Christine

Year:  1983

Director:  John Carpenter

Screenplay:  Bill Phillips, based on the novel Christine by Stephen King

Starring:  Keith Gordon, John Stockwell, Alexandra Paul, Robert Prosky, Harry Dean Stanton, Roberts Blossom

Running Time:  110 minutes

Genre:  Horror

1978:  Arnie Cunningham (Gordon), a nerdy, unpopular teenager, spots a broken down, derelict 1958 Plymouth Fury for sale.  Despite the protestations of his best friend, Dennis (Stockwell), Arnie buys the car from a sinister old man, George LeBay (Blossoms), whose deceased brother was the original owner of the Plymouth and named it "Christine".  Arnie sets to work restoring the car at a local do-it-yourself garage, and begins to exhibit strange and disturbing personality changes.  When Arnie starts dating the popular new girl in school, Leigh (Paul), Christine begins to manifest a jealous, murderous personality of her own.

Producer Richard Kobritz snapped up the film rights to Stephen Kings 1983 novel Christine before it was even published, and it certainly looks like a sure fire winner on paper:  King, one of the world's most popular novelists; teenagers; cars; horror and rock 'n'roll.  Director John Carpenter, who had made the seminal horror film Halloween (1978), was attached to direct.  However Carpenter's previous film, The Thing (1982), had been staged by critics and was a commercial flop (even though it is now seen as one of the best films of it's type ever made), and he was not interested in Christine, commenting that he felt the book "was not very scary" but felt that he needed to do the film to help his career.  Certainly the film is a surprisingly bland, workmanlike affair.  In the novel, the car is possessed by the evil spirit of it's former owner, which begins to channel itself to Arnie, however the film opens with a short prologue set in the Detroit production line in 1957 where Christine manifests her hostile personality before she even rolls off the assembly line.  It's never explained in the film why the car has a mind of it's own.  Some of the performances are fairly bland, and some of the high school "teenagers" look as if they are well into their 30s.  In the novel much of the horror comes from Arnie's transformation, as he becomes increasingly paranoid, arrogant and angry, which would probably strike a chord with parents of teenagers, but the film centres the car.  However there are moments when the film works really well.  After Christine is trashed by Arnie's high school bullies, she resurrects herself in a hugely impressive sequence, which is one of the film's biggest set pieces, and when Christine is tracking down and murdering the bullies is really where John Carpenter comes into his own, particularly the scene where the car is on fire chasing after the leader of the gang (William Ostrander).  Roberts Blossom, who became known to horror fans for his lead in the cult film Deranged (1974) and is probably most familiar for his role in Home Alone (1990), is very good in a small role as the dirty, bleary-eyed George LeBay, and Robert Prosky is great as the bad-tempered, raspy-voiced, cigar chewing Darnell, owner of the garage where Arnie keeps Christine.  Harry Dean Stanton is wasted in a small role as the police detective who investigates the mysterious number of deaths surrounding Arnie and his car.  Kelly Preston appears in a small role as Dennis' cheerleader girlfriend.  Keith Gordon is good in the lead, but John Stockwell and Alexandra Paul give quite bland performances.  Also the red and white Plymouth herself, is an impressive looking vehicle, which manages to be genuinely sinister.  In the novel, Stephen King uses the lyrics of rock 'n' roll songs throughout, in the film the 1950s song playing on the car radio serve as Christine's language.  In the prologue she rolls off the production line, warning the world that she is "Bad to the Bone".  When she is alone with Arnie she plays "Pledging My Love" and "We Belong Together", and when she locks her doors to prevent Arnie rescuing a chocking Leigh in the front seat, she plays "Keep A-Knockin'".  While there is nothing particularly unmissable, there is certainly enough here to make recommend the film to horror fans.

Bad to the Bone: Christine

Alien

Year of Release: 1979

Director:  Ridley Scott

Screenplay:  Dan O'Bannon, story by Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett

Starring:  Tom Skerritt, Sigourney Weaver, Veronica Cartwright, Yaphet Kotto, John Hurt, Harry Dean Stanton, Ian Holm

Running Time:  117 minutes

Genre:  Science-fiction, horror

Sometime in the future, commercial space tug Nostromo is returning to Earth, with it's seven person crew in suspended animation.  Receiving a signal from an unexplored planet, the ship's computer revives the crew to investigate.  Reluctantly, they set down on the planet and three of the crew set out to explore, and discover a bizarre alien spaceship, where the Nostromo picks up a particularly unpleasant hitchhiker.

