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:

prom | school | telekinesis | teacher | student | 

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Taglines:

If You've Got A Taste For Terror... Take Carrie To The Prom.

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Genres:

Horror | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Official Sites:

MGM

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

3 November 1976 (USA)

Also Known As:

Carrie: Extraño presentimiento

Filming Locations:

USA

Box Office

Budget:

$1,800,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Runtime:

98 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The name of the high school is Bates High, a reference to Norman Bates from Psycho. In addition, the four note violin theme from Psycho is used over and over in the film.

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Goofs

When Carrie goes to kill her mother, she impales Margaret's wrists with knives through her palms. When she dies moments later, her body remains completely upright. Her body would sag, and the knives could not hold up the weight of her body.

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Quotes

Margaret White: They're all gonna laugh at you.

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Connections

Featured in The 82nd Annual Academy Awards (2010)

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Soundtracks

"Born to Have It All"
(uncredited)
Written by Merrit Malloy and Pino Donaggio
Performed by Katie Irving
Courtesy of RCA Records

User Reviews

Carrie: 8/10

Carrie boomed Sissy Spacek's and John Travolta's career. I understand why.

Carrie starts off at a gym locker room, where we find out how much the other kids hate Carrie. But, we find out that Carrie has some powers. Like in other Stephen King book-movies, the supernatural aspect is only minor compared to the rest of the story, but it comes into play at the end. Carrie's mom (Piper Laurie) is an over-protective religious zealot who makes The Royal Tenenbaums seem normal. So Carrie tries to cope with her horrible life, but it's getting tougher and tougher.

Spacek is exceptional as Carrie, and I now know why she was nominated for Best Actress. Her emotions are real, not some fake tear drops that make us think she's sad. Either she has great motivation, or she's one of the best actresses of the century (or both!). Laurie was equally good as her mother who locks Carrie up in a closet everytime she thinks that Carrie has sinned. This movie wouldn't be half of what it was if the acting wasn't so great. When Carrie was sad, you were sad. When the other kids ridiculed her, you felt like you wanted to kill the kids. When she smiled, you smiled. Emotions that raw couldn't come from just any movie.

If you know me, I'm a stickler for character developement. Carrie didn't take much time, but from the opening scene you knew about Carrie and her weakness. So are the secondary characters; they're nicely developed even if their role isn't that major. Travolta had a miniscule role, but he was fine in it; it led to Grease and Saturday Night Fever.

The prom scene has got to be one of the most memorable scenes from a horror movie. That red tint is awesome; it's like a premonition. In fact, the movie is full of premonition: the red tint, the freaky looking voodoo doll, "They're all going to laugh at you." I'm assuming that director Brian De Palma meant to put that in, so it just isn't about some supernatural powers, it's also about foreshadowing. Also, I dig that camera movement during the dancing.

The blood and gore wasn't held back, but they just put in what was necessary. De Palma obviously stole from Hitchcock's Psycho, mainly the music cue whenever Carrie is using her telepathy. Also, her school, Bates High, is another Psycho refrence.

Carrie was also very creepy. It wasn't a thrill-a-minute, but at the ending, that was Scary with a capital S. The last ten or twenty minutes were scare-inducing for sure. That last jump scene in the dream...wow! It's still jumping at me. If there was one complaint I had to do about the movie, it's that it took too much time to get to main scene and the prom went on a little too long, but other than that it's a first class horrror/thriller that any horror buff needs to see.

My rating: 8/10

Rated R for nudity, some language, and blood.