Stephen King has pretty much dominated the horror scene for the last 45 years or so, giving us such wonderful gems as Carrie and The Shining. I been reading his books since I was 7 years old. My sister was reading "The Stand," another of his works, and I asked her if I could read it, because I was getting bored of the books in second grade. She wasn't finished with it, so she gave me another of his books to read. It was called "Christine," about a possessed car. "It's scary," she said to me. "I know the difference between fantasy and reality." I answered back. And then, I opened the book, and started reading.
Christine (1983) is about an old 1958 cherry-red Plymouth Fury convertible that causes two factory accidents before it even rolls off the assembly line. Twenty years later, Arnie Cunningham is a nerd looking for his first car, and chances across Christine. The car is rusting to pieces in an old lot, but it's for sale. Arnie immediately falls in love, and must have it! Next thing you know, Arnie is the proud owner of a broken-down rusted-out shitbox, as a Conehead would call it. Arnie lovingly restores the car to perfect condition, only to have some bullies get their revenge on him by busting up his car. Only, Christine doesn't like that. As Arnie would say, those shitters are gonna pay.
Keith Gordon plays Arnie Cunningham, and John Stockwell plays his best friend, Dennis. Alexandra Paul plays the hottest girl in school, who both Arnie and Dennis go after, but Arnie gets her. The late Kelly Preston plays another of girls in the school. The late Robert Prosky plays Will Darnell, owner of Darnell's garage, where Arnie fixes Christine up. The late Harry Dean Statnon plays a Detective, looking into the grisly murders of some local high school kids. And of course, William Ostrander is Buddy Repperton, the bully who pulls a switchblade on Arnie. I'd like to say that Buddy Repperton was my first experience with a bully, but even in the second grade, I already knew what a bully was. We all have a Buddy Repperton in our lives, some jackass who wants to stand in our way, to put us down so they can lift themselves up. For some of us, the Buddy Reppertons of the world are just figurative concepts, but for Arnie, the Buddy Reppertons of the world are real Buddy Reppertons, "shitters" just standing in our way, waiting to be run over by a cherry-red 1958 Plymouth Fury named Christine.
Not many people know this, but I have a shiny metallic-mint-green computer case that looks like an old cadillac. She was affectionately called "Christine" many times. I've had the case for maybe 15 years, but have upgraded the components within, multiple times. Funny thing, I wasn't the first person to call my computer Christine, which just tells you what a classic horror movie Christine really is. I caught the movie Christine on Starz if you want to watch it. Another funny thing, the movie was also directed by John Carpenter, who directed the Thing and Halloween and the Fog and half a dozen other of my all-time favorite Halloween horror movies. Weird coincidence!
In other news, I caught the season finale of "Lovecraft Country" on HBO earlier tonight. I was honestly kind of disappointed with the ending. They have all of Lovecraft to play with, and I didn't even see Ch'Thulhu once. Siiiigh. Oh wells. Maybe things will get better in season 2, if there is one, which I doubt. I applaud the use of magic in the series, but I am a fan of monsters, and there just weren't enough. I suppose I should be happy for the ones I saw, but honestly, that was it? Seems like such a let-down. Shame, the series seemed like a great place to launch some serious horror stories, and it was all just petty human crap. I am disappoint.
Catch you guys next time with another review.
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