Arnold "Arnie" Cunningham (Keith Gordon) is an awkward, unpopular teen with only one friend, Dennis Guilder (John Stockwell). Arnie's life begins to change when he buys a used red-and-white 1958 Plymouth Fury, nicknamed "Christine", in need of extensive repairs. Arnie begins to restore Christine at a local junkyard, Darnell's Autobody, but as he spends more of his time working on the car, he discards his glasses, dresses differently, and develops an arrogant personality. Dennis and Arnie's new girlfriend, Leigh Cabot (Alexandra Paul), discover the car's previous owner was obsessed with Christine and had died in it due to carbon monoxide poisoning.
A group of bullies at schoolâangry with Arnie after a shop class confrontation results in Buddy Repperton (William Ostrander) getting expelledâvandalize Christine. Arnie is devastated and determined to repair Christine. As he examines the ruined car, he hears the creaking of metal and notices the engine is now fully restored. Arnie tells the car "show me"; Christine restores itself to showroom quality, then seeks out the vandals; Moochie Welch (Malcolm Danare) is targeted first and crushed to death in an alley. Buddy, Richie Trelawney (Steven Tash) and Don Vandenberg (Stuart Charno) are then killed: Richie and Don are caught in a gas station explosion (which sets Christine on fire), and Buddy is run over and burned by the flaming car. The owner of the junkyard is eventually killed in the garage when he sits in the car and is crushed by the seat adjuster.
On New Year's Eve, Dennis and Leigh reason that the only way to stop Christine and save Arnie is to destroy the car. Dennis scratches "Darnell's Tonight"âreferencing the name of the junkyardâinto Christine's hood, then makes his way there with Leigh. Dennis waits in a bulldozer while Leigh heads to the office so that she can shut the door after Christine arrives, trapping the car. Christine, who has been lying in wait the entire time, shines the headlights from under a pile of garbage and the car charges after Leigh. Christine crashes into Darnell's office in an attempt to kill Leigh, and Arnie (revealed to have been driving the car himself) is thrown through Christine's windshield. He is impaled on a shard of glass and he dies. Christine continues to attack Dennis and Leigh, repeatedly sustaining damage and regenerating. Dennis pulls Leigh into the cab of the bulldozer; the two then crush Christine with the bulldozer.
Dennis and Leigh survive and leave behind the remains of the car. The closing shot of the film is of Christine, now having been crushed into a cube by a car crusher, as a piece of the grille slowly begins to straighten.
Who plays Buddy?
William Ostrander