Review of Carrie (1976) by Tomtag — 05 May 2019

Brian De Palma’s Carrie (1976) had grown really popular for horror fans based on Stephen King’s very first novel with the same name. It’s about Carrie White, a shy, friendless teenage girl who is sheltered by her domineering, religious mother, unleashes her telekinetic powers after being humiliated by her classmates at her senior prom. The screenplay was written by Lawrence D. Cohen. I don’t really care much about the screenplay because it’s already good! What could be wrong about it? Starring Sissy Spacek as Carrie White, Piper Laurie as her terrible mother (she’s an a-hole), Margaret White, who knew too much about Christianity. There’s Amy Irving as Sue Snell, one of the a-holes who bullied Carrie but she ‘s a good guy in the end (so not much of an a-hole then). Carrie also had one or two enemies, Chris Hargensen played by Nancy Allen and Billy Nolan played by an actor some of us had known already, John Travolta. I forgot, there was also Tommy Ross played by William Katt. It was good acting, Spacek had real emotions for her character, she also had great motivation. I was glad that she was nominated for Best Actress in the Oscars (I’ve also heard that Kathy Bates won Best Actress for the movie Misery, also based on Stephen King’s book). Laurie was as good as Spacek being Carrie’s mother with a dark character and acted like she’s the one who knew the most about Christianity and she locked Carrie in a room. That’s what happens when you know too much about something…cuz it would drive you mad and...hurt others. There are a few iconic scenes from the movie. I think the most iconic scene of them all was prom scene. If there wasn’t a prom scene, Carrie wouldn’t be a success. A bucket of blood fell on her and the bucket knocked Tommy Ross’ head and he died. Carrie raged and used her telekinetic powers to kill everyone in the prom and when she went out, Chris and Billy were her victims as well, trapped in her car and f*cking dead. Why do I usually see at least one character has a superpower in each Stephen King adaptation? Such as Danny Torrance with the Shining power from the Shining, Pennywise from IT,…I usually didn’t think horror movies would be really successful when a character has powers. But I was wrong. The main character Carrie here used her powers in a frightening way for audiences. She used her powers to kill characters which made this a horror masterpiece. I really love the prom scene!

I also liked the soundtrack they made. The music when Carrie killed her mother was dramatic, frightening and I felt old. But I wasn’t impressed when they copied the noises from Psycho (1960) to make the scenes when Carrie using her powers scarier and they were. The 70s cinematography was also one of the parts that made the movie one of the most popular horror movies up to now. I really like this Stephen King adaptation, it had many terrifying things: the 70s cinematography, the soundtrack and noise which they stole from Psycho, the blood, Carrie’s eyes and rage,… This movie is certainly unforgettable with its iconic scenes. This is one of the best Stephen King’s adaptations to date. My Ratings: 9.