@@ReelReviewsWithJen the car in this film is little bit similar 2 the 1977 classic (The Car) since it has a mind of it's own only difference the 1 in the 1977 classic is basically all stealthy Black!
That song Christine plays at the end "Rock and Roll Will Never Die" was basically Christine defiantly telling them "You can't kill me, I WILL NEVER DIE!"
Actually, fun fact, Christine never attacks her owner/driver, because in her mind, it is sort of like the male driver is her boyfriend, and any girl said driver hangs around, she gets jealous and attacks, like what happened with Leigh, and the scene where Christine launches Arnie out the windshield, she sits there with him while he is dying, he touches her one last time, and finally dies in front of her, then Christine is overcome by sadness and grief, and in a bit of a twist, without her owner, she is weak and vulnerable, so in the end, the only person she never attacks is her driver
Christine's color scheme was based off a Plymouth Belvedere which was a lower trim level than a 1958 Plymouth Fury. And the 58 Plymouth Fury's only came in one color Buckskin Beige. Also the car's revving engine was used from a Ford Mustang with a 428.
Christine was the first novel that I ever read, and afterwards the ‘58 Plymouth Fury was my dream car, but they only came in one color; white. Christine was factory ordered. That’s why she’s red. Of course, Christine is actually haunted by the original owner. In the movie it was possessed from the beginning.
A great follow up to this would be "The Car"(1977). Think JAWS but a car instead. Awesome cheese! You'll love it! Leigh (Alexandra Paul) ended up being one of the original Baywatch girls. Dennis (John Stockwell) is most famous for Top Gun. Both John and Keith Gordon (Arnie) ended up doing a lot of directing as well as acting. Keith Gordon directed one of the best forgotten war movies "A Midnight Clear"(1992).
A great choice in Christine.The car on fire scene is iconic. The Stephen King films made in the 80s and set in 70s were awesome. If you haven't already seen it I recommend what I think is his best The Dead Zone starring Christopher Walken and directed by David Cronenberg. A brilliant plot and superb twist towards the end a great film for Halloween 🎃
Funny fact: The lead actress is a twin. In one scene John was directing lead actors and felt that something was off. A female voice behind him says "Have you replaced me, already?!" John turns around and see's his lead actress. He was SO shocked.
King apologized to Emilio fir Maximum Overdrive. Though he also says one of his proudest moments was when George Romero came to set and puked after the steamroller scene.
"Hey, that's the name of the movie..."...Jen, you said it so many times during Christine that I gotta bring it up - The Car, 1977, starring James Brolin and Ronny Cox. Evil, demonic car terrorizes a small desert town...basically Jaws with a car. You will *love* it ..
The Car is very nostalgic for me. Some earlier movies with the same theme are Duel, directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Dennis Weaver, and Killdozer!, starring Clint Walker.
"I keep thinking of George LeBay in Ohio. His sister in Colorado. Leigh in New Mexico. What if it's started again? What if it's working its way east, finishing the job? Saving me for last? His single-minded purpose. His unending fury."
Another good Movie based on a King novel is “Firestarter” starring Drew Berrymore. You HAVE to watch that. She’s a telekinetic girl who can control fire on the run with her father from the government. It’s awesome!
The Dead Zone is one of the best Stephen King adaptations ever, please check it out. David Cronenberg directed it and it stars Cristopher Walken in one of his best performances.
I _love_ cars and I love this movie. The way that they edited it to make the car so sinister is amazing. And whoever the heck was driving it had a lot to do with that, too. Just the way it smashed so hard and fast into Buddy's car, and then reversed out of the fire, omg, expert handling of a vehicle. Not to mention that someone had to do all that skillful driving while the car was on fire. Unreal, absolutely epic.
She kind of did, though. She's the one who pushed him toward being a more evil/antisocial person. That and it was Christine who was driving herself around. All Arnie did was sit behind the wheel and enjoy the chaos. His fate was tied to hers the second he went along with her to kill the bullies. Arnie paid the price for being complicit (after all-he had plenty of chances to walk away).
@@armanflint Incorrect. Federal law required all vehicles to be equipped with seatbelts in all positions (except for busses) starting on January 1, 1968 (Title 49 of the United States Code, Chapter 301, Motor Safety Standard)
Yeah. The only thing I remember about the book is that part of Arnie's "transformation" is that he starts acting and speaking like a 1950's greaser and uses sayings from the previous owner.
Cujo in the book is possessed by a serial killer from The Dead Zone, but in the film it’s just rabies. Most of King’s earlier novels were linked somehow.
There is a really good balance between fun or even silly moments and scary parts. Also I love the special effects especially when the car is “healing” itself.
The main scenes of the car ‘regenerating’ I believe were done by welding hydraulic rams inside the car to make it collapse/fold in, filming that, then running the footage in reverse as you correctly guessed. From what I remember the film is pretty true to the book for the most part.
They had to do "poor man's reverse", Carpenter held the camera upside down while filming that scene. In order to run the footage right side up you have to load it in backwards.
The book is different in that Arnie was being possessed by the previous owner and becoming him completely (he was pretending to be Arnie and that is why he changed personalities, it literally wasn’t Arnie anymore) so the previous owner could stay with the car forever so it’s more of a ghost story (though the car does behave the same in both the film and the book).
thats because in the book the car was haunted but John Carpenter thought it would be better if the car was alive i guess that he never saw that had already been done and failed with a movie called simply THE CAR In 1977 it was a flop. the car being haunted like a haunted house was a better idea the idea was used again in the movie MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE it to failed if they rebooted Christine they should fallow the book more closely this time around
@@kevinburdine7452 John Carpenter wanted to make the movie about the car itself which is why the previous owner was rewritten into being just that. It turns the car into more of a mechanical cryptid.
Fun Fact: When the film begins in 1957, the song 'Not Fade Away' by Buddy Holly and the Crickets is playing on Christine's radio, and when the movie fast-forwards to 1978, the 70s remake of 'Not Fade Away' by Tanya Tucker is playing on the radio of Dennis' Dodge Charger.
Chirstine 1983 was the very first horror and R rated movie that I saw in a movie theater its one of my all-time favorite horror movies. I became a huge Stephen King fan after I saw it i also got myself into old and classic cars after I saw Chirstine and just to let you know that the one that played Annie was in Jaws 2 1978 and he's now a director and has directed episodes of Dexter and Breaking bad.
