Carrie (1976)

Carrie (1976)
Director: Brian De Palma
Cast: Sissy Spacek, Piper Laurie, Amy Irving, William Katt, John Travolta, P.J. Soles
Memorable Line(s): "It has nothing to do with Satan, Mama. It's me. Me. If I concentrate hard enough, I can move things."

Adapted from Stephen King's first novel, Carrie gives us the story of a high school misfit who suddenly discovers she has the power to get even with all those who have tormented her. In a big way.

Carrie White (Spacek) is a backward and introverted high school girl being raised by a Puritanical mother (Laurie). Tormented regularly at school by the "popular" girls, her suffering hits an apex when she has her first period while in the girl's locker room. Along with this normal body change comes a very abnormal by-product -- the power to move things with her mind. An empathetic classmate (Irving) takes pity on Carrie and pleads with her handsome and popular boyfriend (Katt) to take Carrie to the prom. For a very short while, things become like a Cinderella dream for Carrie, but things take a decidedly bad turn when a girl (Soles) who had been banned from the prom for torturing Carrie decides to play an ugly prank on Carrie for revenge.

Spacek is completely convincing as Carrie. She has Carrie's mousiness down to an art. Irving, Soles and Travolta have the high school thing down too. Piper Laurie does a good turn as the over zealous mother.

Upon my initial review of this movie, I was turned off by De Palma's split screen treatment during several pivotal scenes. It added an artificiality to the movie that distanced me from it because it seemed more like gimmickry and didn't support the story well. On subsequent viewings, my view on this treatment softened some, but I still think that the movie would have better served with a more conventional treatment.

The strength of the movie lies in King's source material which masterfully gives us snapshots of the view of high school from a misfits point of view. Spacek owns the character of Carrie, too and that's the other positive element for the movie.

If you're looking for a true Stephen King scare fest, you might be better off with another one of the movies adapted from one of his novels. Carrie, while not the best Stephen King movie, still holds its own.