This classic blend of horror and science-fiction is one of the classic suspense films.  Even after all this time, the special effects and production values stand up surprisingly well, even where it looks dated, such as the computer readouts, it still feels like an authentic depiction of a tatty, ragged, old banger of a spaceship where pieces haven't been replaced for years because there wasn't the money or no-one could be bothered.  It's a future which looks authentic and lived in, a million miles from the polished spotless spacecraft and heroic crews of Star Trek (1966-1969), the Nostromo crew really couldn't care less about exploring strange new worlds or seeking out new life and new civilisations.  They don't want to boldly go anywhere, except home to get paid.  They are not conventionally glamorous and the dialogue is deliberately banal.  It makes the alien sequences stand out all the more.  The alien spacecraft, designed by Swiss surrealist artist H. R. Giger,  is genuinely striking with it's mix of the organic and mechanical, and the Alien itself (played by dancer Bolaji Badejo) with it's biomechanical look and weirdly sexual elements manages to be both horrific and beautiful at the same time.  It's effect is heightened by the fact that the creature is kept off screen for most of the film and even when it appears, it's so shadowy that the details are barely glimpsed, making the monster almost impressionistic.  The film moves slowly and deliberately accruing the details of the world of the Nostromo, making the horror scenes such as John Hurt's notorious "chestburster" sequence all the more jolting.  Even more frightening than the Alien itself is the concept that, introduced in this film, runs through the franchise,  of the ruthless "Company" that want to keep the creature alive to use as a biological weapon, at the expense of all other considerations.   The fact is that the characters feel real, and you do sympathise with them as the film goes on.  It needs to be seen on the biggest screen and in the best quality possible, because a lot of the suspense depends on the way the image is composed, the cramped claustrophobic corridors, or the cavernous chambers where the threat could be lurking anywhere.  This is a very primal film, it's like a haunted house where you can't escape from.  I've seen this film many times, and I still find it exciting and suspenseful.  It's sequel Aliens (1986) is also a masterpiece, and Alien 3 (1992) is deeply flawed but has it's moments, Alien Resurrection (1997) isn't very good but it's quite fun.  The less said about the others the better.  Ridley Scott returned to the franchise with two sort-of prequels Prometheus (2012) and Alien Covenant (2017) which create this complex backstory which while interesting enough in it's own right, detracts from the mystery and unexplained fear of Alien.  In it's own right, this is a genuinely suspenseful science-fiction thriller which works it's dark magic time after time.

Sigourney Weaver and Alien
   

Twin Peaks (2017 series)

Year of Release: 2017
Director:  David Lynch
Screenplay:  David Lynch and Mark Frost
Starring:  Kyle MacLachlan, Sheryl Lee, Michael Horse, Chrysta Bell, Miguel Ferrer, David Lynch, Naomi Watts, Robert Forster, Harry Goaz, Kimmy Robertson, Harry Dean Stanton, Laura Dern
Running Time:  18 one hour episodes
Genre:  Horror, crime, mystery

The original series Twin Peaks, created by David Lynch and Mark Frost, ran for two seasons between 1989 and 1991 and centered on eccentric FBI agent Dale Cooper (MacLachlan) investigating the murder of teenager Laura Palmer (Lee) in the picturesque small town of Twin Peaks.  The show mixed murder mystery, small town soap opera, cozy comedy and surreal fantasy.  Despite only lasting for two seasons, before being cancelled due to declining ratings, the show was hugely influential and is probably one of the biggest cult TV shows of all time.  The series was followed by a movie, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, which despite being released to largely negative reviews and poor box office back in 1992 has come to be regarded as a major work.  For years Twin Peaks appeared to be pretty much dead in the water, though, with David Lynch going back and forth over whether there would be a return to the strange, small town.  Until a new eighteen part Twin Peaks series was broadcast on Showtime in 2017, every episode written by Lynch and Frost and directed by Lynch.  It could have been that the new Twin Peaks would be yet another exercise in the recent nostalgia boom. 

