As iconic as Stephen King, and the films based on his novels, have become in pop culture it can be easy to forget that most lack in quality. To be clear, that’s applicable only to some of those film adaptations. Many were created as TV miniseries with a B and C level cast, yet still they are classics. A true testament to the quality of the source work. This is all to say that it’s no surprise we’re seeing so many of these films are being remade and in most cases, it makes total sense. Christine, however, seems just fine as it is. The 1983 vehicular horror classic, starring Keith Gordon and Alexandra Paul, was well performed and used some truly innovative special effects techniques that hold up even today.
HOWEVER, if there is one group of folks that can take something good and make it great it would be Blumhouse. Luckily, that’s exactly the studio that’s taken on this project. Moreover they’ve brought on writer Bryan Fuller to direct. Fuller, who’s got a pretty deep resume when it comes to suspense and sci-fi is an interesting choice, it’s his work on Hannibal that has me intrigued. Writing a movie about a killer car, even with an amazing source to adapt from can be tough. You’re walking a tightrope between horror and hilarity, one false step and you’re in the dreaded “unintended laughter” pool. Interestingly enough this won’t be Fuller’s first foray into King’s work, having wrote a teleplay for Carrie back in 2002.
The only thing that concerns me is Fuller’s history in sci-fi, which makes me think an update to the car would be likely. Let’s just put that on front street, it has to be a 1958 Plymouth Fury in red…nothing else will do.
