Movie Review - Carrie

Carrie (1976)

Starring Sissy Spacek, Piper Laurie, Amy Irving, William Katt, Betty Buckley, Nancy Allen, and John Travolta

Directed by Brian De Palma

***This ilm is currently streaming on Netflix***

There are moments when I watch Brian De Palma movies where I can't help but think he's a big hack.  For example, the softcore porn-esque opening of Carrie in which naked high school girls frolic around a school gym locker room evokes laughs as opposed to lust.  However, there are also moments in this flick adapted from the Stephen King novel of the same name that are brilliantly staged and executed and Mr. De Palma's admitted appreciation for the Master of Suspense Alfred Hitchcock shines through.  So, De Palma remains a conundrum for me -- a director I sometimes despise, but oftentimes admire as well.

It certainly helps De Palma that he's got an interesting script to work with here that truly develops its main characters and only slowly builds to being what could be classified as a "horror" movie.  Carrie (Sissy Spacek) is shy, reserved, and the butt of many jokes at school.  Thanks to her frighteningly religious mother (Piper Laurie) who has kept Carrie closely guarded her entire life, Carrie fails at being adept socially and instead finds herself outcast and friendless.  Carrie soon realizes, however, that she has been blessed (or cursed) with telekinetic powers that, while she is able to control, really only show themselves when her anger builds up.  

The ending of Carrie which takes place at the high school prom is fairly well known, but the path to get there was rather surprising to me.  Carrie's invitation to the prom comes from jock Tommy Ross (William Katt) who reluctantly takes on the "job" at the urging of his girlfriend Sue (Amy Irving).  Sue feels incredibly guilty about poking fun at Carrie in a pivotal scene early in the flick which shapes a huge chunk of what is to follow, so in order to try and make herself feel better, she asks Tommy to take Carrie to the prom to show her a pleasant night.  Much to Tommy's surprise, he realizes that Carrie is actually rather sweet and, once outside the rigid confines of her mother's fanaticism, she's a lovely girl.  Needless to say, prom doesn't quite go smoothly and when things go awry, they do so in a huge way.

As I mentioned, the movie works so well because both Carrie and her mother (and to a certain extent, Sue and Tommy) are such well-developed characters.  The film is much more of a character piece than a horror story as we discover what makes Carrie and her crazed mother tick.  While Piper Laurie's performance might seem a bit over the top in today's day and age, Sissy Spacek is spot-on and wholly believable as the tortured teen.  The script does falter quite a bit in its portrayal of the school's biggest bullies -- played by Nancy Allen and John Travolta -- whose characters are so maliciously one-note that their scenes prove to be laughable, but that's the only aspect of the plot that threw a kink into this otherwise solid flick.

With bullying being a hot topic in the news, Carrie is perhaps more relevant than ever before.  For those that don't like their horror movies "scary," this may be a good first look at the horror genre with the scares coming from character development rather than cheap thrills.  You won't be jumping out of your seat necessarily, but the final scenes are tense and chilling nevertheless.

The RyMickey Rating:  B