@@ReelReviewsWithJen 24 Plymouth Furies, Belvederes and even Savoys were used as Christine. Sadly, only two cars made it out of the production intact. One was auctioned in 2004 for a hefty $170,500. The other was the stunt car used to crush Moochie. It was almost scrapped but fortunately, a car enthusiast bought it at the last minute and restored it.
@@robertmcghintheorca49 all the parts were saved by enthusiasts and helped restore other Plymouths, one more complete car was eventually made using parts.
Fun fact the song playing in seen 6:26 Arnie sitting in side Christine, the song called pledging my love - by Johnny Ace, Johnny Ace died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head playing Russian roulette backstage at one of his shows he died Christmas day December 25, 1954
There's another older movie called The Duel, its not completely explained ( the way I like movies sometimes), but it's pretty creepy. As I understand they used and destroyed 7 or 8 of that model car. By the way it was a Plymouth Fury. Even had a tough sounding model name. This one was fairly close to the book, I read it many years ago and some of the details escape me. Though not spelled out, the car was basically demonically possessed and would draw its 'life' from the owner. So when the last driver killed himself she had to hibernate until someone else was caught by her spell and she could restore herself.
You're correct about Christine being more focused on the characters, Jen. John Carpenter decided to make Christine more of an autonomous evil force and focus the story on the characters of Arnie, Leigh, and Dennis, because he couldn't figure out how to adapt the story from the novel faithfully with the ghost of Roland LeBay possessing Arnie without it looking silly, like cheap ghost effects.
Keith Gordon was a pretty cool lead. He played a sort of similar character in 'Dressed to Kill' which you should also check out. I think if Hollywood had made a proper Spider-Man in the early 80's, he would've made a great Peter Parker.
Interesting little trivia on the movie is that John Carpenter was recovering from the critics slamming The Thing due to the excessive gore which explains the lack of gore in this movie. However, they still wanted to have an R rating because they felt that no one would see a PG rated horror movie. That's why there is an excessive amount of swearing instead. Also, there are many differences between this story and the book mainly that the movie depicts Christine being possessed Rez the book the car was possessed by the previous owner. There were some scenes that were changed mainly due to budget reasons.
Little known facts: If I remember correctly were 8 cars used in the movie, some were rented and were the "pretty" Christines, (buying those were financially not viable since restored cars like this are VERY expensive) others were almost indestructible and kept running no matter what was done outside of crushing them
24 cars were used however most of them weren’t on screen but were instead parts cars, not all of them were furys but a a large amount of them actually Belvederes
Hmm that's funny... I remember interviews saying it was hard to restore them and keep them running. I don't think they rented ANY. They had to restore them to destroy them.
It's been many years since I read the book, but I seem to recall that Christine needed to be moving to regenerate. I believe there's a part in the book where Arnie has to push her to get her to regenerate enough that she can be driven and regenerate fully. The detective, Harry Dean Stanton, played Brett the engineer in Alien. If you want an excellent low-budget horror film for Halloween, try It Follows (2014).
The odometer running backwards is Christine making herself new again. The more Arnie drives Christine, the more newer she becomes. So think of it as Christine de-aging herself. Also everytime Christine repairs herself the odometer runs backwards
I can answer a few of these questions First of all the regeneration scene. They had one of the cars outfitted with plastic panels and they had an air compressor inside that allowed the car to suck itself in, they reversed the clip and that was how they did that Second the amount of cars used 23-28 depending on who you ask... not all Plymouth furys oddly enough, a couple savoys and few Belvederes were also used, out of the 23-28 cars to play Christine only 2 actual Plymouth furys survived, both are now privately owned and still in pristine condition, one of which is actually used as a daily driver Third is the firey fury Cars generally have very good petrol tanks, most cars can safely park above an open flame without having any issues whatsoever, petrol generally doesn’t explode unless it’s under specific conditions, it’s more of a burn, it burns better as a mist which is why cars in general are pretty safe in that area (with exceptions like the Ford pinto) Hope that answers some questions well enough
The tune that plays after he say “show me” is a song from my childhood it’s call Harlem Nocturne by the Viscounts. It’s on utube if you care to listen to the whole song.
I love this movie! Christine communicates very similarly to how Bumblebee communicated with the radio in transformers when something is happening around her "rock and roll is here to stay" "I'll forever love you" "keep on knocking but you can't come in", etc It looks beautiful on bluray but my first copy was on a recorded vhs tape and I saw it as a child, now 30 in 2021. Maybe that's why I have an affinity for creepy and gore as an adult.
I saw this as a new release in theaters back in the day,, the scene with Christine on fire was the coolest thing I'd ever seen in a movie and pure EPIC on the big screen
Christine had been rated R when released in 1983, primarily for violence and strong language. Between 20-28 Chryslers of similar models and trim levels from 1957-1958 were used. At that point in history, they had no real collectible value and were plentiful, so most were purchased for very little. High schoolers could easily have afforded one. Several of the cars were already the right color and were damaged, wrecked or burned junkyard picks. The 8 or so in the best condition used to shoot the assembly line and other scenes. The production factory was the same building used for the worn-down garage where Christine was kept. It was not until after the movie's release that the 1957 and '58 Plymouth Fury found its way into the serious collector's market.
25:53, glad you enjoyed it as much as I did. SPOILER: The ending was a lot different. Dennis and Leigh got married, but decided to separate. While Dennis is now a school teacher, is sitting down, drinking his coffee and reading the paper, where it says a car matching the color and model of Christine had run down and killed a ticket taker at the local drive in. The ticket taker was Dan Vandenberg, whom had survived her wrath. Dennis knows Christine will come after him. Dennis is sitting on his porch, drinking lemonade, with a shotgun in his lap then hears the sound of an engine coming down the street.
Christine was born bad to the bone, no explanation needed. If you watch closely, in the scene where Arnie is showing how fast Christine is, his face seems to change shape, as if he is becoming part of the car. In the end Arnie and Christine loved each other, as Arnie reaches out to touch Christine, it is understood that arnie's connection her, as well as his demise, were destiny. One of my favorite movies.
