Why So Blu?

John Carpenter’s Christine (4K UHD Blu-ray Review)

John Carpenter brings Stephen King’s best-selling novel to life in this chilling thriller. She was born in Detroit … on an automobile assembly line. But she is no ordinary automobile. Deep within her chassis lives an unholy presence. She is CHRISTINE – a red and white 1958 Plymouth Fury whose unique standard equipment includes an evil, indestructible vengeance that will destroy anyone in her way. She seduces 17-year-old Arnie Cunningham (Keith Gordon), who becomes consumed with passion for her sleek, rounded, chrome-laden body. She demands his complete and unquestioned devotion and when outsiders seek to interfere, they become the victims of Christine’s horrifying wrath.

Film

John Carpenter’s Christine based on Stephen King’s novel of the same name is the tale of Arnie Cunningham (Keith Gordon), a shy and bullied high school student who can’t seem to catch a break in life. His home life is not much better. He has one friend in Dennis (John Stockwell). The boy’s hangout and ride around in Dennis’ mustang, but on one uneventful day something catches Arnie’s eye. It’s the shell of a 1958 Chevy Plymouth. Arnie negotiates a nice deal with the shady owner of the car much to Dennis’ protests. At least it’s something that will drive and motivate Arnie, so it’s seen as something positive.

Before you know it, Arnie has restored “Christine” to her former glory. Now that Arnie has the hottest car in school he sets his eyes on the hottest girl in class, Leigh Cabot (Alexandra Paul). One thing leads to another and they end up going steady much to Christine’s protest. This sets of a chain of events that not everyone, especially Arnie’s enemies will walk away from.

I should state that I have a feeling that we are having a resurgence of sorts with regards to Stephen King’s Christine. My local library just got three new copies and they’re all checked out. Anyways, John Carpenter’s Christine has always been a cult-classic. Keith Gordon plays a terrific “loser” before developing into a sinister antagonist, but we’re almost there with him when he and Christine begin to take their revenge on all those that have wronged them. It seems that the collateral damage is those that actually liked and loved Arnie, which is Leigh and Dennis.

Christine is cool and quite stylish horror thriller that features some great physical effects and clever cinematography. There’s also a layer of nostalgia that permeates throughout the film since at the very base of the story is that it’s a tale of a boy and his car, his first love, which are the same thing. If that’s not horrifying then I don’t know what is. I kid, I kid, but there’s a very memorable scene that suggests it to great effect.

More than 35 years later John Carpenter’s Christine still serves up the scares and thrills in overdrive and now folks have the opportunity to experience in 4K and Dolby Atmos sound. Keep on reading to find out how the video and sound stack up in 4 UHD.

 

Video

Encoding: HEVC / H.265

Resolution: 2160p

Dolby Vision: No

HDR: Yes (HDR10)

WCG: Yes

Size: BD-66

Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1

Clarity/Detail: John Carpenter’s Christine has some fantastic contrast and sharpness levels. I did not detect any instances of any post-production tampering.

Depth: Luminosity shines through without any issues, which you will notice immediately in the opening credits that feature large white font on a black background. The opening credits remind of John Carpenter’s The Thing.

Black Levels: John Carpenter’s Christine has several scenes that take place in dark interiors and outside at night. Black levels were deep, rich, and inky. Crushing was not an issue whatsoever.

Color Reproduction: The color palette is rich and vibrant on this 4K release. Christine looks gorgeous in all of her 1958 Plymouth Fury glory — nothing says “cherry” quite like her and this 4K release smothers her with love.

Flesh Tones: Flesh tones are nice and natural right up until Arnie starts to change — he then develops an almost ghoulish complexion, once Christine takes over his psyche.

Noise/Artifacts: The grain structure is sublime on this release and why shouldn’t it be — John Carpenter always shot in 35mm Panavision and those seem to translate amazingly well to the 4K UHD format.

 

 

Audio

Audio Format(s): English Dolby Atmos, English Dolby TrueHD 7.1 (48kHz, 16-bit), English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 16-bit), English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 16-bit), French DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0, German DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0, Italian Dolby Digital 2.0, Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0, Korean  Dolby Digital 2.0, Portuguese Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono, Russian Dolby Digital 2.0, Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono

Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, Dutch, Finnish, Hebrew, Hindi, Korean, Mandarin (Traditional), Swedish, Thai

Dynamics: Christine is presented in Dolby Atmos for the first time on 4K and it’s a near reference disc in terms of audio overall. Atmos has unlocked most of what could be considered subtle nuisances and elevated the sound-field even further.

Height: The Atmos height channels really add some nice and creepy depth to the small-town proceedings. There’s one scene in particular that was quite phenomenal and it involves Christine basically “sneaking” back in to its resting spot at the old car factory and as she’s driving in slowly and quietly the sound literally starts from the rears before wrapping around to the front height channels before settling down in front. I was floored.

Low Frequency Extension: The LFE subwoofer channel kicks in the bass during the signature music cues and during Christine’s “theme.” Also, when the engine revs, the low-end kicks up the bass.

Surround Sound Presentation: As I mentioned in the height portion of this section, the rear surround channels worked amazingly well together, with the rest of the sound-field, in addition to handling its own effects back there.

Dialogue Reproduction: Dialogue levels were nice and even, with only a few hints of obvious ADR, but that was still a given even in the early 1980’s. Christine really liked to make people scream!

 

 

Extras

The special features are ported over from the 2015 Blu-ray edition and housed in the Blu-ray only. Keep in mind that the isolated music score is not available on any disc in this set — that was a Twilight Time exclusive on their Blu-ray, which I also own. The Blu-ray special features are terrific but are all presented in SD since they were also ported over from the 2004 special edition DVD. Yes, John Carpenter’s Christine has had several releases throughout the years.

• Commentary with Director John Carpenter and Keith Gordon
• Deleted Scenes
• Christine: Ignition
• Christine: Fast and Furious
• Christine: Finish Line
• Blu-ray (1080p)
• Digital HD Copy

 

 

Summary

John Carpenter’s Christine on 4K is the DEFINITIVE release on any physical media format out there, so you need not look elsewhere. Even if you’re not 4K compliant, this package also has the Blu-ray and a digital HD copy to fill the void. The movie rocks, the video/audio look/sound stupendous, and the supplemental materials are fantastic. The master of terror has come to 4K!

 

 

DISCLAIMER: This 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray review was judged and graded using the following 4K certified Ultra HD Premium television set found HERE , 4K UHD Blu-ray player HERE, and Dolby Atmos 7.2 AVR HERE.  Make sure to check out all our 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray reviews archived HERE.  The images used above within the review are not actual 4K screenshots. They are for illustrative purposes only.  

 

 

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