Not Only The Shining, Stephen King Also Hates This John Carpenter's Horror Adaptation
Despite the author's opinion, this movie is still considered a horror classic after more than 40 years.
If we had to pick the perfect year for Stephen King 's adaptations, 1983 has every chance of confidently holding the lead even 40 years later.
In 1983, three different and memorable adaptations were released. Summer vacation ended with the loud barking of Cujo' – a killer St. Bernard forces a mother and child to wait for rescue in a car.
The fall began with a literature professor's melancholy musings on fate and purpose in The Dead Zone, and as Christmas approached, Christine appeared in two guises at once – the movie hit theaters before the final version of the novel hit bookstores.
Each of the three films has become firmly entrenched in pop culture, and each claims to be an undisputed cult classic. But despite the cult status and audience love, King himself does not like one of these three flicks as much as The Shining. And that is Christine.
Stephen King Puts Christine On The Same Level As The Shining
While promoting Dreamcatcher in 2003, King gave his honest opinion of both Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, famously one of the author's least favorite adaptations, and John Carpenter's Christine:
“I'm thinking chiefly of Christine and Stanley Kubrick's take on The Shining – should have been good but just… well, they just aren't. They're actually sort of boring. Speaking for myself, I'd rather have bad than boring.”
It's a harsh one, but most King fans would disagree with the writer here.
Despite King's Criticism, Christine Is an Undisputed Horror Classic
The red 1958 Plymouth Fury has forever become a symbol of the killer machine, even for those who have never seen a John Carpenter movie or read a Stephen King novel.
The main character of both the movie and the novel is a blood-red car, which, along with horsepower, leather interior and chrome trim, hides a sensitive, capricious and vengeful soul.
The car owners who fall under Christine's spell at first happily absorb the power that the car gives them, but then find themselves under such a strong influence from the red car that they cannot run away from it. Literally.
John Carpenter Turned Horror Film About Car Obsession Into Social Commentary
Christine is not just a horror, but a solid drama with impressive visual effects. In addition to depicting mad obsession and teenage rebellion, it is a statement about the pernicious influence of consumer ideology.
It takes a master to turn a rather naive story about a demonic car into a truly insane horror, and John Carpenter did it.