Keith Gordon was also in Jaws 2,Bob Prosky Gremlins 2,Mrs Doubtfire.the main bully dude who looks like Travolta did some rotoscope work on Fire And Ice
Christine's odometer running backwards is a gimmick that John Carpenter had previously used in Escape From New York, with Kurt Russell's character, Snake Plissken, having a digital timer running backwards, counting down how much time he had left to complete his mission. I hope you check that movie out someday, Jen. 🙂 With Christine's odometer, I'm assuming it's supposed to imply that Christine is always living on borrowed time, and knows her time is always short.
Christine did not kill Arnie. He died because he was not wearing a seatbelt and went through the windshield after a collision. Christine loved Arnie. That is why she played "I'll Forever Love You" as Arnie died.
Fun Fact: Christine Producer Richard Kobritz was also the producer of Salem's Lot. John Carpenter had previously worked with Kobritz on the TV suspense film, 'Someone's Watching Me!' and Carpenter named Mrs. Kobritz from The Fog after him.
Funny you should mention Ghost Rider. Robbie Reyes is one of many Ghost Riders in the Marvel comics. He actually drives a 1969 Dodge Charger. Which I think is the kind of car that Dennis drives in this movie. Love this reaction!
I saw this movie when it first came out and I loved it. Several years later in high school I came across the book at a yard sale and bought it on an impulse. I had never been a big reader but in English we had just finished "To Kill a Mockingbird" and loved it so figured I would take a chance on Christine. I read it and was blown away by how amazing it truly was. It blew the movie away. That book really began my love of reading and I never looked back. I can't even tell you how many times I've read this book and it's just as good every time. A lot of fans of Steven King's book will say their favorite is "The Stand" but for me it will Always be Christine. Hell I would love to own a 58 Plymouth Fury. A sad fact about the production of the film is they used 24 of the 1958 Plymouth Fury to make the movie and in the process they destroyed 22 of them. I will admit one thing the movie did better than the book is Buddy's death scene.
Harry Dead Stanton was in roughly a billion movies, including Alien and Green Mile. One small creative liberty: the car in the book was a Plymouth Fury, which was only available as a 4-door sedan. The car in the movie is a Plymouth Belvedere, essentially the 2-door version of the same car. I think they still call it a Fury in the movie, though. There are quite a few big differences between the movie and the book. In the book, the car isn't "possessed" at all, per se. The original owner was so obsessed with it that nothing else in his life mattered, not even his daughter choking to death in it. He ended up killing himself in it. Arnie buys the car from the original owner's brother, and it's the original owner's ghost who is operating Christine, and who possesses Arnie. That's why Arnie starts using the original owner's slang and so forth. There is a limit to Christine's ability to heal herself as well; it's not really a self-directed thing, since the car itself is not actually "alive." Instead, it has to be rolled (or driven) backwards to reverse the odometer. So it's not really that the car is alive and doing all these things in the book (although it clearly is in the movie). It's the spirit of the car's original owner who is behind everything.
Not true. The Fury was a sub-series of the Plymouth Belvedere from 1956 through 1958. It was sold only as a sandstone white two-door hardtop with gold anodized aluminum trim, in 1956 and 1957. In 1958 it was only available in buckskin beige with gold anodized aluminum trim. ~ In the book, she was a '58 Fury and red with 4 doors.
I just watched this movie today and as a car guy i have wanted a 1958 Plymouth Fury ever since I first seen this movie. I think it is a very underrated movie. I also like how the windows are blacked out at times to add to the mystery of who is driving even though I'm pretty sure that it is Christine driving herself.
TH-cam channel Dead Meat counts how many people die in horror movies. The host also shares trivia about the movies. Check out the video about Christine.
2:15 - This movie is the reason I got into cars....first saw this when I was about 10, been into cars ever since. The movie was originally rated PG (this was before PG-13 came out), which was a bad-omen for Horror Movies at the time....so they re-worked the dialog to add a lot more "F" words to get an "R" rating.
Fun Fact: Roberts Blossom played the scary old man in Home Alone that Kevin befriends, and Robert Prosky played Robin Williams's boss in Mrs, Doubtfire! 16 or 17 Christine's were destroyed for the movie. 6 or 7 were used for parts, and only 2 or 3 survived.
I'm glad you finally got to Christine, Jen! 😀 Just so you know, Christine was a novel that even Stephen King didn't really think was one of his best works, but John Carpenter definitely improved it. As for how faithful the movie is, in the book, Christine is more of a haunted car that is possessed by the spirit of its previous owner, Roland LeBay, who slowly begins to possess Arnie. But in the movie, it is implied that Christine was a demonic car from the moment of her creation and is an entity all unto her own. 👻😈
Hello resident Christine aficionado here 🤗 so they had around 15-18 Christine’s (the number varies) but they only had a handful of real 1958 Plymouth Fury’s since it was a rare car, so they found some Belvedere and Savoys and dressed them up to look like Fury’s. Only 2 cars survived, one mint condition and sold at auction to a private collection, the other was a stunt car with no interior that was fully restored and owned by a fan. There is another 58 Fury that was a Frankenstein’s monster of parts from the Plymouths used in the movie and fully put together by a super fan (video is on TH-cam it’s cool and also emotional definitely check it out) fun fact: the stunt driver who drove the car while on fire was Harrison Ford’s stunt double for Raiders of the Lost Ark and performed the stunt where Indiana Jones was dragged by the cargo truck.
Jen, another difference between the book and the movie is that the book spends a lot more time on the ghost of Roland LeBay, who appears in several scenes as the demonic force that is actually driving Christine. In the book, LeBay actually sacrificed his own daughter to make Christine a vessel for his spirit to reside in, and LeBay begins to possess Arnie's body, with Arnie's handwriting becoming identical to LeBay's. In the book Arnie is not preset in the climax; Arnie and his mother are both killed in a "highway accident" while visiting a potential college after Christine kills Arnie's father. When Dennis and Leigh destroy Christine, Roland LeBay's spirit actually emerges from the car in an attempt to stop Dennis before Christine is crushed.
Arnold Cunnngham in this movie is portrayed by Keith Gordon who was in the movie Jaws 2, Alexandra Paul who does Arnold's girlfriend would later do Baywatch, the Detective in this who is portrayed by Harry Dean Stanton would later do the Chief Engineer in Down Periscope, and the guy that sold Arnold the car is played by the same actor who did that old man in the movie Home Alone. Since this is October I think that this would be a good time for you to watch Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth.
