Interpreting Christine

The public lifespan of Antonio Campos’s 2016 film Christine is eerily similar to that of its subject: appearing with a sudden uptick of lurid interest, at least among critics, followed by an equally sharp descent into obscurity. Since then it has taken on an occult quality as opposed to a cult quality. It has not hung around in the mass memory or inspired any kind of collective obsession à la Joker, Midsommar, Promising Young Woman, or even May.