Carrie (1976)

A young, abused and timid 17-year-old girl discovers she has telekinesis, and gets pushed to the limit on the night of her school's prom by a humiliating prank.

Director:

Brian De Palma

Writers:

Stephen King (novel), Lawrence D. Cohen (screenplay)

Stars:

Sissy Spacek, Piper Laurie, Amy Irving

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 4 wins & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Sissy Spacek	...	Carrie
Piper Laurie	...	Margaret White
Amy Irving	...	Sue Snell
William Katt	...	Tommy Ross
John Travolta	...	Billy Nolan
Nancy Allen	...	Chris Hargensen
Betty Buckley	...	Miss Collins
P.J. Soles	...	Norma
Priscilla Pointer	...	Mrs. Snell
Sydney Lassick	...	Mr. Fromm
Stefan Gierasch	...	Mr. Morton
Michael Talbott	...	Freddy
Doug Cox	...	The Beak
Harry Gold	...	George
Noelle North	...	Frieda

Storyline

Carrie White is a shy young girl who doesn't make friends easily. After her class mates taunt her about her horrified reaction to her totally unexpected first period one of them takes pity on her and gets Tommy Ross, her boyfriend and class hunk to invite Carrie to the senior prom. Meanwhile another girl who has been banned from the prom for her continued aggressive behaviour is not as forgiving and plans a trick to embarrass Carrie in front of the whole school. What she doesn't realise is that Carrie is ... gifted, and you really don't want to get her angry.

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Plot Keywords:

blood | prank | female full frontal nudity | bad mother | female protagonist | 

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Taglines:

You were warned never to push Carrie to the limits. Now you must face the evil consequences.

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Genres:

Horror

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Certificate:

PA

Details

Official Sites:

MGM

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

3 November 1976 (USA)

Also Known As:

Carrie

Filming Locations:

124 N 7th St, Santa Paula, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$1,800,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

United Artists

Technical Specs

Runtime:

98 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Brian De Palma wanted Betty Buckley to really slap Nancy Allen. Because Allen couldn't get the reaction De Palma wanted, Buckley ended up slapping her as many as thirty times.

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Goofs

When Carrie looks out her window, when she hears a horn honk, you can see the spike mark where Tommy's car is suppose to stop.

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Quotes

Margaret White: These are godless times, Mrs. Snell.
Mrs. Snell: I'll drink to that.

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Connections

Referenced in Something to Scream About (2003)

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Soundtracks

(Love is Like a) Heatwave
(uncredited)
Written by Lamont Dozier, Brian Holland and Eddie Holland
Sung by Martha & The Vandellas

User Reviews

Though cluttered up with crass humor, De Palma's trashy flair and killer instincts make this a classic screamer...

When picked-on high schooler Carrie White discovers to her horror that she's been made the butt of a nasty prank, she unleashes her secret powers at the school prom and all hell literally comes loose. This sequence, filmed in split-screen, is a canny marvel of technical wizardry, twisted imagination and production design (check out that gorgeous blaze that erupts behind Sissy Spacek). The cinematographer lights everything up like fluorescent goodies in a candy-box (the continuity problems with Carrie's appearance here can be overlooked). But Carrie's anger is all encompassing--it's a high school holocaust--and some of her victims are innocents, like the gym teacher (played very sensitively by Betty Buckley). Carrie has become as bad as her enemies, and director Brian De Palma doesn't seem to understand the irony (he's also too interested in girl-peeping, although to his credit nobody comes off looking foolish). The picture is fun on the surface, but has a depressing undermining that is never quite resolved. Spacek's performance in the lead is flawless; Piper Laurie exceptional as her deranged mother (it was her comeback role, Oscar-nominated, yet it nearly typed her as a horror-movie actress); Nancy Allen, P.J. Soles, and William Katt are excellent as Carrie's classmates; Amy Irving is intriguing as schoolmate Sue who just wants to do the right thing (Pauline Kael of The New Yorker complained that Sue's role in the disaster wasn't made clear, but I disagree. I think she's conflicted and guilty and wants to help, wants to see Carrie bask in some of the glory which she helped create). Although an improvement over the Stephen King source novel, "Carrie" isn't perfect and is weighed down somewhat with dirty jokes and cheap laughs. Certainly it is a stylish picture, with beautiful (if repetitive) music by Pino Donaggio, and the final sequence is still being copied today. *** from ****