They actually used three different types of cars to portray Christine in the film, Jen. The Plymouth Fury, along with the Plymouth Belvedere and Plymouth Savoy, which had a similar look, as only 5,303 Furies were made by Plymouth and were very difficult to find. A total of twenty-four cars - Furies, Belvederes, and Savoys - were purchased by the film production in various states of disrepair and were rebuilt into seventeen copies of Christine. The majority of the cars that were destroyed during filming were the Belvederes and Savoys, which were modified to look like the Fury.
Saw this at age 7 when it came out and my best friend from that time & I still quote it when we talk. Also there’s a part in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood when Leo refers to the hippie’s car as a “mechanical asshole” and I’m convinced Tarantino got it from this.
The actor that played Rich was so familiar I looked him up, he's the one Bill Murray tortured with shocks in "Ghostbusters". If you were referring to actor Stuart Charno (Vandenberg) yes he was in "Sleepwalkers" as a police photographer. Ironically Harry Dean Stanton was the co-star in "Repo Man", a cult clasic you need to see if you haven't already.
Love your reaction to this John Carpenter classic I saw this when I was a kid on the TNT channel. You are correct at 13:55 they played the footage in reverse to give Christine her regenerative abilities.
The book is structured slightly differently, and Arnie is actually possessed by LeBay (the original owner) as well as the car. Also, Arnie dies trying to fight back against LeBay, but not in the way he is in the film. But it's pretty faithful for the most part.
Christine. 1957 Plymouth Fury. What a beautiful machine. Designed when the designers of cars were artists that actually liked cars. A good example will cost you 110-150k American these days.
I like the selection of movies you've gone through. Many of them are off the beaten path, lesser known gems. Solid picks, good conversational points and questions.
24:34, Jason Blum of Blum house productions wants to make a new version of Christine for the modern day for a possible 2023 release to commemorate the 40th Anniversary of the original film.
more than 20christines were used during the film, not all were plymouth furys, some were furys, some were Savoys and some were Belvederes, all painted red and given matching interiors! The main cars were the Belvederes!
"The movie playing during the drive-in scene is Thank God It's Friday (1978)." I wanted to see this movie (TGIF) when it had come out in '78 but I was only 13 and my parents said NO, lol. Also, this is where we get the "TGIF" from, the movie.
The movie that Arnie and Leigh are watching at the Drive-In is Thank God It's Friday, a 1978 Disco movie starring Donna Summer, and featuring a young Jeff Goldblum and Debra Winger in one of their early film roles.
Don't forget to check out my Horror Movie themed notebooks for Spooky Season! - www.amazon.com/shop/reelreviewswithjen
They crushed the car with winch cables pulling it into itself and then played the footage in reverse
Just a long McDonald-Ified version of ET. Not Original. Needs more work. I would rate it 0 stars if i couldim talking about mac and me 😱
Ah yes! I thought that might be how they filmed it
@@ReelReviewsWithJen the car in this film is little bit similar 2 the 1977 classic (The Car) since it has a mind of it's own only difference the 1 in the 1977 classic is basically all stealthy Black!
@@ReelReviewsWithJen 😌
That song Christine plays at the end "Rock and Roll Will Never Die" was basically Christine defiantly telling them "You can't kill me, I WILL NEVER DIE!"
The old music Christine plays reflects what she's feeling or what it wants to say... I love that character aspect to Christine!!!
Ohhh yes that’s true! So cool!
But nobody treated her(?) bad in order to have that murderous tendency.
@@jorgelopez-pr6drNobody mentioned that nobody treated christine badly to have murderous tendencies. were talking about the music man
Actually, fun fact, Christine never attacks her owner/driver, because in her mind, it is sort of like the male driver is her boyfriend, and any girl said driver hangs around, she gets jealous and attacks, like what happened with Leigh, and the scene where Christine launches Arnie out the windshield, she sits there with him while he is dying, he touches her one last time, and finally dies in front of her, then Christine is overcome by sadness and grief, and in a bit of a twist, without her owner, she is weak and vulnerable, so in the end, the only person she never attacks is her driver
I've always wanted a 1950's Plymouth Belmont with this paint job. Of course, I'd name her "Christine".
Christine's color scheme was based off a Plymouth Belvedere which was a lower trim level than a 1958 Plymouth Fury. And the 58 Plymouth Fury's only came in one color Buckskin Beige. Also the car's revving engine was used from a Ford Mustang with a 428.
Christine was the first novel that I ever read, and afterwards the ‘58 Plymouth Fury was my dream car, but they only came in one color; white. Christine was factory ordered. That’s why she’s red. Of course, Christine is actually haunted by the original owner. In the movie it was possessed from the beginning.
A great follow up to this would be "The Car"(1977). Think JAWS but a car instead. Awesome cheese! You'll love it! Leigh (Alexandra Paul) ended up being one of the original Baywatch girls. Dennis (John Stockwell) is most famous for Top Gun. Both John and Keith Gordon (Arnie) ended up doing a lot of directing as well as acting. Keith Gordon directed one of the best forgotten war movies "A Midnight Clear"(1992).
"The car" 1977 yes please!
Me 3!
@@ooEVILGOAToo great movie 📼
@@mem1701movies Oh ya how could I forget Duel!
@@mem1701movies Hey, you're right, I forgot "Duel"!
A great choice in Christine.The car on fire scene is iconic. The Stephen King films made in the 80s and set in 70s were awesome. If you haven't already seen it I recommend what I think is his best The Dead Zone starring Christopher Walken and directed by David Cronenberg. A brilliant plot and superb twist towards the end a great film for Halloween 🎃
I also enjoyed THE DEAD ZONE Television series!
Funny fact: The lead actress is a twin.
In one scene John was directing lead actors and felt that something was off.
A female voice behind him says "Have you replaced me, already?!"
John turns around and see's his lead actress.
He was SO shocked.
😊me too
Sounds like they were playing a prank on Carpenter.
@@tremorsfan they were.
It was probably the best behind the scenes story I've heard from this film XD
Probably in general xD
"Maximum Overdrive" is awesome. Stephen King was battling drug addiction then and his quote was "so coked up he doesn't remember directing it".
