Of all the names that have been associated with the horror genre in its various mediums over the years, few are as immediately recognizable as Stephen King. Author of some of the most memorable scary stories of all time, King has long been one of the biggest names in horror literature.
But everybody has to start somewhere, and for King, his start came in 1974 with Carrie. The first of his books to see publication, Carrie initially flew under the cultural radar. But it climbed up the best-seller chart when the cinematic adaptation of it was released in 1976. The movie was a huge success, both financially and critically. It even earned two Oscar nominations for its acting. And though parts of it are a little dated nowadays, Carrie is still a damn fine movie that I'd definitely call one of the best horror movies I've ever seen.
It's hard not to feel sorry for poor Carrie White (Sissy Spacek). The daughter of an abusive religious fanatic (Piper Laurie), Carrie's social awkwardness makes her a target for merciless teasing from her classmates. But just when Carrie thinks life can't get much worse, she gets her first period while showering after gym class. Thanks to her strict, sheltered upbringing, Carrie has no idea what's happening and believes she's bleeding to death.
Her classmates take great humor from Carrie's panicked cries for help, throwing tampons and heaping insults upon her. The scene is only broken up when Miss Collins (Betty Buckley), the gym teacher, intervenes. Feeling guilty for her part in what happened, Sue Snell (Amy Irving) tries to make amends with Carrie by convincing her boyfriend Tommy (William Katt) to take Carrie to the prom and show her a good time.
But they are unaware of the plans of Chris Hargensen (Nancy Allen), whose extreme lack of remorse for having teased Carrie gets her banned from the prom by Miss Collins. Instead of trying to apologize to Carrie, Chris instead wants revenge for being punished. She rigs the ballot to get Carrie elected prom queen, and dumps a bucket of pig blood over her head during the coronation. No one could have predicted, though, that this prank would fully trigger Carrie's burgeoning telekinetic powers, an ability that sparks a violent, bloody rampage.
It's been thirty-five years since Carrie was released, and even now it's still as good now as it was then. The movie is an amazing piece of cinema, a horror movie that others should strive to be like. It actually makes me proud to be a fan of the genre. It's an actual, legitimate work of art that I can hold up to a doubter and say, "This is why horror movies kick ass." But I could be here all day saying it's great, so let's go ahead and jump into this review, okay?
At the helm is Brian De Palma, who had previously stuck with just low-budget independent movies. Hiring him proved to be a brilliant idea, because De Palma has crafted what has to be one of the best adaptations of King's work. De Palma's direction feels evocative of Alfred Hitchcock, with the way he uses the cinematography and screeching violin music to punctuate the more tense moments. And there are many scenes where I felt De Palma was building something of a dream-like state for the movie to exist in, an almost peaceful feeling that makes the bullying and the use of Carrie's powers more nightmarish by comparison.
And he also knows how to ratchet up suspense when he needs to. Carrie's walk to the stage after she and Tommy are named the prom king and queen is so tense that it's practically unbearable. You know what will happen next, and you know that there is absolutely no way whatsoever that it will end happily. But De Palma puts the scene together in such a way that it almost gets your hopes up that it'll all go fine despite the knowledge that it won't.
De Palma's fantastic direction is made better by the fact that he has a great screenplay to work from. Written by Lawrence D. Cohen, the screenplay takes a different approach to Carrie's story than the book did. In King's novel, a good portion of the narrative was told in the fashion of magazine and newspaper articles and interviews written and conducted after the fact. Cohen eliminates that concept, instead choosing to tell the tale in a more linear fashion. And it works. It's practically flawless.
But where Cohen succeeds is his handling of the characters. The characters are what drive Carrie, and Cohen has written them beautifully. Of particular note is Carrie herself, who is a heart-wrenchingly tragic figure. You have to be utterly soulless to not feel at least a little sympathy for her. Though her life is horrible, things finally begin going her way at the end. Sure, her mom is still an abusive loon who believes her innocent daughter is evil incarnate, but Carrie has finally found the confidence to stand up to her. She goes to the prom and begins to be accepted as an equal by her classmates. Even her date appears to have a little actual romantic interest in her. But the fact that all the hope for the future that Carrie may have mustered up is dashed away by one single act of cruelty is heartbreaking.
And the absolutely brilliant casting only helps to hammer it home. As good as De Palma and Cohen's contributions to the movie are, the actors and actresses who make up the cast elevate it to something higher. The movie wouldn't have been nearly as good had they not been at the top of their game, but everyone in the movie is fantastic. The supporting cast, particularly Amy Irving and Nancy Allen, are great, but Carrie is carried by two specific performances.
One is Piper Laurie as Carrie's mother. Laurie had not appeared in a movie since Paul Newman's The Hustler in 1961, and I don't know why she didn't get any work in that fifteen-year span, because she's absolutely perfect here. She's frightening in the role, performing with a passion unlike any other actress I've ever seen. Laurie takes the repressed whackjob that is Margaret White and makes the character her own. She very much deserved that Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination she received, and she probably would have completely stolen the movie had it not been for its leading lady.
And yes, Sissy Spacek takes the movie and runs away with it. The movie probably would have all been for naught had Spacek not been so wonderful in the role. She's so good that you aren't seeing an actress playing a character, but Carrie White herself. Spacek brings the troubled young girl to life, playing her with a believable awkwardness. You can't help but feel an overwhelming level of sympathy for the character thanks to Spacek. Had any other actress been hired, or if Spacek had come even close to half-assing it, it would have ruined everything else about the movie.
And unlike a lot of other movies that use this trope, her transition from "ugly duckling to beautiful swan" is actually believable. She actually looks mousy and dowdy, as well as an ethereal beauty at the prom. A lot of movies will just slap a pair of glasses and a bad haircut on an actress before giving her a makeover, but Spacek plays it in a way that is incredibly similar to how Christopher Reeve created a dichotomy between Clark Kent and Superman. Like Laurie, her Oscar nomination for Best Actress was very much deserved. And though she won that Oscar four years later for her role as country music legend Loretta Lynn in Coal Miner's Daughter, I'm still going to pick Carrie as her most outstanding performance.
The story goes that Stephen King tossed his manuscript for Carrie in the trash halfway through writing it, believing that the story would end up being awful. He only finished it when his wife fished it out of that trashcan and convinced him to keep going with it. So I guess I should owe Tabitha King a debt of gratitude, because not only did that finished novel launch her husband's career, but it allowed one of my favorite horror movies of all-time to be made. Carrie is a great movie that you absolutely need to see if you even remotely consider yourself a fan of horror movies. And remember, be nice to the misfits, okay?
Final Rating: ****½
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