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Arnie Cunningham
Played by: Keith Gordon
Click here to see him post-makeover
- Adaptational Villainy: The movie cuts out the part where he fights off LeBay's possession of him and has him directly battle with Dennis and Leigh.
- And I Must Scream: Strongly implied in the book in particular, as a couple of scenes show him attempting to fight off LeBay's influence before his "passenger" takes over, leaving it open-ended just how aware Arnie is of what he's doing under the influence.
- Ax-Crazy: By the end, he's just as murderous as Christine herself.
- Badass Driver: Depending on how much control he has of Christine on his own merits and how much is just her.
- Evil Makeover: He ditches his nerdy clothing for a more "punk" look as Christine and LeBay start to influence him more and more.
- Fetishized Abuser: He becomes toxic toward Leigh due to his personality change which, coincidentally, make him sexier than the nerdy Nice Guy he started off as. Fortunately, Leigh breaks up with him as a result of this.
- Freudian Excuse: A stereotypical nerd picked on by bullies at school and browbeaten by his parents at home over everything, it's no wonder Christine gets her hooks in him so easily.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: He and Dennis have been Best Friends for most of their lives. This unfortunately changes after Christine begins to corrupt him.
- Kick the Dog: His treatment of Leigh due to Christine's influence, but he also attacks his father for trying to confront him.
- Looks Like Cesare: Arnie has this appearance when driving Christine in the climax before crashing through the windshield.
- Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Arnie starts out as sensitive man to Dennis's manly man but then changes to manly man due to Christine's and/or LeBay's influence.
- Smug Snake: Arnie has shades of this when he visits Dennis at the hospital for the second time, as he's obviously looking down on him.
- Stereotypical Nerd: He's a very stereotypical nerd, being smart, shy and very awkward and unattractive with his pizza face and unflattering Nerd Glasses.
- Tragic Villain: Was a shy, innocent kid before he got involved with Christine, who changed him for the worse. He and his parents end up dying due to it.
- Villain Protagonist: Shares this role with Christine, though he's as much a victim as a villain, being that his worsening behavior is a result of Christine's corrupting influence.
- Yandere Couple: As his personality changes, he becomes as devoted and obsessive of Christine as she is to him, with his personality making a huge turn for the worse after Buddy vandalizes Christine.
Christine
- Ambiguous Situation:
- How she became a Sentient Vehicle and how much of it is LeBay's doing is left ambiguous — the book provides hints that LeBay is controlling her from beyond the grave and that she had a will of her own even before that; it's even possible that both are the case to different degrees or in different situations.
- Whether or not Dennis and Leigh managed to kill her or just leave her Not Quite Dead is left open. Less so in the movie, where she gets a Finger-Twitching Revival.
- AM/FM Characterization: She can't speak, but can "communicate" via playing appropriate songs from The '50s.
- Badass Driver: Played With, given it drives itself and it's a murderous Sinister Car, it can drive quite well.
- Big Bad: The main antagonist of the story, although in the books she's on a Big Bad Duumvirate relationship with LeBay, who seems to be directly possessing Arnie.
- Car Fu: How she kills people.
- Cool Car: Her unique model (which differs between adaptions) is what first catches Arnie's eye.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Doesn't like sharing Arnie with other people, especially Leigh.
- Defiant to the End: Notably in the film, just as she's about to be crushed by Leigh and Dennis, she switches her radio on and begins to play the song, "Rock And Roll Is Here To Stay," by Danny & The Juniors, as if vengefully taunting the two and saying that, judging by the lyrics to the song, although they've beaten her, she's not done yet and she will be back.
- Determinator: Getting vandalized beyond mortal repair and engulfed in an exploding garage doesn't stop her. If she wants you dead, she'll eventually get you. Even crushing her into a cube may not be enough.
- Healing Factor: She's able to repair any damage she takes, which is useful during her murderous night trips, as it leaves the police unable to connect her or Arnie to her crimes.