Yeah the trailer is interesting for sure lol
I wish SK had directed more; he had an eye for it. I actually like Maximum Overdrive. It was based on his short story "Trucks"
King apologized to Emilio fir Maximum Overdrive. Though he also says one of his proudest moments was when George Romero came to set and puked after the steamroller scene.
"Hey, that's the name of the movie..."...Jen, you said it so many times during Christine that I gotta bring it up - The Car, 1977, starring James Brolin and Ronny Cox. Evil, demonic car terrorizes a small desert town...basically Jaws with a car. You will *love* it ..
The Car is very nostalgic for me. Some earlier movies with the same theme are Duel, directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Dennis Weaver, and Killdozer!, starring Clint Walker.
"I keep thinking of George LeBay in Ohio. His sister in Colorado. Leigh in New Mexico. What if it's started again? What if it's working its way east, finishing the job? Saving me for last?
His single-minded purpose. His unending fury."
Yeah, that passage in the book is chilling.
"Shitters...." 😎
Another good Movie based on a King novel is “Firestarter” starring Drew Berrymore. You HAVE to watch that. She’s a telekinetic girl who can control fire on the run with her father from the government. It’s awesome!
Basically, she's the Stephen King's version of Dark Phoenix! lol.
Great movie classic
That's also a good song by Prodigy
Fun fact: John Carpenter was originally going to direct the Firestarter movie
They are remaking FS.
The Dead Zone is one of the best Stephen King adaptations ever, please check it out. David Cronenberg directed it and it stars Cristopher Walken in one of his best performances.
I’ve seen it! The reaction video is on my channel if you want to check it out!
The Car 1977 is another great scary car movie
I _love_ cars and I love this movie. The way that they edited it to make the car so sinister is amazing. And whoever the heck was driving it had a lot to do with that, too. Just the way it smashed so hard and fast into Buddy's car, and then reversed out of the fire, omg, expert handling of a vehicle. Not to mention that someone had to do all that skillful driving while the car was on fire. Unreal, absolutely epic.
Christine didn't kill Arnie. He flew through the windshield because he wasn't wearing his seatbelt.
She kind of did, though. She's the one who pushed him toward being a more evil/antisocial person. That and it was Christine who was driving herself around. All Arnie did was sit behind the wheel and enjoy the chaos. His fate was tied to hers the second he went along with her to kill the bullies. Arnie paid the price for being complicit (after all-he had plenty of chances to walk away).
Seatbelts for cars were an option until 1985.
@@armanflint Incorrect. Federal law required all vehicles to be equipped with seatbelts in all positions (except for busses) starting on January 1, 1968 (Title 49 of the United States Code, Chapter 301, Motor Safety Standard)
@@BammerD Even still, the Fury/Belvedere's in the film weren't equipped with seatbelts.
Book had it that the car was possessed by a previous owner in the 50's, in the movie "Christine" is alive
That's more fun with the Car being alive.
Yeah. The only thing I remember about the book is that part of Arnie's "transformation" is that he starts acting and speaking like a 1950's greaser and uses sayings from the previous owner.
Cujo in the book is possessed by a serial killer from The Dead Zone, but in the film it’s just rabies. Most of King’s earlier novels were linked somehow.
@@brutallyhonest123 No sht!? 😲
I missed that somehow.
@@boldbearings yeah, heard every book is linked in some way. the Kingverse or somethin.
Fun Fact: The blonde cheerleader who is interested in Dennis is played by the late Kelly Preston(John Travolta's wife) in an early role.
I thought that was who she was.
There is a really good balance between fun or even silly moments and scary parts. Also I love the special effects especially when the car is “healing” itself.
The main scenes of the car ‘regenerating’ I believe were done by welding hydraulic rams inside the car to make it collapse/fold in, filming that, then running the footage in reverse as you correctly guessed. From what I remember the film is pretty true to the book for the most part.
yes
They had to do "poor man's reverse", Carpenter held the camera upside down while filming that scene. In order to run the footage right side up you have to load it in backwards.
The book is different in that Arnie was being possessed by the previous owner and becoming him completely (he was pretending to be Arnie and that is why he changed personalities, it literally wasn’t Arnie anymore) so the previous owner could stay with the car forever so it’s more of a ghost story (though the car does behave the same in both the film and the book).
thats because in the book the car was haunted but John Carpenter thought it would be better if the car was alive i guess that he never saw that had already been done and failed with a movie called simply THE CAR In 1977 it was a flop. the car being haunted like a haunted house was a better idea the idea was used again in the movie MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE it to failed if they rebooted Christine they should fallow the book more closely this time around
@@kevinburdine7452 John Carpenter wanted to make the movie about the car itself which is why the previous owner was rewritten into being just that. It turns the car into more of a mechanical cryptid.
Rip to a great actor Harry dean Stanton we still miss you he played the dective in the movie Christine
Fun Fact: When the film begins in 1957, the song 'Not Fade Away' by Buddy Holly and the Crickets is playing on Christine's radio, and when the movie fast-forwards to 1978, the 70s remake of 'Not Fade Away' by Tanya Tucker is playing on the radio of Dennis' Dodge Charger.
That's actually Bonnie Raitt.
@@lvmy57 Nope, it's Tanya Tucker. The song is on TH-cam.
@@44excalibur You're right! I had it confused with the version of "Runaway" that they play in the movie. My bad. Lol
@@lvmy57No problem. Yep, I think that is Raitt doing the cover of Runaway.
Chirstine 1983 was the very first horror and R rated movie that I saw in a movie theater its one of my all-time favorite horror movies. I became a huge Stephen King fan after I saw it i also got myself into old and classic cars after I saw Chirstine and just to let you know that the one that played Annie was in Jaws 2 1978 and he's now a director and has directed episodes of Dexter and Breaking bad.
More than 20 Christine's to make the film. 14 were destroyed in the movie. 🏎🎬
Wow that’s crazy! It was for a worthy cause 🎬
@@ReelReviewsWithJen 24 Plymouth Furies, Belvederes and even Savoys were used as Christine. Sadly, only two cars made it out of the production intact. One was auctioned in 2004 for a hefty $170,500. The other was the stunt car used to crush Moochie. It was almost scrapped but fortunately, a car enthusiast bought it at the last minute and restored it.
