The film starts at Bates High School volleyball court
where our teenage protagonist is intentionally ridiculed by her fellow students
for losing the game for them. From there, we go to the girl's public showers where
Carrie, to her shock, gets her first period not having any prior understanding
of this part of herself, only to be heavily antagonized by all the girls. This
is where we see the first short look at what separates Carrie from the rest of
the high school students, her developing telekinetic abilities.
This young cast includes a young John Travolta who
plays the selfish boyfriend of Carrie’s worst enemy, the evil snarky Chris Hargensen,
played by Nancy Allen who would become one of De Palma’s regular (and his wife
at one point). Sissy Spacek plays this role perfectly in such shaded innocence
as the tortured Carrie. Spacek would separate herself from the rest of the cast
during filming, working on her strange body language to perfect her performance
as the painfully introverted teenager. Betty Buckley gives some well-needed
sympathy as the caring Miss Collins who helps Carrie while inside hating the
bullies who torture her. Seeing Buckley slap Allen was really satisfying and I replay that part over and over just to laugh.
The real horror of this film is the strictly religious
Margaret White, played by the late Piper Laurie (who we sadly lost a few days
ago), who gives a memorable performance as Carrie’s abusive mother. Everything
about Laurie’s performance shows unease and discomfort. The motivations for her
loathing of everything fleshly and her extreme radicalism are unclear but don’t
need to be explained in any great detail. Does she feel like she needs to
torment, force, and control her gentle and helpless daughter because she
somehow knows and is afraid of Carrie’s secret? This question is never answered
and it’s this potentially unmotivated insanity that makes her character all the
more outrageous.
Skye Wingfield said in her review, “De Palma’s later
trademark technical flourishes aren’t really in full effect here but his
direction is still confident and assured. Frequent use of the split diopter, a
favoured technique of the director, sits alongside some effective use of
panning crane work and some lean editing – the film flies by at a brisk pace
with no fat on the meat or sense of lagging. The slow motion lead up to the
fateful bucket drop effectively ramps up the tension to suitably nail biting
levels. This is amplified by Pino Donaggio’s score which, for the most part, is
perfectly suited with a sense of melancholy but in places is hardly subtle with
the on-the-nose use of the same harsh strings that Hitchcock used in Psycho’s
infamous shower scene, used here to accompany Carrie’s telekinetic outbursts.”
When one of Chris’s friends, Sue (Amy Irving)
convinces her boyfriend, Tommy (William Katt) to ask Carrie to the prom,
everything is set in place that will at first authorize Carrie but will also
give Chris the chance to show just how much she loathes Carrie. Wingfield
mentioned, “It’s a cruel piece of subterfuge to see her veil of shyness
temporarily lifted at the prom as she experiences a brief moment of joy before
Chris’ evil prank is sprung upon Carrie as she is anointed prom queen. But it’s
Carrie who has a swift and brutal revenge as her pent up rage is unleashed in a
flurry of telekinetic fury.” The pure wide-eyed strength of Spacek’s performance
here is very satisfying however some of her victims are those who really cared
for Carrie, and this only serves to add to the tragedy.
The film’s most satisfying moment comes when Carrie confronts
her mother for the final time and finds revenge in a few well-placed kitchen
knives. The image of Margaret White pinned in a crucifixion pose is a satisfyingly
fitting end for her character.
Wingfield said, “Carrie is often marked out as a
horror film but it doesn’t conform to many of the standard horror conventions
nor is it really very frightening save for the hand coming up through the
ground which ends the film with a suitably effective jolt shock. The film’s
themes of teen angst, religious fanaticism and telekinesis meld well into a
cohesive whole that, at the time of its release, was refreshingly unique.
Carrie’s influence carried through to the director’s subsequent 1978 film The
Fury and Carrie author Stephen King’s own Firestarter in 1984. Even today,
films such as Josh Trank’s 2012 film, Chronicle bear some striking similarities
to De Palma’s film.”
“Carrie” remains a great film in the vast De Palma
filmography. Wingfield admitted, “It isn’t the director’s best film in my
opinion but it has aged well and features great performances from Spacek and
Laurie as well as some enduring and iconic imagery.” This isn’t easy to watch
because of the amount of sympathy the film gives toward Carrie whose life is an
ongoing cycle of suffering but that’s definitely what adds to the overall discomfort
the film creates and therefore part of its appeal as a virtual horror/thriller.
De Palma’s film has carried these 47 years well and for those wanting to become
familiar with the great director’s filmography, this is as good a starting
point as any. Wingfield ended her review by saying, “Carrie earns my very firm
recommendation as a classic of the horror genre.”
I don’t know why this would be categorized in the
horror genre. This film was not scary at all. As I mentioned before, this is
one of the saddest films I have ever seen. I felt so bad for Carrie, who is a
completely normal kid who is wrongfully abused and ridiculed by everyone around
her. Spacek was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress, and Laurie for Best
Supporting Actress. To see Tommy and Miss Collins have genuine feelings for
Carrie was great. The prom made it look like Carrie was going to finally get
the respect that she needed, but just seeing it build up to another prank was
just wrong. All she needed was love and acceptance from everyone, but she never got it. However, the prom scene is the most memorable, and those who have
not seen this movie know about that part. It’s like witnessing all your inner rage just
explode on screen after being pushed to the edge. Let this be a lesson to everyone to not pick on the quiet kid, or any of your classmates in general. Still, after seeing the film,
you can’t blame Carrie for doing what she did. I first heard about this film
from James Rolfe and the Nostalgia Critic. After seeing Nostalgia Critic
mention this film, I had to go and see it for myself. Unfortunately, I saw it
On Demand, which was censored for TV, so I didn’t see the nudity and the swearing
was censored. If you have a Max account, see this on there, it’s a must. You
only need to see it once, then never again because it will stay with you
forever. If you cry while watching this film, I won’t be surprised. I didn't, but I was really sad at the cruelty Carrie went through. This film
has the line, “They're all going to laugh at you.”
Strangely, this film had a sequel, which made you
think why they would do that. Let’s see how that was on Friday when we continue
“Halloween Month 2023.”
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