In fact, it was anything but.  If the original Twin Peaks broke the rules of traditional TV, this pretty much explodes the whole concept of traditional narrative television.  David Lynch has described it as an eighteen hour movie and it kind of is.  Most of the episodes end with a musical performance in a bar, otherwise the episodes just stop usually with no cliffhanger or real conclusion.  There is no real plot either, it's a collection of plot strands, which are picked up and dropped seemingly with no rhyme or reason, but most involve the reappearance of Dale Cooper after 25 years stuck in the bizarre netherworld known as the Black Lodge.  Or is it?  Is it Cooper's demonically possessed doppelganger?  Or is it Las Vegas accountant Dougie Jones (Maclachlan again)?  Or all three? Where as the original Twin Peaks was essentially a murder-mystery/soap-opera with surreal fantasy overtones, in this one the weirdness is central throughout the entire show.  Even scenes that seem to be relatively straightforward are filmed and performed in a strangely off-beat way.  It also opens the story up, taking place not only in Twin Peaks, but in New York, South Dakota, Las Vegas, Texas, and even New Mexico in the 1950s.  Frequently serving up some of the most bizarre and, at times, deeply disturbing images and sequences you are ever likely to see on your TV screen, this won't appeal to everyone.  I would recommend watching Twin Peaks:  Fire Walk With Me first, if you liked that then you will probably like this.  The series as a whole is David Lynch's masterpiece: a fascinating, maddening, funny, disturbing, scary, frustrating, mesmerising puzzle box that lingers in the mind, and makes me for one keen to watch it again to work out the clues that I have missed.

 

It only gets stranger: MIKE (Al Strobel) and Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) in Twin Peaks

Wild at Heart

Year:  1990
Director:  David Lynch
Screenplay:  David Lynch, based on the novel Wild at Heart:  The Story of Sailor and Lula by Barry Gifford
Starring:  Nicolas Cage, Laura Dern, Diane Ladd, Willem Dafoe, Harry Dean Stanton, J.E. Freeman, Isabella Rossellini
Running Time:  120 minutes
Genre:  Road movie, drama, comedy, romance

This startling film plays like a surreal homage to The Wizard of Oz (1939) and Elvis Presley.  Sailor Ripley (Cage) and Lula Pace Fortune (Dern) are a young couple deeply in love.  However Lula's deranged mother, Marietta (Ladd), is determined to keep them apart.  After Sailor is released following a prison sentence for killing a man in self-defense, he and Lula decide to run off to California.  However, Marietta is determined to get Lula back and sends her private detective boyfriend, Johnnie Farrgut (Stanton), to track the couple down.  To make sure that Sailor is kept away permanently, Marietta contacts her other boyfriend, the murderous gangster Marcello Santos (Freeman), to send a hitman after the couple.  Meanwhile, Sailor and Lula find themselves trapped in a dangerous and very strange world, as they travel through a twisted, nightmarish version of the southern US.

The film opens with a match striking and then billowing clouds of flame filling the screen, and it doesn't let up from there.  There is never a dull moment in this hilarious, romantic, shockingly violent and deeply weird movie.  One of director David Lynch's trademarks is his mixing of extreme violence, disturbing surrealism, with often genuinely touching sentiment.  Lynch described this film as being "about finding love in Hell".  A long time fan of The Wizard of Oz, Lynch made the film one of the touchstones for the Wild at Heart script, and the film's sense of hope comes from Sailor and Lula's conviction that there is something better over the rainbow and at the end of the yellow brick road.  Lynch also saw Sailor as an Elvis Presley figure and Lula as Marilyn Monroe, and Nicolas Cage does perform two Elvis songs in the film.   Nicolas Cage turns in a superb perfomance as the snakeskin jacket clad Sailor (which in the film he claims "represents a symbol of my individuality and my belief in personal freedom"), and is perfectly complemented by Laura Dern as the tough and sexy Lula.  The love story between the two is genuinely affecting.  They make love, dance and have long rambling conversations about pretty much anything that happens to cross their minds.  Laura Dern's real-life mother Diane Ladd is memorable as the insane Marietta, for which she was Oscar nominated for Best Supporting Actress.

The film is very different from Barry Gifford's mostly dialogue driven novel.  Although the film is far more graphically violent than the book, the book is in it's own way darker, with quite a bleak conclusion.  Despite winning the Palme d'Or for Best Film at the 1990 Cannes Film Festival, the movie was heavily criticised on it's release for the violence and weirdness, but in my opinion, the fact that this tender love story is set amongst all this horror, darkness and violence makes it shine all the more brighter.  Personally I love this film, it's sexy, romantic, violent, tender, funny and bizarre, and is probably David Lynch's most thoroughly entertaining movie.  The film's ultimate message appears to be that in an insane, twisted, nightmare world, the only hope for survival is love.


"This whole world's wild at heart and weird on top."
- It's hard to disagree with Lula (Laura Dern)

Laura Dern and Nicolas Cage hit the road in Wild at Heart