Stephen King's Christine (1983)

 Christine (1983)

Arnie Cunningham's (Keith Gordon, Dressed to Kill) life is forever changed when he finds a rusty 1958 Plymouth Fury and becomes obsessed with restoring the classic automobile.  As the vehicle improves, so does Arnie, finding a newfound confidence.  However his obsession soon turns fatal as Christine seems to have a mind of her own.

I remember seeing this not long after it first came out, and despite my love for Stephen King, at the time I was not impressed.  A few decades later, with a little more movie watching experience, I have realized that compared to many other horror movies of the decade, this one actually stands the test of time.  Full of familiar faces and excellent performances, it's also morbidly nostalgic in its own way.

 The story, a nerdy, misfit teen both intentionally and unintentionally getting revenge on his tormentors, is classic King material... a machine that gains malevolent life from spilled blood.  Though the movie does depart from some of the book's details, the basic bones are there, revealing a sentient (and possibly lovestruck) car to be a terrifying thing to have.  What would Christine be like as a modern self-driving car?  With modern sat-nav and digital GPS tracking? I shudder to think.

Definitely a good crafting movie... it's slow-paced, yet interesting.  Some of the parent/teen conflicts feel a little over the top, but maybe that's because my parent was never quite so dramatic as Arnie's.  My attention did droop near the end... the final junkyard scene felt stretched out, but the payoff was good, as was the fake-out at the end.

Worth watching again if you're a fan of King, or just 80s horror in general. Four nostalgic stars out of five.

Hell of a Summer (2025) R

 Hell of a Summer (2025) R

 

 When Jason (Fred Hechinger, Kraven the Hunter) turns down a summer law internship to help his friends run their summer camp, Camp Pineaway, the socially awkward 20-something gets way more than he bargained for.

This turned out to be a classically set up slasher horror film.  While it does lean into the classic tropes, there are a few twists that make it watchable. The scene is set with the camp owning couple  John and Kathy enjoying a couple of beers on the lake shore next to a campfire.  The first kills are interesting enough.

The next day the counselors start arriving, letting us know who they are and what each character is about. Jason is dropped off by his nagging mother.  Demi (Pardis Saremi, The Pom Pom Murders) arrives with a carload of designer luggage and a mind to continue her influencer streaming.  Chris and Bobby drive down in a convertible, convinced that their first summer as counselors instead of campers will get them laid.  You get the idea.

After settling in, of course people start getting murdered.  Jason is the first to find a body, and his reaction is understandably hysterical although maybe just a touch manic and over the top.  However the rest of the group react so blandly, you wonder if they made a mistake in editing.  In a group of six or eight people, you'd think at least one would have some sort of reaction, if only to look around the group to see how they're reacting.  It was odd and felt awkward.

Other than that, as things develop, the movie is interesting and worth a watch.  No real jump scares, just a killer stalking prey.

There were a couple of laugh out loud moments for me, including the tennis racket bug zapper in the opening scene.  When I worked at Walmart, we could not keep those in stock, so seeing them in regular use was funny to me as I always wondered where they all went. 

Surprisingly, despite some brutal killings, there were no Oh Shit moments, except maybe when you figure out what happened in the second kill.  A couple of eyeroll moments that I won't spoil, but are worth a "What were they thinking?" moment.

If you like casual slashers without any big deep meaning or lore, this movie is for you.  

Twisters (2024) PG-13

 Twisters (2024) PG-13

 

Storm chaser Kate (Daisy Edgar-Jones, Where the Crawdads Sing) agrees to go back out into the field after the death of her college classmates keeps her away for five years.  She meets modern cowboy and social media "tornado wrangler" Tyler (Glen Powell, Hitman) along the way and gets more than she bargained for.

There was a serious storm cell brewing in my area of Minnesota the night I watched this.  We get tornadoes, and I'm old enough to have lived through the F4 tornado that touched down in Outing, MN in 1969.  Watching this was my way of whistling through the graveyard.  I also have a fondness for the original Twister, and Bill Paxton.

Saying I went into this with a healthy dose of skepticism that it could live up to the original and carry the torch is putting it mildly.  I am also old enough to feel like the entire cast was made up of children, who might not be mature enough to be taken seriously.

 I was pleasantly surprised.  Kate has enough sass and emotional resonance to carry her side, and Tyler has enough cowboy charm to carry his, and become (eventually) endearing.  The effects make the tornado scenes terrifying, and the idea of "taming a tornado" is intriguing, but probably bullshit.  I don't know, I'm not a physicist or a meteorologist.

I could have done without the heavy handed Oklahoma western themes and soundtrack.  The call back to "If you feel it, you should chase it" was an eye-roll moment to be sure.  But I can look past the five seconds of lame romance and enjoy the rest.

Three laugh out loud moments, one of which being a chicken that falls out of nowhere with perfect comedic timing.  Two "oh shit" moments when the serious debris starts to fly.

Overall, if you like an action movie with a little romance and a lot of heart, this will be the movie for you.  If you can't stand country music, though, I'd steer clear.  Four and a half out of five, and watch for falling chickens.  At least they're not cows.