Carrie has always been a film, and a book, close to my heart. I was bullied mercilessly throughout elementary and middle school, so I can really relate to and sympathize with the main character of Carrie White as she struggles with it herself in school as well as when she finally snaps when she's been pushed too far. With such a personal investment in the material, it's no wonder I liked Brian DePalma's 1976 adaptation so much.
One day after Gym class, Carrie White (played by Sissy Spacek) is showering when she gets her first period. Since her ultra-religious mother, Margaret (played by Piper Laurie), never her told her about sex or female human anatomy, Carrie is terrified and thinks she's dying. She runs to her classmates for help, who in turn mock her mercilessly and start throwing tampons and pads at her, chanting "plug it up!" until the gym teacher, Miss Collins (played by Betty Buckley), puts a stop to it. Horrified, Miss Collins gives all the girls a weeklong detention to be served on the athletic fields, and if they don't cooperate they are suspended and can't go to prom. One girl, Chris Hargenson (played by Nancy Allen) doesn't think it's fair and bails, vowing to get even with her boyfriend, Billy Nolan (played by John Travolta). Another of the girls, Sue Snell (played by Amy Irving) feels guilty over what happens and convinces her boyfriend, Tommy Ross (played by William Katt), to take Carrie to the prom in her place. When Chris learns of Sue's plans, she begins to plot the ultimate revenge on Carrie with Billy, unwittingly setting up the entire prom for disaster for Carrie White has a secret. She has telekinetic powers, the ability to move objects with her mind, and those powers are only getting stronger.
While Carrie has probably not aged well over the years, wearing it's mid-70's era on it's sleeve, if you can get past that part, the film remains just as potent, frightening and even surprisingly tender as ever. The performances are great in the film and it has a strong cast as well. Sissy Spacek is great as Carrie, portraying the vulnerability of Carrie who over the course of the film finds her inner strength and starts to come out of her shell. Piper Laurie is intense and frightening as Carrie's extremely religious mother in a performance that would seem over the top to me if I didn't already know there were people like that in the world. Nancy Allen is memorably nasty as mean girl Chris, with John Travolta being equally nasty as her boyfriend Billy.
Brian DePalma directed the film with a lot of his signature styles he would use time and time again with usage of deep focus, filters, unique camera angles and even some great use of split screen to memorable effect. He also makes great use of slow motion leading up to the climactic moment when the prom goes terribly, terribly wrong, first for Carrie and then for everyone else. It's not really a spoiler since DePalma gives takes the audience through every step leading up to the Prom so we know exactly what is going to happen and the entire film is built around this moment anyway. We all know it's coming and DePalma is slowly ratcheting up the tension every step of the way.
Overall, Carrie remains a classic of the horror genre on the strength of both it's story and it's performances. It's a film, and book, that resonated with me when I say it when I was in middle school and remains to be one for me today. It may be a little dated in some respects, but in others it remains as relevant as ever.
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