Tags:
Film: Carrie
Year: 1976
Director: Brian De Palma
Writer: Lawrence D. Cohen
Starring: Sissy Spacek, Piper Laurie and Amy Irving
Review:
This film is one that I sought out when I started to expand my horror knowledge from just what was on TV or we owned on VHS. I rented this from the video store and it would have been around the time that I read the novel as well from Stephen King. I’ve seen this one a handful of times throughout the years, own it on DVD and now got to see the 4K at the theater, thanks to the Gateway Film Center.
Synopsis: Carrie White (Sissy Spacek), a shy, friendless teenage girl who is sheltered by her domineering, religious mother, unleashes her telekinetic powers after being humiliated by her classmates at her senior prom.
This starts during gym class. The students are playing volleyball and the game ends when it is hit to Carrie and she misses it. Everyone is mean to her as they go into the locker room. We then see this poor girl while she is in the shower and she starts her period. She doesn’t seem to know what to do and has blood all over her hands.
She seeks the aid of the other girls and she is pushed back into the shower, while they taunt her by throwing tampons, pads, sanitary napkins and chanting ‘plug it up’. The man girls involves are Sue Snell (Amy Irving), Chris Hargenson (Nancy Allen), Norma (P.J. Soles), Helen (Edie McClurg). Their teacher breaks it up. She is Miss Collins (Betty Buckley). During this, a light explodes while Carrie is panicking.
Carrie is taken to the office where Miss Collins talks with the principal, Mr. Morton (Stefan Gierasch). It is decided she will be allowed to take the rest of the day off and go home. He keeps getting her name wrong and this causes Carrie to lash out. An ashtray on his desk explodes and flips off the desk. During her walk home, she is taunted by a boy on a bicycle and she uses her mind to know him over as well.
We then meet Carrie’s mother. She is Margaret (Piper Laurie). She is invited in by Sue’s mother, Mrs. Snell (Priscilla Pointer). Margaret is there to spread the gospel. Her host isn’t having it and tries to pay her off to leave. Margaret is bothered by it, but it works and she leaves. Something to point out here is that Pointer is Irving’s mother in real life.
When Margert arrives home, she gets a phone call explaining the situation of what happened. She blames Carrie for the change in her body, saying it is due to her sinning. She starts to hit her with a book and recite scripture. She then locks her in a closet where she is forced to pray. Later that night, Carrie goes to her room and practices using her new power. She breaks her mirror. Her mother hears and checks on her. Carrie pretends that nothing happened and is told to go to bed.
The punishment for the girls who bullied her is harsh. They have detention with Miss Collins. Chris refuses. If any do, they won’t be able to go to prom. Chris believes that if they stick together, they won’t be able to do this. No one joins her though. Chris then comes up with revenge, blaming Carrie for what happens. It involves her boyfriend, Billy Nolan (John Travolta) and his friends. There is also pig’s blood. The setting of this prank is at the prom and Carrie is then due to Sue wanting to make it up to her by having her boyfriend, Tommy Ross (William Katt), take her as his date instead.
That is where I’ll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I want to start is that I knew the climax and the ending before seeing this. It is a movie where it is part of the zeitgeist. The trailer probably also spoiled it. What I’ll say having seen this as many times as I have, it isn’t a shock to see Carrie snap. I think what this does is more make you see why she does what she ends up doing and then seeing it play out is satisfying.
Now that I’ve set that up, I do want to delve more into Carrie and the punishment that she endures. It starts at home where I think that Margaret is the true villain here. She is extreme in her religion. Part of that is her husband leaving her. It does seem that her religion might have played a hand there. She has stunted Carrie’s social growth so she is picked on. It then doesn’t help that she is bullied at school. If Carrie was more ‘normal’, Chris might have still picked on her. She doesn’t truly understand the consequences and doesn’t take responsibility for her actions. If it wasn’t Carrie, it was someone else for sure. Now being a father, this is hard to watch what this poor teen goes through. She doesn’t deserve it. To end this out as well, I thought that Spacek, even though being different from the book version, plays this character perfectly.
Where I want to shift then next would be the other characters around Carrie. Now I’ve already said touched on our villains, Margaret and Chris. There is also Sue, who just got caught up in ‘mob mentality’. She does what she can to make it right, but inadvertently set the stage for what happened. She’s a good person though. I also thought that Tommy was as well. He’s a good sport about taking her and trying to give Carrie a magical night. Norma is up there as a villain with Chris. I’d say the say for Billy. I also think Mr. Morton and Mr. Fromm (Sydney Lassick), who’s another teacher, bullies Carrie in a form. Things are just working against this poor girl here.
Let me then shift over to acting since I’ve brought up all these characters. I’ve already said that Spacek was great. What I didn’t say is that I love it when she’s snapped and the focused look she has on her face. That was spot on and terrifying. Laurie is great as her overbearing mother. It is uncomfortable to watch. Katt is fun in his role. Irving is solid for the one trying to do the right thing. Travolta and Allen have a toxic relationship that feels real, especially for high school. Buckley, Soles, Pointer, Lassic, McClurg and the rest of the cast rounded this out for what was needed.
All that is left then is filmmaking. I thought that director Brian De Palma did good things. We see his trademark like split screens and interesting camera movements. I don’t know if all this works. There is sped up footage that is used for comedy that didn’t work for me. I also thought the spinning on the dance floor for Carrie and Tommy was good to include, I thought it went on too long. I still think that the cinematography and framing were good. How they use that to hide the seams of effects and bring this power to life. I’ll also credit the sound design there. Pino Donaggio also did the music. Not his best work, but it fit what was needed.
In conclusion, I do think that this is a classic. One of the better King adaptations out there. I thought that De Palma did well in keeping in what is needed from the novel while making decisions to remove what would bog it down. This is paced well. We learn early that Carrie has powers. She develops them at a good pace and we see that finally she’s had enough of the bullying. The acting is good across the board. Spacek is great here along with Laurie. The rest of the cast fit around them. The only nitpicks I have come from a stylistic choice. It is far from ruining this though. I’d recommend seeing this for sure.
My Rating: 9 out of 10