View source for Christine (King novel)

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{{quote|''"She had the smell of a brand new car, and that's just about the finest smell in the world, except maybe for pussy."''|Roland D. LeBay to Arnie Cunningham regarding the worst auto purchase in history. For both of them.}}

A 1983 novel by [[Stephen King]] that was also adapted into a feature film in the same year by [[John Carpenter]]. The basic premise is that the [[Unlucky Everydude|most unpopular guy]] in a Pittsburgh area high school buys his first car, much like any other teenager the world over. The problem is that his car is extremely and psychotically [[Yandere]] for him. The novel details his transition from normal, if nerdy and unhappy, teenager into a somewhat popular greaser loner, and eventually into a lonely psychotic as the the car and the ghost of the previous owner begin to exact an ever increasing amount of control over him.
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{{tropelist}}
* [[Animate Inanimate Object]]: The eponymous Christine.
* [[Asshole Victim]]: The bullies who vandalize Christine.
* [[Badass Driver]]: Christine herself.
** Also Arnie, as it is later revealed that he was driving, at least part of the time.
* [[Bad to the Bone]]: Christine's theme song, sort of.
* [[Big Bad]]: Christine. 
* [[Black Dude Dies First]]: In the movie, at least.
* [[A Boy and His X|A Boy And His Evil Car]]: Arnie and Christine.
* [[The Bro Code]]: Dennis's violation does not go unpunished.
* [[Car Fu]]
* [[Car Meets House]]: Christine disposes of one victim this way.
* [[Cool Car]]: Why, Christine of course. Yes, she's evil through and through. So what? The 1958 Plymouth Fury, Autumn red.
* [[Delinquents]]: Buddy Repperton and his gang.
* [[Did Not Get the Girl]]: It's revealed in the epilogue that  {{spoiler|Dennis and Leigh}} didn't end up together.
* [[Downer Ending]]:  {{spoiler|Arnie and his parents are dead, along with eight other people. Dennis has broken up with Leigh. Christine is STILL OUT THERE}}.
* [[Drives Like Crazy]]: Taken to new extremes by Christine.
* [[Feud Episode]]: First there was Christine. Leigh came later.
* [[Finger-Twitching Revival]]: Or, in this case, a chrome-twitching revival.
* [[Flash Back]]: Dennis Guilder is writing the story down four years later.
* [[Hair-Trigger Temper]]: Roland LeBay. When every description of you includes the words "unending fury," you are made for this trope.
* [[Half the Man He Used To Be]]: {{spoiler|Moochie Welch is cut in half between Christine's front bumper and a building}} in the movie.
* [[Healing Factor]]: Christine has it. Up to the point of returning from a burned-out wreck to mint condition within minutes.
* [[Heterosexual Life Partners]]: Arnie and Dennis. [[Odd Couple|A nerd and a jock]].
* [[Homicide Machines]]
* [[Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday]]: In the film, the final showdown occurs on New Year's Eve/Day.
* [[I Die Free]]:  {{spoiler|Arnie died keeping Roland from possessing him}}.
* [[Infernal Retaliation]]: {{spoiler|In the movie, Christine chases Buddy Reperton and one of his cronies to a gas station where they wanted to meet a third. She crashes into Buddy's Camaro, shoves it into the gas station, and [[Stuff Blowing Up|causes it to explode]] [[Impressive Pyrotechnics|in a spectacular fireball]]. Buddy manages to rescue himself and believes that Christine is destroyed in the flames. But she backs [[Out of the Inferno]], burning all over, chases him down the road, and eventually runs over him, leaving his burning corpse lying on the asphalt}}.
* [[The Ladys Favor]]: Before the final fight with Christine, Leigh gives a scarf to Dennis to wear around his arm.
* [[Love At First Sight]]: Arnie and, yes, Christine. When Arnie first sees the car, Dennis describes him like this: "he had been like a man who meets a showgirl, indulges in a whirlwind courtship, and ends up with a hangover and a new wife on Monday morning. It had been... well... like love at first sight."
* [[Meaningful Name]]: Christine is a Plymouth ''[[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|Fury]]''.
* [[No Celebrities Were Harmed]]: Buddy Reperton and Richie Trelawney look a lot like [[The Rolling Stones|Mick Jagger and Keith Richards]] respectively which becomes particularly obvious in a scene where they are driving in a car, and "Beast of Burden" is playing on the radio.
** I always thought that Buddy looked more like John Travolta.
* [[Not Quite Dead]]: Christine. {{spoiler|Ever}}.
** [[Arc Words|Her unending fury]] [[Incredibly Lame Pun|drives her on]].
* [[Post-Modern Magik]]: The haunted car is kind of an example.
* [[Sealed Evil in a Can]]
* [[Seemingly-Wholesome Fifties Girl|Seemingly Wholesome Fifties Car]]
* [[The Seventies]] / [[The Fifties]]: The novel is set in 1978-79, but Christine often turns time back to 1959 (the Nostalgic Fifties version), complete with [[Seemingly-Wholesome Fifties Girl]] and a radio that plays [[Nothing but Hits]].
** To be more exact the radio in the 70s plays nothing but hits from the 50s.
* [[Split Personality Takeover]]
* [[Sweater Girl]]: Leigh.
* [[Switching POV]]: The first part is narrated by Dennis, the second part is told by an omniscient third-person narrator and mostly focuses on Arnie, and the third part is narrated by Dennis again.
* [[Took a Level In Badass]]: Arnie.
* [[Vehicle Title]]
* [[Vehicular Assault]]
* [[Woman Scorned]]: ... '''''Yes.'''''
* [[Yandere]]: Christine.

{{reflist}}
[[Category:Horror Films]]
[[Category:The Seventies]]
[[Category:Works By Stephen King]]
[[Category:The Eighties]]
[[Category:Films of the 1980s]]
[[Category:Horror Literature]]
[[Category:One Hundred Scariest Movie Moments]]
[[Category:Christine]]