Night 29 of the Attack of the 31 Nights of Halloween

Welcome to night 29 of the second annual Attack of the 31 Nights of Halloween. Make sure to stop by our Giveaway Post and enter to win a goodie bag full of frightfully good treats from 12 different shops! Tonight we have the next movie review off our Halloween Movie List. Follow along for an extra 25 entries in the giveaway. But first lets get to our featured item of the night from Laughing Vixen Lounge.




The Astounding She Monster Compact  $15

Purchase any item(s) from Laughing Vixen Lounge through October 31st and get 10% off your order. Use code OTOBER10 at checkout.

Make sure to stop by and enter our other 2 giveaways going on now. The Wicked After Dark Blog Hop Giveaway and The Hoppin' Halloween Giveaway Hop (sponsored by our good friend Deb at Strange Daze Indeed). Enter for your chance to win a Compact Mirror and Silver Pendant of your choice from Laughing Vixen Lounge.

Attack of the 31 Nights of Halloween Movie List.
Follow along with us for a month full of classic and fun spooky movies. Each night there will be a movie review of the next movie on our Halloween Movie List. Leave a comment on each post with your opinion of that movie. On the last day you will find the magic phrase you will use to unlock the entry worth 25 entries in the giveaway. You must comment on each post.


Night 29 - Christine

Tagline - Body by Plymouth. Soul by Satan.
              She'll possess you. Then destroy you. She's
              death on wheels. She's...
              Once she lures you behind her
              wheel...You're all hers.
              Hell hath no Fury...like a 1958 Plymouth.
              How do you kill something that can't
              possibly be alive?


John Carpenter (In the Mouth of Madness, Vampires and Ghosts of Mars) directed this film version of a Stephen King novel. Released on December 9, 1983 by Columbia Pictures (rated R). Arnie (Keith Gordon) is a loser until he meets Christine. Despite his best friend Dennis' (John Stockwell) attempts to stop him, Arnie buys the broken down Plymouth Fury and falls in love. Unfortunately, Christine is a jealous lover and Arnie's world quickly spins out of control.

This is one of my favorite movies. It's not too scary and the blood factor is very low. It's just a great little story. I know it varies greatly from the novel, but if you haven't read it then you're none the wiser. The nostalgia level is very high and probably one of the main reasons it appeals to me. Being a big fan of the 50's I love the Fury and all the great music she plays. Plus it's also a great look back at the late 70's. The cars they drive and the music they use (mostly 70's remakes of 50's songs) are all great. And John Stockwell was just so cute! Some of you might remember him from a few movies around this time (North and South miniseries, My Science Project and Top Gun). Now he directs movies and every now and then pops up in them. The movie is a bygone era on a few levels and I love it.

Arnie's transformation from nerd to obsession is very effective and interesting to watch. My favorite part is when Arnie says to Christine "Show me" and she proceeds to fix herself. Too cool.



Take a look at the original trailer


Some trivia about the movie
1. Scott Baio was considered to play Arnie Cunningham and Brooke Shields was considered for Leigh Cabot. But the film makers involved all felt the movie would be better served by casting "unknowns". (Thank goodness!!!)
2. Although over 5300 Furys were built in 1958 they have since become very rare and are now collector's items. About 13 of the 25 Furys used were smashed in the making of the movie upsetting many Plymouth lovers!
3. Arnie's nemesis, Detective Rudolph Junkins, also drives a Plymouth Fury. The car Detective Rudolph Junkins is driving when he meets Arnie in the high-school parking lot is a 1977 or 1978 Plymouth Fury - a popular police car of the late 1970s.
4. Stephen King's popularity was such at the time that the film went into production before the book was even published.
5. To simulate the car regenerating itself, hydraulic pumps were installed on the inside of some of the film's numerous Plymouth Fury "stunt doubles", a mock-up in plastic that looked more like metal on camera than actual metal as it bent and deformed. These pumps were attached to cables, which were in turn attached to the cars' bodywork and when they compressed, they would "suck" the paneling inwards. Footage of the inward crumpling body was then reversed, giving the appearance of the car spontaneously retaking form.
6. Kevin Bacon was offered the lead role but ended up choosing Footloose (1984) instead.
7. According to Bill Phillips on the DVD Documentary, the movie technically didn't have enough violence to justify an "R" rating. But they were afraid that if the movie went out with a PG rating (PG-13 didn't exist yet), then nobody would go to see the movie. So he purposely inserted the word "f#*k" and all its derivatives in order to get the "R" rating. He then commented that they were criticized at the time for their use of the word in the film.
8. As a joke, 'Alexandra Paul (I)''s twin sister, Caroline Paul, stood in for her during some scenes, most notably the ride on the bulldozer.
9. Stephen King suffered a near fatal car collision in 1999. In an example of life imitating art, King bought the van that struck him and personally beat it with a baseball bat before sending it to the junkyard to be destroyed.
10. After reading over the book, actor Keith Gordon (Arnie) and the costume designer came up with a visual way to show Arnie being possessed by Christine. As the movie progresses, Arnie begins to wear clothes that reflect the era of Christine's make. At various points, especially when Arnie is yelling at Leigh on the phone, Arnie is seen wearing button up shirts open with black t-shirts, black pants, and boots like a 1950's "greaser". When he's talking to Junkins (both times), he's wearing a leather vest over a button up shirt (a nod to western TV shows which were popular in the 50's), and he even starts to wear a red suede jacket similar to James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause (1955).
11. In the original novel, the car had four doors but was changed to a two-door model when it was realized that there never was a four-door 1958 Plymouth Fury.