- Red Is Violent: A fitting color for a living embodiment of unending fury.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Buddy Reperton and his gang smash her to pieces, but once she fixes herself up, she goes after them, one by one. She's even willing to damage herself to get at them. But given what they did to her, It's Personal.
- Sentient Vehicle: She's a sentient car with an obsessive relationship with her owners. How she became one is never explained, but in the book Dennis theorizes LeBay unwittingly performed a ritual sacrifice when he killed his family with Christine.
- Villain Protagonist: Shares this role with Arnie.
- Visual Pun: She's a Plymouth Fury that personifies the rage of her drivers.
- Yandere: Almost kills Leigh by having her choke while she's inside Christine.
- Yandere Couple: Arnie eventually becomes as obsessed with her as she is with him.
Dennis Guilder
Played by: John Stockwell
- Break the Cutie: Happens during the scene where Dennis is with Arnie in Christine and Arnie being under Christine's influence.
- Career-Ending Injury: He suffers a leg injury that forces him to retire from football.
- Decoy Protagonist: Both the novel and film follow Dennis pretty closely up until his above mentioned injury, whereupon both mediums shift their focus towards the deteriorating Arnie and Christine.
- Did Not Get the Girl: He and Leigh ended up breaking up during the time between the final chapter and the epilogue. They're still Amicable Exes.
- Driving Stick: He can do this normally, but his leg injury means that driving a manual tanker in the book's climax is extremely difficult and he has to use a mop to operate the clutch.
- Failure Hero: Although he crushes Christine with a bulldozer, he fails to rescue Arnie, who is killed by going through the windshield (in the film) and in a separate accident (in the book), and Dennis will most likely never get over it. Even worse, it appears that Christine will rebuild herself at the end.
- Hero Antagonist: To Arnie and Christine's Villain Protagonists.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: He and Arnie have been Best Friends for most of their lives.
- Lovable Jock: Although Dennis is far from perfect, he's generally a nice guy who's a friend and protector to Arnie.
- Nice Guy: Dennis's likability makes it believable that he is best friends with Arnie and helps the audience pity him after Arnie stops hanging out with him.
- Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Dennis starts out as Manly Man to Arnie's Sensitive Guy, but then changes to Sensitive Guy while recuperating from a football injury.
Leigh Cabot
Played by: Alexandra Paul
- Adaptation Dye-Job: The book describes her as a blonde, but her film counterpart is a brunette.
- Amicable Exes: In the epilogue, she and Dennis are still good friends despite their relationship not working out.
- Babies Ever After: In the epilogue, she's mentioned to be married and the mother of identical twin girls.
- Betty and Veronica: Acts as the Betty to the Leigh/Arnie/Christin Love Triangle, but the Archie to the Denniss/Leigh/Arnie Love Triangle.
- Class Princess: A popular girl who's both caring and compassionate.
- Head-Turning Beauty: She's extremely attractive, which is repeatedly noted by other characters. Dennis, in particular, describes as "just beautiful, with no qualifications
- Love Interest: To Arnie, and later Dennis. She ultimately doesn't end up with either and marries another man in the epilogue.
- New Transfer Student: She enrolls in the school right before the story started, and quickly become one of the most popular girls there.
- Nice Girl: She's nothing if not kind and supportive. The only thing she doesn't seem to like is Christine, which turns out to be a very valid feeling.
- Say Your Prayers: When Leigh nearly chokes to death on a hamburger, she tries to recite the Act of Contrition in her head.
- Sex Goddess: During the epilogue, Dennis goes out of his way to mention that sex with her was incredibly satisfying.
- Sexy Sweater Girl: A pretty and popular girl who is frequently shown in tight, cute sweaters.
- Single Woman Seeks Good Man: Arnie is often described as unattractive, but she still falls for him due to his kindness and intelligence. And when she also falls for Dennis, is due to his courage and loyalty to Arnie.
Buddy Repperton
Played by: William Ostrander
- '80s Hair: The film gives him a transitional '70s-'80s style, a big fluffy mane with excessive sideburns.
