Classic horror film!

For years I have denied about considering watching Carrie and it has been on TV a couple of times over the years and every time I have skipped it but one night, it happened to be on TV so I recorded it and decided to give it a go seeing as I am watching more horror films nowadays and have grown out of that fear now. Plus, I love Stephen King and his works in general so that is another reason why I needed to see this. Carrie was indeed a scary film but not terrifying but it probably was back for its time so I think I found this as scary as A Nightmare On Elm Street which I saw for the first time a couple of months ago. There are moments where it is set in a normal high school but elsewhere there are moments that are Sam Raimi-like moments like from The Evil Dead trilogy, Within The Woods and Drag Me To Hell even though those were released after Carrie.


I must say what really surprised me about Carrie was that it was actually really emotional and rather heartbreaking because of the bullying that goes on within the school and what Carrie goes through at the hands of her abusive mother. The opening scene when Carrie had her first period in the shower was a shocking and powerful scene that ultimately showed Carrie's character and what she goes through and also the other girls within who laughed at her when Carrie thought she was like dying. It is more of a horror-thriller than a drama but I would still call it a drama film as well. It is also quite a twisted film as well because there are some peaceful moments but there are also some pretty damn sick moments too. I mean, the pig’s blood scene was so tense and I was like 'Oh for God's sake! Just do it!' It is perhaps a message about bullying and that it shouldn't happen no matter how someone looks or acts.


Carrie White is the outsider of her class. She's a mousy girl, all of her classmates hate her, and her mother is a religious fanatic who walks around in a black cape. After she unexpectedly has her first period, she is teased by the girls more ruthlessly than before. The gym teacher punishes the girls that were involved and one of them, Sue Snell, feels sorry for what she did and asks her boyfriend to take Carrie to the prom instead of her. But another girl that has been banned from the prom, Chris Hargenson, isn't so forgiving and hatches an evil plan with her boyfriend that involves Carrie and a bucket full of pig's blood. But what none of the students realize is that Carrie has the power of telekinesis, the power to move things with your mind, and that when you make her mad, she transforms from an innocent girl to a rage-filled monster. And this is gonna be a prom no one will ever forget.


Sissy Spacek has accomplished a lot in her career but here is what I think she is most famous for. Her performance as Carrie White was just fantastic! I did think it was quite extraordinary how well and how young Spacek looked as Carrie when Carrie is around 17-18 years old and Spacek was 26-27 years old at the time. She rightly deserved her first Oscar nomination for this performance but despite the roles are totally different, I did feel that Faye Dunaway in Network was the rightful winner. Piper Laurie was even better than Sissy Spacek in this one as the psychotic mother of Carrie; Margaret. Now, she creeped me out even more than Carrie did because of her obsession with religion, her possessive and abusive ways with Carrie and also the house that they both live in as well. It just makes it even scarier. One thing that I wasn't aware of until I saw it was that John Travolta had a supporting role in Carrie and this was before Saturday Night Fever and Grease which are his famous roles in his early days of his career. I guess you could compare John Travolta's supporting debut role in Carrie like Johnny Depp's supporting debut role in A Nightmare On Elm Street.


Most of Brian DePalma's famous films aren't really very friendly films so he has usually gone for crime, action or horror films. His work on Carrie was rather impressive and I do think he was robbed of Best Director in 1976. I liked how he mixed the beauty of the film to the horror and, quite frankly, they worked pretty damn well together. The period scene was impressive (no, not just because of a girl having a period) but because it was really well edited and there were some impressive shots and it made it a very genuine and rather heartfelt moment. The script was incredible! I liked how they used some quotes from the Bible especially from Margaret because in a way, it makes it sound like that God has turned her into this mad psycho and has made her be like the way she is.


Overall, Carrie is a classic horror film that is full of fears and tears. There are some stupid teen-horrors nowadays like Jennifer's Body, Twilight (not horror but still involves teenage characters and vampires), most of the films from Uwe Boll (in fact, probably every film from him) and others but this is the Don of all of them! I would say it is like a tragic story as well as a scary one too. It definitely is one of my favourite horror/thrillers so you cannot afford to miss this one!