Carrie (1976)

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

Carrie isn't much of a film. It doesn't venture into any depth, it is just paper thin with an uninteresting conclusion. Sissy Spacek is the part and it is well acted by all parties, but there just isn't anything here. I honestly can't remember where the time went, slow moving scenes, gym class, going to the prom, sitting, dancing. Yet not enough time is invested in learning about Carrie, her mother or Sue. There is just too much nothingness to give any of it importance and the Tommy character is just unwritten. His personality says he wants to be in on it, yet he still takes Carrie and why is Sue with him? Awful writing, grrr.

'CARRIE' - 1976Directed by Brian De Palma{The Wedding Party; Singers}Starring Sissy Spacek{Prime Cut; Badlands}, Piper Laurie{The Hustler; Son of Ali Baba} and Nancy Allen{The Last Detail; Forced Entry}Plot Overview: Carrie(Sissy Spacek{ is a young girl, in highschool, who is bullied for being different and every night must go home to her abusive, religious mother. After Carrie receives her first period, in the middle of school, her bullying becomes more frequent, all the way until she is about to burst.Before I watched this movie, I made sure to read King's novel. And I thoroughly enjoyed it. So I went into this movie rather excited about the possibilities. And after watching it; it was fine. Yeah. It was alright. I liked some changes, disliked others. I wouldn't gloat about it being a masterpiece but I certainly wouldn't dismiss it as awful. It's a fine movie. That's the best way I can sum it up.What are the movie's main positives? Sissy Spacek as Carrie was a phenomenal performance. In a disturbing way, I bought into her being a depressed, troubled, poor, tortured soul, and constantly felt sorry for her in all the barbaric abuse she had to put up with. It was a performance that could have certainly won an Oscar; it was that good.Another excellent performance would be Piper Laurie as Carrie's mum. THIS was a genuinely terrifying performance. I don't like religious nut jobs at the best of times so one of them having complete power and control and dominion over me is scary enough. Add Laurie's twisted and demonic performance as the literal embodiment of Satan, and you've got a fantastic, chilling and memorable performance that could also have EASILY won the Oscar.Most of the remainder of the acting(except one person) was pretty good. Nancy Allen was great as the sadistic and cruel Chris. Amy Irving succeeded in her limited screen time at portraying the remorseful and sorrowful Sue. William Katt was also good as the cheerful and helpful Tommy Ross. With the exception of one person, no one did a genuinely poor performance in this movie, for me at least.Another massive praise I can give the movie is the remarkably unsettling way it is shot and edited together. De Palma's remarkable skills made moments in this movie chill me to the bone. I was constantly uneasy and on the edge of my seat, and De Palma masterfully drums up atmosphere and suspense until we reach the climax. Pino Donaggio's excellent score also helps in this brilliant creation of suspense and makes the movie constantly put me on edge.I love the original Stephen King story and therefore the aspects that do carry over are excellent and horrifying to behold. They do, however, make quite a number of changes. One of these changes, I absolutely loved. I won't spoil it but it was a genuinely creepy and horrifying moment of the film. It legitimately sent goosebumps and shivers down my spine. That is the only change I liked however, which I will now elaborate on.Obviously books cannot be translated to film word for word, and things either need to be altered, removed or condensed to make it a pleasant viewing experience. But the sheer amount of the third act that they condensed down made it annoying to watch. I was looking forward to seeing certain scenes and moments but they either cut it out COMPLETELY or edited it drastically. One of them was a specific way in which something happens to a major character. They COMPLETELY change how this happens to them and I really, really disliked that. The movie would have been fine at 2 hours, if they let the third act flourish like it was supposed to.And now for that actor who I mentioned before. John 'The Madman' Travolta. I have no issues with this man. Is he mentally unstable? Yes! Does this benefit his roles? Of course! Is he at least a fun actor? Definitely! I don't have issues with the man as an actor but there was something about him in this movie that I just REALLY did not like. He just wasn't that good in the movie. The character he plays was a very interesting one in the novel. I was pleased with how much of the character remained but not with how they portrayed him. I just think that Travolta was the wrong guy to cast in this role. He doesn't fit the role, in my honest opinion. Overall, I do like this movie. It maintains chunks of the original story, each of which is a delight to see on screen. It contains a steady series of excellent performances, and it features a very uneasy atmosphere. But I detest how much they altered the third act. I feel a little bad for marking it down so much but I really think it shouldn't have been changed. The climax of King's novel was fantastic, this is just lazy and uninteresting. But as a whole I do recommend this movie. I'll rate this movie 6 'Disturbing Shower Scenes' out of 10!

