Carrie (1976)
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Carrie
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This film has been preserved in the National Film Registry in 2022.
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 "They're all gonna laugh at you! They're all gonna laugh at you!"
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Carrie is a 1976 American supernatural horror film based on Stephen King's 1974 epistolary novel. The film was directed by Brian De Palma and produced by Paul Monash, with a screenplay by Lawrence D. Cohen.
Plot
In this chilling adaptation of Stephen King's horror novel, withdrawn and sensitive teen Carrie White (Sissy Spacek) faces taunting from classmates at school and abuse from her fanatically pious mother (Piper Laurie) at home. When strange occurrences start happening around Carrie, she begins to suspect that she has supernatural powers. Invited to the prom by the empathetic Tommy Ross (William Katt), Carrie tries to let her guard down, but things eventually turn dark and violent.
Why It Rocks
- Like many other Stephen King film adaptations, it captures the spark and tone that Stephen King's original novel had.
- The film stays loyal to the source material with only a few adjustments.
- Flawless acting and performances, especially from Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie.
- Well-done character and story development, like how Sue Snell goes from bullying Carrie to being concerned about her state of mind. Sue even becomes an iconic Final Girl as she's the only female character who survives Carrie's rampage.
- Memorable moments, such as the detention scene, the scene where Carrie gets drenched in pigs' blood, and the senior prom massacre that followed it.
- Carrie White is a likable, sympathetic protagonist, and her mother, Margaret White, is a sadistic, well-performed antagonist.
- Chris Hargensen is a decent and loathsome secondary antagonist as Nancy Allen portrays the "rude spoiled rich girl"-type character very well and originally.
- Fitting Psycho-Esque background music that plays whenever Carrie uses her telekinetic powers.
- Great and unforgettable dialogue from the actors.
- Brian de Palma had impressive skills as a director during this film.
- The film manages to take on real-life issues like first-time periods, bullying, abusive relationships, and religion very well.
- The facial expression that Carrie White makes during the prom massacre is pure nightmare fuel.
- The very last scene of the movie terrified an entire generation of moviegoers and helped establish the "final scene jumpscare" as a horror movie tradition.
- A pretty good representation of high school social hierarchy.
- It started the trend of adaptations from Stephen King's works that were, if not, even better or worse than this film.
Bad Qualities
- While good, John Travolta's performance as Billy Nolan isn't faithful to his novel counterpart.
- The official trailer gave away most of the film.
- Carrie and Margaret White look nothing like their novel counterparts while having magnificent performances.
- Sue Snell's important scenes were cut in the 1976 film, which makes her character rather bland and less complex than in the book.
Release and Reception
The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives the film an approval rating of 93% based on 61 reviews, with an average rating of 8.4/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Carrie is a horrifying look at supernatural powers, high school cruelty, and teen angst—and it brings us one of the most memorable and disturbing prom scenes in history." On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating based on reviews, the film has a weighted average score of 85 out of 100, based on 14 critics.
Videos
Trivia
- Carrie was the first Stephen King novel to be published and the first to be adapted into a feature film.
Comments
- Mature
- Films preserved in the National Film Registry
- Films
- American films
- Good media
- Good films
- Important media
- Important films
- Horror films
- 1970s films
- Suspense films
- Based on books
- Drama films
- Live-action films
- Teen films
- Thriller films
- Silver Age films
- Tragedy films
- Cinemassacre's Monster Madness
- Fantasy films
- Psychological films
- Box office hits
- Films featured in 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
- Films based on works by Stephen King
- Blockbusters
- Classics
- Dark tone films
- Dark tone media