@@robertmcghintheorca49 all the parts were saved by enthusiasts and helped restore other Plymouths, one more complete car was eventually made using parts.
Fun fact the song playing in seen 6:26 Arnie sitting in side Christine, the song called pledging my love - by Johnny Ace, Johnny Ace died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head playing Russian roulette backstage at one of his shows he died Christmas day December 25, 1954
There's another older movie called The Duel, its not completely explained ( the way I like movies sometimes), but it's pretty creepy. As I understand they used and destroyed 7 or 8 of that model car. By the way it was a Plymouth Fury. Even had a tough sounding model name. This one was fairly close to the book, I read it many years ago and some of the details escape me. Though not spelled out, the car was basically demonically possessed and would draw its 'life' from the owner. So when the last driver killed himself she had to hibernate until someone else was caught by her spell and she could restore herself.
You're correct about Christine being more focused on the characters, Jen. John Carpenter decided to make Christine more of an autonomous evil force and focus the story on the characters of Arnie, Leigh, and Dennis, because he couldn't figure out how to adapt the story from the novel faithfully with the ghost of Roland LeBay possessing Arnie without it looking silly, like cheap ghost effects.
Roberts Blossom (LeBay, who sold the car) was Old Man Marley in Home Alone.
I love that Buddy looks exactly like John Travolta😉
My favorite John Carpenter/Stephen King movie combo. Carpenter's score is so good.
Keith Gordon also starred in a great Rodney Dangerfield comedy, Back To School. Along with Robert Downey Jr.
Keith Gordon was a pretty cool lead. He played a sort of similar character in 'Dressed to Kill' which you should also check out. I think if Hollywood had made a proper Spider-Man in the early 80's, he would've made a great Peter Parker.
Interesting little trivia on the movie is that John Carpenter was recovering from the critics slamming The Thing due to the excessive gore which explains the lack of gore in this movie. However, they still wanted to have an R rating because they felt that no one would see a PG rated horror movie. That's why there is an excessive amount of swearing instead. Also, there are many differences between this story and the book mainly that the movie depicts Christine being possessed Rez the book the car was possessed by the previous owner. There were some scenes that were changed mainly due to budget reasons.
Back in the day if you drop one f-bomb you got an R rating.
@@reesebn38 And then Scarface came out and suddenly this one didn't seem so bad.
Little known facts: If I remember correctly were 8 cars used in the movie, some were rented and were the "pretty" Christines, (buying those were financially not viable since restored cars like this are VERY expensive) others were almost indestructible and kept running no matter what was done outside of crushing them
24 cars were used however most of them weren’t on screen but were instead parts cars, not all of them were furys but a a large amount of them actually Belvederes
Hmm that's funny... I remember interviews saying it was hard to restore them and keep them running. I don't think they rented ANY. They had to restore them to destroy them.
@@asdatrollys8944 actually 14 of the 24 cars were fury’s and the rest Belvedere and savoy
@@demetriusreynolds8178 I didn’t know they used savoys as well, that’s pretty cool
Also the factory in the end scene was twice as big - half of it was walled off and used as a repair area for all the stunt cars
It's been many years since I read the book, but I seem to recall that Christine needed to be moving to regenerate. I believe there's a part in the book where Arnie has to push her to get her to regenerate enough that she can be driven and regenerate fully.
The detective, Harry Dean Stanton, played Brett the engineer in Alien.
If you want an excellent low-budget horror film for Halloween, try It Follows (2014).
Let's face it, the shop teacher is the real MVP of the movie. I've always loved him. What a badass!
He was so calm during that whole scene, such a pro.
The late David Spielberg (no relation to Steven) was one of those "I know that guy" character actors.
They had 24 cars starting out. Combined onto 17 usable cars. Just 2 survived the movie. 1.5 mil used on just the cars
The odometer running backwards is Christine making herself new again. The more Arnie drives Christine, the more newer she becomes. So think of it as Christine de-aging herself. Also everytime Christine repairs herself the odometer runs backwards
I can answer a few of these questions
First of all the regeneration scene.
They had one of the cars outfitted with plastic panels and they had an air compressor inside that allowed the car to suck itself in, they reversed the clip and that was how they did that
Second the amount of cars used
23-28 depending on who you ask... not all Plymouth furys oddly enough, a couple savoys and few Belvederes were also used, out of the 23-28 cars to play Christine only 2 actual Plymouth furys survived, both are now privately owned and still in pristine condition, one of which is actually used as a daily driver
Third is the firey fury
Cars generally have very good petrol tanks, most cars can safely park above an open flame without having any issues whatsoever, petrol generally doesn’t explode unless it’s under specific conditions, it’s more of a burn, it burns better as a mist which is why cars in general are pretty safe in that area (with exceptions like the Ford pinto)
Hope that answers some questions well enough
The tune that plays after he say “show me” is a song from my childhood it’s call Harlem Nocturne by the Viscounts. It’s on utube if you care to listen to the whole song.
Fun Fact: Stuart Charno, who plays one of Buddy's gang, was previously in Friday the 13th Part 2 as Ted, and you also saw him in Sleepwalkers.
I love this movie! Christine communicates very similarly to how Bumblebee communicated with the radio in transformers when something is happening around her "rock and roll is here to stay" "I'll forever love you" "keep on knocking but you can't come in", etc
It looks beautiful on bluray but my first copy was on a recorded vhs tape and I saw it as a child, now 30 in 2021. Maybe that's why I have an affinity for creepy and gore as an adult.
I saw this as a new release in theaters back in the day,, the scene with Christine on fire was the coolest thing I'd ever seen in a movie and pure EPIC on the big screen
Christine had been rated R when released in 1983, primarily for violence and strong language. Between 20-28 Chryslers of similar models and trim levels from 1957-1958 were used. At that point in history, they had no real collectible value and were plentiful, so most were purchased for very little. High schoolers could easily have afforded one. Several of the cars were already the right color and were damaged, wrecked or burned junkyard picks. The 8 or so in the best condition used to shoot the assembly line and other scenes. The production factory was the same building used for the worn-down garage where Christine was kept. It was not until after the movie's release that the 1957 and '58 Plymouth Fury found its way into the serious collector's market.
