Introduction
In my previous post, I gave my thoughts on "Christine"; the novel by Stephen King vs the film adaption by John Carpenter. Personally, I like both the novel and the film. But, I like the novel more due to the psychological horror aspects that King does so incredibly well, and the deaths are far more gruesome and satisfying than in the film. Not to knock on John Carpenter's vision, the film is well made with a beautifully haunting score courtesy of Carpenter and a wonderful cast who gave amazing performances.
Remaking Christine?
Does Christine deserve to be remade? Yes and No. I don't know whether King or Carpenter would want to see Christine remade, but personally, I think it's ripe for remaking. Recently, we have seen excellent remakes of "It" and "Pet Sematary" and now we're getting "Doctor Sleep" which is a sequel to "The Shining". Right now, we're in a Stephen King Renaissance and it's a perfect time to remake "Christine". Instead of remaking John Carpenter's vision, the remake should strive to be more faithful to the novel which will help to distance itself from Carpenter's version while being fresh and new.
Ideas for Christine Remake
Here's what I would include in a possible remake of "Christine":
- Make the deaths more violent and gruesome like the novel. But, don't make them the same deaths as in the novel or the Carpenter film.
- For the soundtrack, select different songs that appeared, in the film. There's a whole slew of songs that were mentioned in the novel and never appeared in the film.
- Have Roland D. LeBay sell Arnie Cunningham the car and have George LeBay be his own separate character like in the novel. Unfortunately, in the film, George LeBay sells Arnie the car, since Roland is dead. But, he looks, acts and talks exactly like Roland anyway.
- Bring back the ghosts from the novel. Have Arnie's transformation be the result of his possession by Roland LeBay's spirit just like in the novel. Christine comes to life due to being possessed by Roland LeBay as well.
- During the death scenes, Christine's victims should briefly catch a glimpse of Roland LeBay's rotting corpse behind the wheel. They could also possibly see the corpses of Rita and Veronica LeBay. In the novel, Christine acts as a soul jar so her previous victims can be seen in the back seat.
Test Scene
Here is a test scene I wrote for the remake that helps illustrate the points I made above. This is the scene where Christine takes her revenge on Peter "Moochie" Welch, who was one of the bullies who trashed her in a previous part of the story. Just in the film, Moochie finds the Plymouth Fury waiting for him in the parking lot. On the radio, the car plays "Rave On" by Buddy Holly before giving chase. Moochie manages to escape, but the haunted car catches up to him and breaks his legs before running him over repeatedly. Before Moochie is run over, he sees the rotting corpse of Roland D. LeBay behind the wheel taunting him.
Here is the scene from the original film that I based on the test scene on:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbHKdn0XScg
Here is the scene from the original film that I based on the test scene on:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbHKdn0XScg
The link to the PDF of the test scene is below:
Conclusion
I don't know if "Christine" will ever be remade, but I was glad to give my thoughts on the matter and I had fun writing the test scene. Still, I hope one day to see the revenge-seeking '58 Plymouth Fury back on the big screen. Thank you for reading my blog post, I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
