Christine is a horror novel by Stephen King, published in 1983. It tells the story of an antique automobile apparently possessed by supernatural forces. Christine (also known as John Carpenters Christine) is adaptated from a novel written by Stephen King, and is a horror film about a supernaturally malevolent automobile and its effects on the teenager who owns it. ... Christine may refer to: Christine (book), a 1917 book by Elizabeth von Arnim. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (400x647, 65 KB) front cover of the book, Christine by Stephen King, 1992 edition. ... Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author of over 200 stories including over 50 bestselling horror novels. ... For other uses, see Country (disambiguation). ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Horror fiction is, broadly, fiction intended to scare, unsettle or horrify the reader. ... A publisher is a person or entity which engages in the act of publishing. ... Viking Press was founded on March 1, 1925, in New York City, by Harold K. Guinzburg and George S. Oppenheim. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... “ISBN” redirects here. ... “Horror story” redirects here. ... Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author of over 200 stories including over 50 bestselling horror novels. ... “Car” and “Cars” redirect here. ... Look up Supernatural in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

In 1983, the movie version of Christine directed by John Carpenter, and starring Keith Gordon, John Stockwell, Alexandra Paul, and Harry Dean Stanton was released to theaters. Year 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1983 Gregorian calendar). ... Christine (also known as John Carpenters Christine) is adaptated from a novel written by Stephen King, and is a horror film about a supernaturally malevolent automobile and its effects on the teenager who owns it. ... John Howard Carpenter (born January 16, 1948) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, film score composer and occasional actor. ... Keith Gordon (born February 3, 1961 in New York City) is an American actor and film director. ... John Stockwell (b. ... Alexandra competing in the Bonaire EcoSwim 10K race. ... Harry Dean Stanton (born July 14, 1926 in West Irvine, Kentucky, USA) is an American actor. ...

Plot summary

The story revolves around teenage nerd Arnie Cunningham and his 1958 red and white Plymouth Fury, dubbed "Christine" by the previous owner. The story is set in Libertyville (supposedly a suburb of Pittsburgh), Pennsylvania between the summer of 1978 and the spring of 1979. The novel is divided into three parts, the first and third of which are written in first person, from the point of view of Dennis Guilder, Arnie's best (and only) friend. The middle part of the book is written in the omniscient third person style (while Guilder is in the hospital, and thus removed from the action). A separate article is about the punk band called The Adolescents. ... For other uses, see Nerd (disambiguation). ... Year 1958 (MCMLVIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Plymouth sailboat logo used from 1996 to 2001 Plymouth was a brand of automobile based in the United States, marketed by the Chrysler Corporation from 1928 to 2001. ... The Plymouth Fury was an automobile made by the Plymouth division of the Chrysler Corporation from 1956 to 1978. ... “Pittsburgh” redirects here. ... Capital Harrisburg Largest city Philadelphia Area  Ranked 33rd  - Total 46,055 sq mi (119,283 km²)  - Width 280 miles (455 km)  - Length 160 miles (255 km)  - % water 2. ... Year 1978 (MCMLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link displays the 1978 Gregorian calendar). ... Also: 1979 by Smashing Pumpkins. ... First-person narrative is a literary technique in which the story is narrated by one character, who explicitly refers to him or herself in the first person, that is, I. the narrator is a fool putting his nose into the storytelling exercise. ... Bold textThe third-person Narrative consists using the names, he, she. ...

While driving home one evening from a summer job on a building site, Dennis Guilder and Arnie Cunningham drive past Christine, sitting on the dilapidated lawn of a small house on a suburban street. Arnie makes Dennis stop his car, and sets about examining the ancient Fury. Dennis initially thinks Arnie is joking with him, but soon realises that he is deadly serious. The car's owner, an old man in a back brace called Roland D. LeBay, comes out onto the lawn, and offers the car to Arnie for mere $250. Unable to pay the full amount, he settles on a $25 deposit (in which Arnie has $9 lent from Dennis) and agrees to come back the next day with the rest of the money.

Arnie and Dennis return the following day, and LeBay invites Arnie into his house to sign over the car. As they are doing this, Dennis decides to sit inside Christine, now parked in LeBay's garage, and as he does so, he has a vision of the car and the surroundings as they would be in 1957 when the car was brand new. Frightened by this, Dennis gets out of Christine, and decides there and then that he does not like Arnie's new car.

As his parents refuse to allow Christine to be parked at the family home, Arnie takes the car to Darnell's, a local do-it-yourself auto repair facility. As he restores the automobile, he becomes withdrawn, yet more confident and self-assured. He becomes humorless and cynical. Dennis is scared of these changes, and of Christine's changes. The car is repaired haphazardly (quote from the film: "Look how cock-eyed he works! He's got... brand new windshield wipers for a busted windshield."), and not all of the repairs seem to be done by Arnie. Also, Arnie's appearance (e.g. his normally poor complexion) improves in tandem with Christine's. When Roland LeBay dies, Dennis meets his younger brother, George, who relates to him Roland's past destructive and violent behavior. He is also told that Roland's young daughter choked to death on a hamburger in the back of the car, and then his wife, traumatised by this death, apparently committed suicide in the car by carbon monoxide poisoning. Dennis's further investigations with others around town who had known Roland confirm to him that Arnie's new personality is in simpatico with that of his car's former owner.

