Long live Christine and the King (Stephen) of course
As a longtime fan of Stephen King this film is a shadow of the novel. However this shadow is menacing and entertaining enough to watch all the way to the end.
The acting is wooden and lacking emotion for the most part but Keith Gordon shines brighter as Arnie and does his best to raise the bar as he goes from high school loser to demonically possessed. However the acting as it is, does add a charm to the movie.
Watching the beautiful Plymouth pop and stretch back into perfection after her fury has been abated never gets boring - even though the effect is simply done, it works very well visually.
To get the movie close to the depth of the novel would have made it Stand and It in length. I’m pretty sure John Carpenter did not have the stamina for that. So his ‘very’ abridged film is what we are left with
If you have not read the novel but enjoyed the film I encourage you to grab a copy and enjoy the fleshed our characters as Arnie goes on his demonic road trip courtesy of Christine.
If you have read the book, enjoyed it and are a King fan, you will still enjoy the film. You gotta ignore the gaping holes for sure, but hey you get to see Kings Plymouth go on a rampage - what’s not to like :)