25:53, glad you enjoyed it as much as I did. SPOILER: The ending was a lot different. Dennis and Leigh got married, but decided to separate. While Dennis is now a school teacher, is sitting down, drinking his coffee and reading the paper, where it says a car matching the color and model of Christine had run down and killed a ticket taker at the local drive in. The ticket taker was Dan Vandenberg, whom had survived her wrath. Dennis knows Christine will come after him. Dennis is sitting on his porch, drinking lemonade, with a shotgun in his lap then hears the sound of an engine coming down the street.
SPOILERS WARNING JEN!
Arnie with Christine definitely has symbiote Tobey Maguire in Spider-Man 3 vibes.
the actor who played Arnie was a character in Jaws 2
Christine didn’t mean to kill Arnie. Seatbelts were optional back when the car was made. Which is why I feel like she gave up after he died.
Christine was born bad to the bone, no explanation needed. If you watch closely, in the scene where Arnie is showing how fast Christine is, his face seems to change shape, as if he is becoming part of the car. In the end Arnie and Christine loved each other, as Arnie reaches out to touch Christine, it is understood that arnie's connection her, as well as his demise, were destiny. One of my favorite movies.
Keith Gordon was also in Jaws 2,Bob Prosky Gremlins 2,Mrs Doubtfire.the main bully dude who looks like Travolta did some rotoscope work on Fire And Ice
And also watch Back to school
68 Camaro vs 58 Plymouth,no contest
Rip To A Great Actor Harry Dean Stanton,We Still Miss You
In the book the 1st owner is a basdard when he dies he takes over the car in the movie its evil from the start.
Yeah, in the movie, Christine isn't possessed or haunted, or cursed. She's just born baaaaaad.
Carpenter made this no chop up no blood psychological thriller and that is what makes this horror film my fav in the genre
Car vs dog lovers regarding the antagonist. Nah, car-lovers love Christine kicking ass. There's mods of her in GTA and other games.
Christine's odometer running backwards is a gimmick that John Carpenter had previously used in Escape From New York, with Kurt Russell's character, Snake Plissken, having a digital timer running backwards, counting down how much time he had left to complete his mission. I hope you check that movie out someday, Jen. 🙂 With Christine's odometer, I'm assuming it's supposed to imply that Christine is always living on borrowed time, and knows her time is always short.
Christine did not kill Arnie. He died because he was not wearing a seatbelt and went through the windshield after a collision. Christine loved Arnie. That is why she played "I'll Forever Love You" as Arnie died.
The way the car fixed itself is exactly the way you said it all they did was play it in reverse
I think the half vest thing the old man was wearing is for scoliosis, not sure.
Fun Fact: Christine Producer Richard Kobritz was also the producer of Salem's Lot. John Carpenter had previously worked with Kobritz on the TV suspense film, 'Someone's Watching Me!' and Carpenter named Mrs. Kobritz from The Fog after him.
There were other films about evil vehicles. The Car (1977) and Killdozer (1974)
Funny you should mention Ghost Rider. Robbie Reyes is one of many Ghost Riders in the Marvel comics. He actually drives a 1969 Dodge Charger. Which I think is the kind of car that Dennis drives in this movie. Love this reaction!
The premise is that a car chooses it's owner.
Here's a funny side note the woman who plays Arnie's mom her name is Christine Belford
I saw this movie when it first came out and I loved it. Several years later in high school I came across the book at a yard sale and bought it on an impulse. I had never been a big reader but in English we had just finished "To Kill a Mockingbird" and loved it so figured I would take a chance on Christine. I read it and was blown away by how amazing it truly was. It blew the movie away. That book really began my love of reading and I never looked back. I can't even tell you how many times I've read this book and it's just as good every time. A lot of fans of Steven King's book will say their favorite is "The Stand" but for me it will Always be Christine. Hell I would love to own a 58 Plymouth Fury. A sad fact about the production of the film is they used 24 of the 1958 Plymouth Fury to make the movie and in the process they destroyed 22 of them. I will admit one thing the movie did better than the book is Buddy's death scene.
Another great John Carpenter movie that doesn't get the recognition it deserves is Starman with Jeff Bridges and Karen Allen.
The fixing up music is one called Harlem Nocturne by The Viscounts
"Let's go for a ride big boy, let's cruise."
Harry Dead Stanton was in roughly a billion movies, including Alien and Green Mile.
One small creative liberty: the car in the book was a Plymouth Fury, which was only available as a 4-door sedan. The car in the movie is a Plymouth Belvedere, essentially the 2-door version of the same car. I think they still call it a Fury in the movie, though.
There are quite a few big differences between the movie and the book. In the book, the car isn't "possessed" at all, per se. The original owner was so obsessed with it that nothing else in his life mattered, not even his daughter choking to death in it. He ended up killing himself in it. Arnie buys the car from the original owner's brother, and it's the original owner's ghost who is operating Christine, and who possesses Arnie. That's why Arnie starts using the original owner's slang and so forth. There is a limit to Christine's ability to heal herself as well; it's not really a self-directed thing, since the car itself is not actually "alive." Instead, it has to be rolled (or driven) backwards to reverse the odometer.
So it's not really that the car is alive and doing all these things in the book (although it clearly is in the movie). It's the spirit of the car's original owner who is behind everything.
Not true.
The Fury was a sub-series of the Plymouth Belvedere from 1956 through 1958. It was sold only as a sandstone white two-door hardtop with gold anodized aluminum trim, in 1956 and 1957. In 1958 it was only available in buckskin beige with gold anodized aluminum trim.
~ In the book, she was a '58 Fury and red with 4 doors.
In the movie no one calls her a Fury.
I just watched this movie today and as a car guy i have wanted a 1958 Plymouth Fury ever since I first seen this movie. I think it is a very underrated movie. I also like how the windows are blacked out at times to add to the mystery of who is driving even though I'm pretty sure that it is Christine driving herself.
TH-cam channel Dead Meat counts how many people die in horror movies. The host also shares trivia about the movies. Check out the video about Christine.
2:15 - This movie is the reason I got into cars....first saw this when I was about 10, been into cars ever since. The movie was originally rated PG (this was before PG-13 came out), which was a bad-omen for Horror Movies at the time....so they re-worked the dialog to add a lot more "F" words to get an "R" rating.
Fun Fact: Roberts Blossom played the scary old man in Home Alone that Kevin befriends, and Robert Prosky played Robin Williams's boss in Mrs, Doubtfire!
