Halloween Movie #11 – Carrie

Carrie – 1976        Genre: Horror        MPAA Rating: R

Synopsis:

Carrie White (Sissy Spacek) is a shy, friendless girl in high school who is picked on by all of her classmates and dominated by her religious and abusive mother (Piper Laurie). However, Carrie begins to find that she has telekinetic powers. When a popular boy asks her to the upcoming prom, things seem to be going better for Carrie, but a malicious plot to embarrass her is brewing and ready to set the monster lying in Carrie’s telekinesis on the high school and the community.

Review:

****Spoiler Alert*****

There’s simply no way I can review this film and do it the justice it deserves without giving some spoilers. Sorry if that’s tough for anyone who hasn’t seen the film out there.

This film was based on the very first novel by famous horror author Stephen King, and with very few exceptions, is almost a direct word-for-word adaptation of the novel. The book is a fairly easy read, being less than 300 pages in paperback and I went right through it. As a result, the film is fairly short as well, clocking in at just over an hour an a half.

For those of you who have avoided seeing the film because it is a Stephen King movie, and thus it must be scary, let me clear that up right now. While this comes billed as a horror, this film is more disturbing than it is scary; much more tragic than it is horrific.

It’s one of the saddest films you will ever see. It’s absolutely tragic and heartbreaking to watch a girl like Carrie White who wants to fit in with the other kids, but is too shy and dressed too plain and whatever dumb reasons kids give these days on why they exclude someone from their group.

Nevertheless, it leads to bullying. The very first scene of the movie happens to take place in a locker room where Carrie experiences her first period. Being raised in a home where nothing of the sort was taught by her dominating and insanely religious mother, she becomes afraid that she is bleeding to death. Instead of helping her, the other girls relentlessly bully her, throwing items at her.

In today’s world where bullying can take on so many levels including even over social media and text messages, this movie speaks to some of the psychological damage that bullying can do to their victim. It’s horrible.

Not everyone is a villain here, however. Realizing that including her in the normal social events would be nice for everyone, Sue (Amy Irving) asks her boyfriend, the popular Tommy Ross (William Katt) to ask Carrie to the prom. Tommy agrees and legitimately means it when he asks her out.

Then, there’s the P.E. teacher Miss Collins (Betty Buckley), who is protective of Carrie and makes each of the girls who picked on her complete a week’s worth of detention under her watch.

As the prom approaches, its Chris Hargensen (Nancy Allen), a leading candidate for me for one of the most evil villains in the history of film, and her boyfriend Billy Nolan (a young John Travolta in just his second feature film role) who start a plot to embarrass Carrie by dropping a bucket of pig’s blood on her head when she wins a stacked vote for Prom Queen.

Watching Carrie come out of her shell at the prom, dressed in a beautiful pink dress, styling her hair and wearing makeup; then dancing a slow dance with Tommy Ross, who genuinely wants to be there, as the camera continuously pans around the couple as the sweet song “I Never Dreamed Someone Like You Could Love Someone Like Me” plays in the background, it might be the most tragic scene in all of Hollywood.

Director Brian De Palma, screenwriter Lawrence Cohen, Stephen King and these actors do a great job of creating this beautiful scene at the prom that would be anyone’s wish for their own Prom. It’s sweet, it’s romantic and it’s beautiful. But, we as the audience, know exactly what’s going to happen as that bucket of pig’s blood hangs precariously on the rafters, as Chris licks her lips in anticipation of dropping the bucket on Carrie’s head. It’s horrible, because you want to stop it. You feel like Sue, who sees the bucket just before it’s released, but can’t do anything about it.

The filmmakers have made us care deeply about Carrie in just more than an hour of screen time. Perhaps because we identify with her. Many of us weren’t the popular kids in high school. We weren’t asked to dances and we may have been bullied. We identify with Carrie. It’s got to be one of the most tragic scenes ever filmed. And that’s not hyperbole.

Special mention has to go to Pino Donaggio, who composed an absolutely haunting and beautiful score for this film. It builds up the suspense when you know it’s coming, it is so wonderfully sweet and innocent during the prom sequences and so tragic after the horrible prank happens that leads to Carrie finally snapping.

Another special mention has to go to the actors, especially Sissy Spacek as Carrie and Piper Laurie as her mother, Margaret White. Both women were nominated for Oscars for their performances in this film and they couldn’t have deserved them more. Watching Carrie go from a shy, sheltered girl to being happy and smiling widely at the prom to the tortured and murderous force of nature at the end is a transformation that must be watched.

Similarly, Laurie’s Margaret is so psychotic and fanatically religious, it could have gone over the top. But rather than being too out of control, the tone of the performance is truly scary, as she drags her daughter to a broom closet muttering about praying away her sins. It’s a frightening performance and one that we won’t forget.

Performances by Amy Irving and William Katt are so good-natured and genuine that it makes us believe that there are good people out there. Travolta, ironically considering his future star status, is rather bland in this film.

This is not just a great Halloween film. Heck, I’m not sure I would classify it as a Halloween film. It gets than moniker because Stephen King was the writer behind the story. This is a great film, period.

A remake of the film was made in 2013, with Chloe Grace Moretz as the title character and Julianne Moore as the mother. It is one of those films that didn’t really need to be there. It didn’t add anything to the story and frankly, this original film did everything better. Do yourself a favor and watch the original 1976 film, not the new version.

A word of warning to those who are now inspired to watch it. This is certainly an R-rated film. There is a good amount of strong language, plenty of long scenes of full female nudity and a fair amount of intense, bloody violence. With that warning said, this film is still a must-see.

Grade: A+