John Carpenter month: Christine

A retrospective by Brooks Rich

The interesting thing about this month is most of Carpenter's filmography could qualify for Forgotten Film Friday, save for Halloween, The Thing, and possibly Escape from New York. Carpenter always kind of worked under the radar. He's respected now but he's more of a cult director than anything. The Thing was a financial and critical disaster when it first came out. Christine is one of his more successful films from the '80s but I feel like it's not as well known as it should be. The same could be said for the book itself. It's never really talked about as one of Stephen King's classics, even though its a tremendous book and a fantastic movie.

I really want to examine Carpenter as a director as this month goes on and explore what makes him one of the best from his time. His shots always feel right. There's a sense of planning behind them, that Carpenter doesn't want to waste a single frame of the film. Every choice is deliberate and there's no padding in a Carpenter film. At least none that I can think of.

Christine is a solid horror film. It's a breezy watch and also perfect for the Halloween season. This story of a teenager's corruption by an evil car is scary and bleak, just like a good Stephen King story should be. Carpenter could be a very dark director and extremely pessimistic too. Look how The Thing ends for one. While this film has a more bittersweet conclusion, it still has that bleak Carpenter touch. There's never a true happy ending for the characters in Carpenter's horror films. This will be a recurring theme this month.

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