16 or 17 Christine's were destroyed for the movie. 6 or 7 were used for parts, and only 2 or 3 survived.
Hell hath no Fury like a Plymouth scorn
Fun fact: Christine is a distant cousin to Herbie the Volkswagen Beetle.
Please elaborate
As the 176th _Like,_ may I just say [regarding your choice of watching _'Christine'_ today]… *_OH HELL YEAH!_* 🥳🥰❤️
Christine was a 1958 Plymouth "Fury".
The '58 Plymouth Fury is on my list of cars I'd own precisely because of this film. One of my favorite adaptations of a King novel. Excellent choice!
I'm glad you finally got to Christine, Jen! 😀 Just so you know, Christine was a novel that even Stephen King didn't really think was one of his best works, but John Carpenter definitely improved it. As for how faithful the movie is, in the book, Christine is more of a haunted car that is possessed by the spirit of its previous owner, Roland LeBay, who slowly begins to possess Arnie. But in the movie, it is implied that Christine was a demonic car from the moment of her creation and is an entity all unto her own. 👻😈
Hello resident Christine aficionado here 🤗 so they had around 15-18 Christine’s (the number varies) but they only had a handful of real 1958 Plymouth Fury’s since it was a rare car, so they found some Belvedere and Savoys and dressed them up to look like Fury’s. Only 2 cars survived, one mint condition and sold at auction to a private collection, the other was a stunt car with no interior that was fully restored and owned by a fan. There is another 58 Fury that was a Frankenstein’s monster of parts from the Plymouths used in the movie and fully put together by a super fan (video is on TH-cam it’s cool and also emotional definitely check it out) fun fact: the stunt driver who drove the car while on fire was Harrison Ford’s stunt double for Raiders of the Lost Ark and performed the stunt where Indiana Jones was dragged by the cargo truck.
Jen, another difference between the book and the movie is that the book spends a lot more time on the ghost of Roland LeBay, who appears in several scenes as the demonic force that is actually driving Christine. In the book, LeBay actually sacrificed his own daughter to make Christine a vessel for his spirit to reside in, and LeBay begins to possess Arnie's body, with Arnie's handwriting becoming identical to LeBay's. In the book Arnie is not preset in the climax; Arnie and his mother are both killed in a "highway accident" while visiting a potential college after Christine kills Arnie's father. When Dennis and Leigh destroy Christine, Roland LeBay's spirit actually emerges from the car in an attempt to stop Dennis before Christine is crushed.
Nice you actually write back to people which is kind of rare with some people on TH-cam. I appreciate that you’re pretty cool you remind me of me lol.
Thank you so much! So kind!
Arnold Cunnngham in this movie is portrayed by Keith Gordon who was in the movie Jaws 2, Alexandra Paul who does Arnold's girlfriend would later do Baywatch, the Detective in this who is portrayed by Harry Dean Stanton would later do the Chief Engineer in Down Periscope, and the guy that sold Arnold the car is played by the same actor who did that old man in the movie Home Alone. Since this is October I think that this would be a good time for you to watch Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth.
They actually used three different types of cars to portray Christine in the film, Jen. The Plymouth Fury, along with the Plymouth Belvedere and Plymouth Savoy, which had a similar look, as only 5,303 Furies were made by Plymouth and were very difficult to find. A total of twenty-four cars - Furies, Belvederes, and Savoys - were purchased by the film production in various states of disrepair and were rebuilt into seventeen copies of Christine. The majority of the cars that were destroyed during filming were the Belvederes and Savoys, which were modified to look like the Fury.
I have a 59 Savoy..I agree...it is virtually impossible to find a 58 Fury...I looked for years before I found my Savoy
Saw this at age 7 when it came out and my best friend from that time & I still quote it when we talk. Also there’s a part in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood when Leo refers to the hippie’s car as a “mechanical asshole” and I’m convinced Tarantino got it from this.
In the beginning of the novel, Stephen King describes the whole story as a "love triangle" - Arnie, Leigh and, of course, Christine!
Square, Dennis is definitely part of it.
@@daviddufresne343 as it turns out, yes! But, who can argue with Stephen King, who says triangle in the beginning?😊
@@stathissdz2125 :D
The actor that played Rich was so familiar I looked him up, he's the one Bill Murray tortured with shocks in "Ghostbusters".
If you were referring to actor Stuart Charno (Vandenberg) yes he was in "Sleepwalkers" as a police photographer.
Ironically Harry Dean Stanton was the co-star in "Repo Man", a cult clasic you need to see if you haven't already.
Charno also featured in "The Warriors."
This is a great film but, the book is a lot better!
Love your reaction to this John Carpenter classic I saw this when I was a kid on the TNT channel. You are correct at 13:55 they played the footage in reverse to give Christine her regenerative abilities.
The book is structured slightly differently, and Arnie is actually possessed by LeBay (the original owner) as well as the car. Also, Arnie dies trying to fight back against LeBay, but not in the way he is in the film.
But it's pretty faithful for the most part.
Christine. 1957 Plymouth Fury. What a beautiful machine. Designed when the designers of cars were artists that actually liked cars. A good example will cost you 110-150k American these days.
I like the selection of movies you've gone through. Many of them are off the beaten path, lesser known gems. Solid picks, good conversational points and questions.
24:34, Jason Blum of Blum house productions wants to make a new version of Christine for the modern day for a possible 2023 release to commemorate the 40th Anniversary of the original film.
Christine is such a badass love it
more than 20christines were used during the film, not all were plymouth furys, some were furys, some were Savoys and some were Belvederes, all painted red and given matching interiors! The main cars were the Belvederes!
"The movie playing during the drive-in scene is Thank God It's Friday (1978)." I wanted to see this movie (TGIF) when it had come out in '78 but I was only 13 and my parents said NO, lol. Also, this is where we get the "TGIF" from, the movie.
I just love the sound of that car starting up
Keith Gordon's character arch in this is as good as Pacino's in The Godfather... Don't believe me? We'll take to court and I'll win!!!
The movie that Arnie and Leigh are watching at the Drive-In is Thank God It's Friday, a 1978 Disco movie starring Donna Summer, and featuring a young Jeff Goldblum and Debra Winger in one of their early film roles.
And Teri Nunn from the music group Berlin.