- Asshole Victim: He's killed by Christine; he deserved it for being a cruel bully.
- The Bully: He has bullied Arnie relentlessly the entire time they knew each other.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Combined with Hypocritical Humor. He makes a racist joke about school basketball star Lenny Barongg, but when Bobby Stanton makes another, he admonishes him.
- Hate Sink: Has no redeeming qualities whatsoever, his entire character seems to exist solely to bully Arnie and thus get murdered by Christine.
- Held Back in School: In the book, most of his gang are around 20 and still trying to graduate high school.
- Hypocrite: In the film, he's shocked at seeing Christine total his Camaro, seemingly forgetting the fact that he and his friends trashed Christine, which is what led to Christine trashing his car in revenge.
- Not So Stoic: Any fight in him is deflated after watching one of his friends get crushed and another blown up.
- Oh, Crap!: In the film, upon seeing the garage go up in a fireball.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: He bolts after seeing Christine back out of the blown-up garage on fire, tossing his pry bar aside. He doesn't get far.
- Sinister Switchblade: As a typical delinquent, he carries one in both the book (where he threatens Arnie with it) and the film (where he uses it to stab Arnie's lunch). This contributes to him getting expelled when a teacher finds out.
- Teens Are Monsters: He seems to exist only to make Arnie's life hell, to the point he actually pulls a knife on him when Arnie dares to fight back against the constant bullying.
- Threw My Bike on the Roof: He and his goons wreck Christine at one point. It does not end well for them.
Roland D. Le Bay
- Abusive Parent/Alcoholic Parent: His own father was both of these, a drunkard who couldn't hold a job and once beat Roland until his mom was afraid the boy would die.note
- Adaptation Distillation: His role in the movie is greatly diminished, as he just happens to be Christine's previous owner, instead of the implication he was the one to give her sentience.
- Big Brother Bully: In the book, his three younger siblings were among the targets of his anger. He once threw the 3-year-old George across a yard, impaling his arm on a picket fence, just for being in Roland's way.
- Changeling Fantasy: Discussed. According to George, their mother said Roland was a normal baby until 6 months, and she joked (though humorlessly) that "Puck" replaced him with a changeling, this being her only explanation why he was such an angry, single-minded child.
- Demonic Possession: In the book, he begins possessing Arnie from beyond the grave.
- Evil Old Folks: He's apparently been nasty his whole life, but is an old man when we meet him.
- Freudian Excuse: Roland's anger began as a result of growing up poor thanks to his alcoholic, abusive father who couldn't hold down a job.
- Greater-Scope Villain: In the books, it's implied he's the one responsible for having turned Christine into a Sentient Vehicle, via the murders of his wife and daughter. Whether he intended this is left ambiguous.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: His anger issues are his defining characteristic. The novel's Signature Line "His single-minded purpose. His unending fury." is a description of him.
- Lower-Class Lout: He comes from an impoverished background and even in the present is described as a poor, dirty-looking man.
- Mr. Fixit: He was so good at keeping vehicles running that the Army didn't discharge him despite his issues. He also used to do all of Christine's maintenance work.
- Offing the Offspring: It's revealed that LeBay may have sacrificed his choking daughter to Christine.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: He's shown to be a racist during his conversation with Dennis and Arnie, freely using the n-word and saying "black radicals" are part of what's wrong with the world. He also disdains colleges because he assumes they're filled with people sympathetic towards black people's issues. Being about 71, he also counts as a non-comedic Racist Grandpa.
- Posthumous Character: In the film, he never appears, having died before George puts Christine up for sale.
- Sociopathic Soldier: He spent a long career in the Army, serving in both World War II and the Korean War, and is a horrible person, having remorselessly injured and scarred his much younger brother, possibly killed one of his childhood bullies and his family, and possibly murdered his own wife as well as letting his daughter die as blood sacrifices for Christine.
- Something Only They Would Say: Tends to refer to people as "shitters". It's a sign of what's happening to Arnie when he uses it as well.
