High School
In the opening scenes of John Carpenter's CHRISTINE, which is easily described as a movie about a killer car, I was deeply affected by Carpenter's affections within the film. Surprisingly, the sympathetic hero at the film's opening is Arnie Cunningham (Keith Gordon). He wears glasses, and seems to be an obvious mild-mannered nerd. He has a protector though, a large football player by the name of Dennis (John Stockwell). The chemistry Carpenter creates between Arnie and Dennis is impeccable. Not only is the relationship believable, but there isn't any pity in either friend, but respect. Arnie is consistently tormented by a crude trio of toughs who pull knifes and play dirty, but Dennis sticks up for him just as consistently. One day coming home from school however, Arnie stops Dennis mid-road to check out an old clunker sitting in a backyard. It's a '58 Plymouth named Christine, and Arnie becomes obsessed with it: buying it for more than its worth, and spending all of his days fixing the car up to be a perfect beauty. He becomes so entrenched in his work, that he even forgets about dear-friend Dennis, and this causes a strange allegiance change mid-film as it becomes clear that Arnie is descending into madness. Christine is pure evil. It is a force that pulls Arnie in and refuses to release him, melding its own crookedness with his vulnerability, running enemies down, and expressed as otherworldly through lens flares and perfectly used special effects. Carpenter's direction here is the best of his career. Dennis and Arnie are great film characters, and their surrounding environment thought up by Carpenter is cruel and reflective of the evils of Christine. This is a great American film showcasing the best of horror and the best of the high-school setting.
Christine: ★★★★
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