overlooked as a damn good Carpenter flick simply because it is a King adaption. It seems to fall into the discussion of King movies not Carpenter films.
But I'm a huge fan.
Reply
post #7 of 11
4/27/03 at 2:54am
I think it falls into the King adaptation films simply because his name is attached to it. No film will ever do one of his books complete justice. There is just no way that a director can effectively fit everything into a 2 hour movie. This is ABSOLUTELY one of Kings better adaptations though and I'm definitely looking forward to the SE. It's got my cash.

I don't know what it is about John Carpenter that just clicks with me but I love his movies. I even got some enjoyment out of Ghosts On Mars.
Reply
post #8 of 11
4/27/03 at 11:16am
Thread Starter 
Yeah, it's interesting that "Christine" is pegged more as a King film than a Carpenter one. Isn't J.C.'s name above the title? I've gotta look.

Truthfully, I've never read the book - one of those rare instances where I missed one of King's oldies - but I'm definitely going to check it out soon 'cause I'd love to look into the similarities and differences.

I shouldn't be saying this, but, I'm really surprised a producer like Neil Moritz hasn't attempted to remake this movie.
Reply
post #9 of 11
4/27/03 at 11:22am
It's been a long time since I saw the film, but my recollection, Ryan, is that it follows the novel fairly closely.

Christine, the book, is one of the those "guilty-pleasure mid-list" books from King. It's an uber-silly premise that works because of the raw energy with which he was still writing in those days. You can overlook alot of the bad paint job when the engine is humming like it is.
Reply
post #10 of 11
4/27/03 at 11:37am
If I remember right, Rollie LeBay was an important part of the book. In the movie, he's dead and his brother George has the back brace for no apparent reason. I would have liked to have seen LeBay's reanimated corpse behind the wheel of that Fury but other than that, it was fairly close. Parts one and three of the novel are told in the first person by Dennis Guilder. I thought the middle section was rather jarring at first because it switches to the third person so we can see Christine running people down in bloody messes. I don't really think there was another way that King could have done it though. I was really into it as a teen because I think King wrote the voice of Guilder so well.

Reply
post #11 of 11
4/28/03 at 11:32am
Christine is an absolute classic. A very entertaining, fun, disturbing film. Its become an heirloom in my family. My brothers and I quote this movie almost daily. I got the regular DVD when it came out....I couldnt pass it up, but Im thrilled to see this getting some good SE treatment. This film IMO is grossly underrated. Its got one of Carpenter's best scores, the cast is excellent, and '58 Furys are just wicked evil cars. Everything about the book and the movie are just plain cool.

Besides, if you dont enjoy Will Darnell, you have a serious problem.

Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Creature Corner Main
CHUD.com Community › Forums › CREATURE CORNER › Creature Corner Main › Hell hath no fury like "Christine"