Arnie and Leigh go to a football game on their first date; Christine watches from the parking lot. Screenshot from John Carpenter movie.

When Arnie is almost finished restoring Christine, Leigh Cabot transfers to his high school. Leigh is instantly popular and regarded as the most beautiful girl in school. It is a surprise to everyone when she decides to go out with Arnie. While on a date with Arnie, Leigh almost chokes to death on a hamburger. Leigh is certain that Christine was behind it after the car's doors locked to prevent Arnie or anybody else from saving her. Leigh is only saved from death by a hitchhiker that Arnie picked up, who pulls her from the car and administers the Heimlich Maneuver. Despite Arnie's protestations, Leigh continues to feel as though she is competing with Christine for Arnie's affection. "Cars are girls", she says. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... The Heimlich maneuver The Heimlich maneuver, also known as abdominal thrusts, is a first aid procedure for clearing an obstructed airway. ...

Arnie brings Christine home from Darnell's, but his parents, who have hated the Fury from day one, force him to park it at the local airport. Soon after this happens, Buddy Repperton, a vicious bully who Arnie and Dennis got expelled earlier in the story, visits Christine with his gang of thugs and vandalizes the car. Seeing Christine destroyed completely infuriates Arnie, resulting in the severance of his relationship with Leigh. Arnie dedicates all his free time to repair the car: Leigh grows closer to Dennis.

Mysterious murders occur in Libertyville. One by one, members of Buddy's gang are killed by Christine. Others who were hostile to Arnie or Christine also turn up dead. The police investigate the murders and become suspicious of Arnie. However, Arnie has an alibi for each of the murders, since the car apparently acts on its own.

Dennis and Leigh become suspicious not of Arnie, but of Christine. They try to find out as much as they can about the car and its previous owner. As their suspicions grow, they try to destroy the supernatural forces that appear to be in control of Christine and Arnie.

It is never quite clear as to whether Christine is evil or if it's Roland LeBay possessing her. On one hand it is clear that Roland's ghost is driving her during her climatic battle with Dennis and Leigh, and also during the climatic crash involving Buddy Repperton. But while Dennis is talking with Roland's brother, there are hints to Christine's past that indicate how the car's supernatural abilities came to be: both his wife and daughter died in the car, and it is strongly hinted that their deaths were, in truth, a sacrifice to obtain immortality for both Roland D. LeBay and the car itself. George LeBay also makes clear, in a later conversation with Dennis, that Roland himself was violent and destructive from his early childhood. Marcus Aurelius and members of the Imperial family offer sacrifice in gratitude for success against Germanic tribes: contemporary bas-relief, Capitoline Museum, Rome For other uses, see Sacrifice (disambiguation). ... This article is about living for infinite period of time. ...

The novel ends on an ambiguous note. Arnie's father is found dead in Christine, apparently from the exhaust fumes. Arnie and his mother die in an auto accident: witnesses to the accident saw three people in the car before the crash, but only two bodies were found. In the mean time, Dennis and Leigh manage to destroy Christine in Darnell's using a huge septic tank truck named, Petunia, and Dennis is informed by a police detective that the remains were fed into the crusher in the back of the garage by two police officers, adding that one received a bad cut that needed stitches, and said "it bit him". Dennis ends the story proper with a salutation to his friend:

"Rest in peace, Arnie.

I love you, man."

In the epilogue, set about four years later, Dennis reports that he and Leigh attended college together, consummated their relationship ("very satisfactorily"), but ultimately went their separate ways. Dennis is a teacher in New Jersey, Leigh a housewife in New Mexico. The last page details that, in Los Angeles, a man named Sander Galton has died a mysterious death when an unknown car burst through the wall of the theater he was working at, instantly killing him. It was stated earlier in the book that "Sandy" Galton, who let Buddy and his gang into the parking garage where they had trashed Christine, had fled Libertyville after the deaths of his friends. It is not explicitly stated, however, that the Galton killed in LA is the same Galton from Libertyville. Dennis's last thoughts are in fact a terrified formulation of the hypothesis that Christine may have finally finished repairing herself and is now ready to resume her revenge. Flag Seal Nickname: City of Angels Location Location within Los Angeles County in the state of California Coordinates , Government State County California Los Angeles County Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (D) Geographical characteristics Area     City 1,290. ...

Precursors

The idea of an evil, living car was previously seen in the 1977 movie The Car. Also: 1977 (album) by Ash. ... The Car is a 1977 thriller/horror film directed by Elliot Silverstein and written by Michael Butler and Dennis Shryack. ...

Editions

• ISBN 0-606-00784-9 (prebound, 1983)
• ISBN 0-670-22026-4 (cloth text, 1983)
• ISBN 84-01-49889-9 (hardcover, 1992)
• ISBN 84-01-49967-4 (hardcover, 1999)
• ISBN 0-7862-2631-5 (hardcover, 2000)
• ISBN 0-9676282-2-9 (paperback, 2000)
• ISBN 0-451-16044-4

A Prebound book is a book that was previously bound and has been rebound with a library quality hardcover binding. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Year 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1992 Gregorian calendar). ... This article is about the year. ... Year 2000 (MM) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full 2000 Gregorian calendar). ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ...

External links

• Christine at the Internet Movie Database
• Christine at theofficialjohncarpenter.com
• http://www.feoamante.com/Movies/ABC/car.html
• Christine at Plymouthcentral.com