As far as I'm concerned "Christine" is probably the most cruelly overlooked John Carpenter film. Maybe I'm just a little biased as I'm a big fan of classic cars and Christine is truly a classic. She's a Plymouth Fury complete with big body, big tail fins, big engine, and even a push-button automatic transmission. My parents had a few late '50s, early '60s Mopars, and I remember their high-speed crusing, tire-smoking personalities. With that bit of nostalgia stated, Carpenter creates a scary bitch of a monster. Christine is a red, sometimes fiery demon. I love the way the car attacks her victims, plowing over and through everything. Jealous and relentless, she'll have her man and no one will stand in her way. The special effects of Christine "rebuilding" herself are still very convincing. It's so refreshing...no CGI. The most effective card Carpenter plays is the way he builds the suspense. Christine is practically a cobra ready to strike, you're just not sure when. Carpenter films the car beautifully, especially the sequences when she slowly idles, nearly stalking those she sees as a threat to her man Arnie. And speaking of Arnie, Keith Gordon is too physically wimpy in his transformation into "evil" Arnie, but he sells it with his psychotic dedication to the car. "Christine" is a movie that I can watch over and over again but I don't think I'd ever want to get behind her wheel.

I haven't seen this in decades and I still love it. The book also stands as an all time favorite. Watch it. Then read it.

Like most movies, if you've never read the book, You'll Love It. If you have read the book, you'll be like WTF??? [spoiler] Changing the locale of the story from Pittsburgh to California sucks a lot of the life out of it. The deaths of Buddy and Darnell are extremely cheapened without the snowstorm. Combining the LeBay brothers into one character cuts out half of the intrigue and discovery. The confrontation of Buddy and Arnie before he buys the car also loses revelation as the ghost of LeBay infiltrated Arnie and changed him. The resurrection of Christine also loses meaning, along with the reversing odometer, when she just sits there and heals. Even the hamburger scene is lessened without the hitchhiker. Don't even start with the New Year's Eve drive through hell that never happened, the Thanksgiving meal that lasted 5 seconds, discovering Christine AFTER school started and not having Petunia and Sir O-Cedar in the final scene. Even Arnie's death is a cheat, as he was miles away from the final confrontation and Junkins' non-death in the ending scene ruined a plot point.[/spoiler] If you want the real experience, read the book. It's a shame Hollywood only remakes good movies looking to capitalize on previous success. This movie, with the available CGI technology available today, screams out for course correction and a version that is true to the original work. It would only work as a TV mini-series, like the remake of The Shining accomplished in the late 90s. Trying to translate a 500+ page book into a 90 minute movie just doesn't work. The only shame is that Keith Gordon isn't of the proper age to play Arnie anymore. He pulled the character off perfectly. Carpenter worked well with what he had, it just wasn't true to the original source material.

This was much more entertaining than I was expecting it to be, not exactly scary but a good thriller.

This one has really grown on me over the years. Damn good Stephen King movie. It's a blast. Keith Gordon brings it down a bit with his goofy hamming it up, but it's quite entertaining.