This is a movie based on the book by the same name that was written by no other than mister horror master himself Stephen King.
Carrie (Sissy Spacek) is a shy teenage girl who lives with her extremely religious mother Margaret (Piper Laurie) who keeps pressuring her constantly. In Margaret’s eyes almost every teenage act is a sin. Carrie is forced to live under oppression and made to feel guilty even for her existence because after all it is the result of a sexual act.
She has the misfortune of having her first period at the school showers in front of her so called classmates who don’t hesitate to ridicule her. Her mother hadn’t inform her about this ordinary and inevitable occurrence so she is scared out of her mind to see blood running down her legs and the trauma of being laughed at while she is in such a state intensifies the situation and she discovers her telekinetic powers for the first time; she doesn’t turn into a monster, not just yet anyway, but from that moment on she becomes someone who is not to be messed with. Do her friends realize that? Too bad for them, they don’t…
This was Stephen King’s breakthrough book. He had written the story about a school friend who led quite a similar life to that of Carrie character in the book except for the telekinetic powers, of course. When he wrote the first draft he figured nobody would be interested in this kind of a story and threw it in the trash bin. Out of great luck his wife found and read it and told him there was something there and he should not give up on the story; it turned out to be a huge success and made him a household name around the world, not to mention pulled him and his family out of skid row.
The director Brian De Palma’s touch is apparent in every scene. The colors, the dream like flow, etc. Although De Palma wasn’t very pleased with the infamous party part of the film, and he is probably right it probably could’ve been done better had he had the budget and more time, it is still a remarkable piece of cinema history.
Sissy Spacek was nominated for "best actress in a leading role" for her part in “Carrie” an Oscar title she won for her role in the movie “Coal Miner’s Daughter” (1980) a few years later.
Carrie also stars John Travolta, Amy Irwing and Brian De Palma’s wife Nancy Allen all of whom were to work with the director again in other impressive movies in the future.
When this movie came out I was too little to watch it by myself and nobody would take me to see it. I would see its ads on papers with Sissy Spacek’s face, that crazy look, eyes wide open, blood lines on her face. I was scared just by that image alone but I wanted to see it anyway because in those days there was something magical and mysterious about being in a movie theater; and if the movie was a scary one it was ten fold for crying out loud.
A friend of mine had seen it with his older brother and he wouldn’t stop talking about it which made me want to see it even more knowing that I’d probably shit my pants. One day I waited outside the movie theater; I didn’t have the money and for I was too young they wouldn’t let me in anyway but I knew people behind that door were watching the very movie I was dying to see that very moment. I didn’t even know why I was standing there; maybe if someone I knew saw me there I could brag like my friend did “oh yeah I was just in there watching "Carrie"(and I’m out to get a clean pair of underpants)”. Then suddenly the doors opened. The movie wasn’t over yet but the theater people usually opened the doors a few minutes early to prevent the last minute rush to the door. I won’t spoil it for those who haven’t seen the movie yet but there is a final scare in “Carrie” and through the wide open door I got to watch it. I was so excited and happy. I didn’t get to see the whole film for another 3 years but anytime the title came up I got to pretend to have seen it by saying “What about that closing scene? Pretty scary huh?” And the best part? I wasn’t even lying. I had seen it.
When I finally saw the whole movie I didn’t get scared as much as I hoped; actually I wasn’t scared at all but I still liked it and found it interesting. In those days I didn’t follow directors and I didn’t know who Brian De Palma was but that style had an imprint on me. Because I didn’t know at the time but for some reason our local movie theaters showed a lot of movies by Brian De Palma, John Cassavetes, Francis Ford Coppola, Oliver Stone, etc.; inevitably this made me associate that era with their vision.
G.R.Senn
