CARRIE

Carrie Movie Review

Carrie White (Sissy Spacek, Blast from the Past) is a high school girl suffering from never-ending bullying from her classmates. What the terrorizing teens don't realize is that Carrie has special powers, and the more she is picked on, the more her rage builds. Based on Stephen King's 1974 novel, the movie was directed by Brian DePalma--the book and film served to launch the careers of both. When I think of this movie, I will always recall watching it with my Mom. In the days of 4 local channels, no cable, and no devices that provide hundreds of thousands of movies at your fingertips, Carrie was a regular film for me and Mom to watch together--we must have watched this movie dozens of times over the years. That said, even taking away all sentimental value I have attached to this movie, this is still an outstanding horror flick. The acting is superb--as a youngster, I didn't pay attention to such things, but as I grew, I was able to really appreciate the performance turned in by Spacek here. The exact same can be said for Piper Laurie as Carrie's Mom, Margaret--both inspired more horror movie characters in the coming years than you could possibly count.

"Let's see...there's..."

The torture of Carrie is unrelenting, both at school and at home, and the slow-burn build is fantastic, leading to one of the all-time great endings in horror history. The movie is shot extremely well, providing both a calm and enough disjointed visuals to keep the viewer feeling uncomfortable. Aside from launching the careers of King, DePalma, and Spacek, this movie also introduced the world to John Travolta, who would very soon after star in one of my favorite sitcoms in television history, Welcome Back, Kotter, as well as become the quintessential 1970's heartthrob after starring in Grease and Saturday Night Fever. 

You're welcome Sani

Honestly, there's not much not to love about this movie. Fans of the King novel will argue it strays too far away from the book--I can't speak on this, having never read it, but the truth is I don't judge movies based on books by how closely they follow the written word (even if I have read the book), so this makes no difference to me at all.Hollywood has not been able to let this story go, either. It spawned a decent 1999 sequel titled The Rage: Carrie 2, a better 2002 made-for-television remake, and a 2013 theatrical remake that...well, the less I say about that movie the better. If you have never watched Carrie--I can't imagine if you are reading this you have never seen this movie, but if that is the case, shame on you! Go watch it! Now!

On A Scale Of One To Ten: 9

Carrie Movie Trailer