Hooptoper Neun (2022) - Film #21

One thing that I can’t work out about this movie is whether we are initially suppose to feel sympathy for Artie or not. He’s set up as the lonely nerd, playing Scrabble with his parents at night, but even at this point, he’s not exactly a nice person. The reality is there aren’t many nice people in this movie, and the film explores some of the worst elements of high school culture - homophobia, misogyny, bullying. However, Artie is particularly unlikeable, growing ever worse as the film progresses.

At times, I found myself questioning Keith Gordon’s performance, before coming to the conclusion that it was actually excellent; so excellent that I was finding the character repellant. I don’t think it’s a spoiler to say that Christine is about a car with a mind of its own, and that the film is titled after this car, but I was surprised that it’s Artie, rather than Christine that weirded me out.

Visually, Christine is a delight. The car itself is a great excuse to put some beautiful visuals on screen, not least in the way that the headlights spread across the screen, and reflect in the rainy streets. The effects are great too - especially in regards to the way the car is manipulated throughout. The score is fantastic too - one of Carpenter’s finest, with wonderful synth work throughout.

Having never read King’s novel, I’m not certain how strictly the film sticks to the plot, but the concept itself is brilliant, and not at all as simple as ‘car on the loose’. The anthropomorphisation of Christine lends a disturbing edge to the relationship between Artie and the car, an infatuation that, whilst mutual, is only destructive in one direction.

I went into this expecting the film to be slightly more action-orientated. Instead, there’s a very layered picture here, surprising given the superficially tacky concept. I did feel that the feel and depth of Christine could have been retained whilst slightly upping the action levels, and I felt the film was a little longer than it needed to be, with passages that could have progressed slightly faster. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed all of the Carpenter films that I’ve seen so far, and this is no exception, falling right in the middle of his (excellent) oeuvre. The master strikes again.