The 1983 movie John Carpenter refuses to accept as a cult classic: “Stop, that’s ridiculous”
Few filmmakers know their way around a cult classic better than John Carpenter, who’s made more than a few of them in his time, but there’s one movie he won’t sanction being allowed into the club.
In some respects, a cult film is a hard thing to define. Generally, though, it’s interpreted as a picture that didn’t get the flowers it deserved from either critics or paying customers at the first time of asking, only for the years to become so kind that it eventually becomes recognised as a great work of cinema.
That basically sums up Carpenter’s career, to be honest. You could apply that sentiment to Dark Star, The Thing, Starman, Big Trouble in Little China, They Live, and In the Mouth of Madness, all of which failed to meet initial expectations before being reappraised as top-quality genre films, adding to Carpenter’s legend.
You could even include Escape from LA if you wanted to, but that depends entirely on how you feel about Snake Plissken’s long-awaited return, which has its moments without ever really being able to hold a candle to its predecessor. However, there’s another title from the director’s back catalogue that he refuses to be tarred with the cult brush.
On the 40th anniversary of its release, when it was put to Carpenter that 1983’s Christine is much, much better than its reputation would suggest, and that it even deserves to be held aloft as one of the finest Stephen King adaptations ever committed to celluloid, he absolutely wasn’t having it for a second.
“Oh, come on, stop, that’s ridiculous,” he countered. “I know there’s some rumblings about its anniversary. My question is, ‘Why?'” When those are the words of encouragement from the guy who made the thing, you get the impression that Carpenter doesn’t consider Christine among his top tier.
He’s always been honest about the reasons he took the job, or the one reason, to be more precise: money. After The Thing flopped and almost ruined his career, the auteur needed to get back behind the camera sooner rather than later in an attempt to restore his damaged reputation, and the tale of a killer car came along at exactly the right time.
“To be very frank with you, I wasn’t in love with Christine,” he added, as if he hadn’t made himself clear enough already. What did he have to say about the visual style, camerawork, and production value he brought to the picture? “I used a Panaglide to keep this piece of shit moving,” and that was about it.
Keith Gordon, who played the leading role, suggested that Christine “has definitely risen into the top flight of his work,” and many would agree. Do you know who doesn’t agree? John Carpenter, of course, who rebuffed any suggestions that the flick is him at anywhere near his best: “It’s not one my favourites of mine, but that’s OK,” he offered, but at least he found it in his heart to call it “a good movie.”
