Man's fascination with the automobile - specifically the sports car
- seems to never go away. To some car enthusiasts it's for it's become a replacement
for a relationship. After watching Twilight Time's Blue-ray release of John
Carpenter's Christine after about 20 years from the last time a viewed it, I
couldn't help but remember an old neighbor I used to have who was similar to
the title character. Our neighbor, Mr. Rushing, was a portly angry s.o.b who
loved to show off his corvette to the neighborhood. He'd baby the thing and
treat it with more love than both his wife and kids. At one point, in public, at a
barbecue he slapped the shit out of his eight year-old because the kid
sprinkled water on the car's tire. Father of the year, he ain't.
Stephen King may have seen a few of these guys during his life,
which may or may not have inspired his popular best-selling novel. The only
thing really different from my neighbor is that in King’s vision we have little possession sprinkled in with the obsession. And, it's also entertaining.
Arnie (Keith
Gordon, Dressed to Kill, Back to School) is an awkward teen who doesn't have
too many friends aside from a jock named Dennis, (John Stockwell, Top Gun).
Naturally, he's not much of a ladies’ man either - that is until he meets
Christine, a 1958 Plymouth Fury from hell. No one will get in the way of Arnie’s
obsession with Christine – not his parents, a group of bullies or even his new
girlfriend. She’s a true fatal attraction.
Christine is very much a horror film; Carpenter's film just isn't
the gore-filled slasher common of the films released around the same time in
the 80’s. This might have turned people off upon its initial release, which is
a shame, but truth be told it’s a fine film that with solid performances and some
excellent bursts of action. Gordon shows great progression from nerd to a
confident, arrogant Arnie that’s almost a complete transformation. Character actors
Robert Prosky, Roberts Blossom (Deranged) lend their talents beautifully to two
of the more eccentric (and memorable) roles. Prosky is filthy, sloppy
awesomeness!
Twilight Time’s restoration of Christine is pretty fantastic. I noticed in night scenes where there was substantial improvement in the
picture. If you’ve ever been wondering how cool a flaming possessed Plymouth
Fury looks in HD, look no further than this release. Sound is just as strong,
and of course, we do have yet another isolated score among the extras which has
been a big part of many of Twilight Time’s releases.
(Mild Spoilers)
The supplements on
Twilight Time's Blu-ray of Christine are pretty stellar as you get some
featurettes a generous helping of deleted scenes and an excellent commentary
with John Carpenter and star Keith Gordon. The deleted scenes are a mixed bag
that will surely entertain more of the die-hard Christine fans. The
scene where
Christine is trashed by the bullies is much longer and shows some footage that
is just talked about in the film. This in particular was a cool deleted scene.
I had a very good
time with the audio commentary with Gordon and Carpenter. Gordon has a lot of
positive things to say about Carpenter, one of the main things being that he
inspired him to direct (Dexter, The Chocolate War). The set was also very
loose as compared to other film Gordon acted in. It’s just a very friendly and
informative listen that’s well worth the time.
This title, as of writing, is out of print. It went quick,
literally hours but that really isn’t too much of a surprise. Twilight Time
really does a masterful job here so if you can get your hands on it, expect a
first-class package. Highly Recommended.
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