Carrie is both disturbing and horrifying. And for a horror flick that's obviously a good thing. Most of the complaints about this movie are that it is "not scary." Whoever believes this, however, apparently has never met people, because Carrie's main villains seem all too real. The main villains are not a vampire or a redneck with a chainsaw but are instead a bunch of sexually awakened teenagers and an overly protective mother. These characters on the surface don't sound scary, but Carrie brings out how evil and sadistic these characters can all be. The real to life villains makes Carrie feel truly unique and worth watching over 40 years later.Carrie, played by Sissy Spacek, struggles to fit in with a sexualized society full of "mean girls" and a mother, Piper Laurie, who plays a religious nutjob hellbent on protecting her daughter from said society. The conflict between her mother and a sexualized society forces Carrie into becoming a social outcast. An isolated Carrie is a strange protagonist. As sometimes, you will feel strong sympathy for her character, but yet as soon as you feel her pain, you will just as quickly become completely horrified by her. This dichotomy about Carrie as a character makes her an iconic horror movie protagonist that you will never forget.The movie has many interesting themes worth taking note of like sex, religion, parenting, womanhood, isolation, and bullying. For exploring so many different and pertinent topic, Carrie, as a film is much more powerful than the horror flicks of today that are instead all about cheap jump scares and plastering the screen with guts and gore. Carrie does a little bit of that, but it also explores some deeper and more interesting societal issues. It is worth a watch just for these reasons to see if you agree or disagree with some of the larger messages.In sum, Carrie is a fantastic horror film from beginning to end. It gets the tough balance of making a film both scary and relatable as you will feel like you have met these characters before in real-life. Since Carrie was filmed in the 1970s, however, it may scare away some modern audiences because of the outdated film quality. Luckily, the superb acting and thoughtful script make it still worth the watch. The 1970s atmosphere also makes it extra haunting. Because watching Carrie filled with retro relics, hairdos, and clothing made me feel like if the portraits in my high school Health class textbook came to life and were destined to suffer a terrible fate. For this reason the classic film Carrie is wicked haunting!

Carrie is one of the most iconic horror film in history and De Palma directing and shooting makes you understand everything by the images and cinematography ,how the characters feel, why they feel like that. The result is you can understand their actions through the film and their motivations, though at times a bit shallow, you can get why they do it. Also Brian De Palma shows very well the working of the senior high school students, from the unnamed hierarchy, to the cruelty the teens are capable off it goes with out saying if you had a difficult years in school you will sympathize with Carrie and even rude for her. An other thing worth mentioning is that the cruelty in house and at school can twist the way a person sees things and in the final scene of the infamous school dance we see that in a very realistic and disturbing manner. As for the subject of puberty is demonstrated by the telekinetic powers Carrie gains after her first Luteal phase. And gradually she starts to disobey her religiously fanatical mother, accepting complements as a good thing and even dancing with her cavalier. However there is and a dark side to that : she can now pretty easily hurt anyone how hurts her physically or emotionally and it is dangerous as innocent people may and do get in the cross fires.In general puberty is depicted like a new power coming out from the person and there two bad outcomes from it :When it isn't put in check becomes cruelty (seen in the girls bullying Carrie).The other possibility is when it comes in the hands of a person who was continuously bullied then the tables are turned and the hunted becomes the hunter, basically the quote of Nietzsche "He who fights with monsters should be careful lest he thereby become a monster. And if thou gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will also gaze into thee." becomes a reality ,just showing that the goodness and kindness how can be lost and even the most cruel maybe they do it just to get respect like in high school of instance.OK I will close mist analyses here for I may over did it. However this is a great adaptation of Steven King and perhaps the most faithful book-to-film take from all the films and series that have been based from his work so far ,together with the Green Mile, Misery and Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption.