Carrie

If you’ve got a taste for terror… take Carrie to the prom.

Title: Carrie
Released: 13 January 1977 (UK)
Age Certificate: X
Genre: horror
length: 1hour 38mins
Director: Brian De Palma
Writer: Stephen King (novel), Lawrence D. Cohen (screenplay)
Stars: Sissy Spacek, Piper Laurie, Amy Irving
IMBD rating: 7.4/10
My rating: 9/10

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Summary: 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.

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Carrie, what an absolute classic and despite all the remakes of this film nothing will ever compare to the original. If you haven’t seen Carrie then, honestly, what is wrong with you man? Go see it, right now, go watch it. Even if you don’t enjoy it, it’s just one of those films I think everyone should see or read, go read the book; it’s such a good book too.

One thing I love about the original film is the casting, Sissy Spacek is who you picture when you read the book. Not to sound rude, but Spacek isn’t drop dead gorgeous, she’s a pretty girl in an average sorta way which is why she works so well in this film; Carrie was never meant to be utterly stunning so I’m going to apologise to Chloë Grace Moretz because although she gave a decent performance in the 2013 remake of this film, she was just too darn pretty to be Carrie. I’m not going to slate the 2013 version because out of all the remakes done, that one was by far the best and overall it was a relatively enjoyable film; it stays pretty true to the original and to the book and I do quite like Mortez, but sadly she is my biggest pet peeve of the film, she’s just so cute and pretty and cute and pretty and did I say she was pretty? Because she is and that isn’t who Carrie is at all.

Now, I’ll stop my little cry there because I’m not doing a review on that film, I’m focusing in on the 1976 (’77 if you’re British) original adaptation of the novel by Stephen King who really has a suitable last name since he honestly is the King of Horror. What an amazing man. I watched the film when I was about thirteen and didn’t read the book until I was fifteen which was a little unusual since im normally one of those ‘book first, film later’ kind of people, however I didn’t own the book at the time and I really just wanted to watch this film. I’m glad I did; it stays pretty darn true to the book, the on-screen characters really felt like they were pulled from the pages of the novel and morphed into real people. Amazing.

The acting within this film is just spot on, Spacek is flawless as Carrie, she has the characteristics of an abused, nervous young woman and when it comes to her powers she doesn’t make it a huge deal; it really does look so natural, in some films I’ve noticed that when a person has some form of powers they over act them just to emphasis on ‘look I have powers’, but Spacek doesn’t do that. Piper Laurie is also exceptional as her deranged mother, I’ve read in many other reviews that it was her comeback role and it also pegged her as a ‘horror-actress’; both actresses were nominated for Oscars, Laurie even being nominated for a Golden Globe and Spacek winning her NSFC Award for her role as Carrie.

The story behind Carrie is both terrifying and sad. I love the way King merges real life into the horror of his novels, the way Carrie’s mother treats her (ie, not telling her about periods which causes to humiliate herself in front of all her classmates, her mother locking her in a ‘prayer’ cupboard to pray away her sins), is so heartbreaking because some mothers really did (and probably still do) treat their daughters like that. I like the fact King wasn’t scared to throw the menstrual cycle into this film because I know a lot of guys who scream at the sight of a tampon let alone write such an iconic scene into such a popular book. Kudos to Lawrence D. Cohen for not writing out the iconic scene, for showing it just the way it’s described in the book; for not being pathetic is when it comes to girls on their periods, we stan unfazed men.

Honestly I don’t think I have an awful lot of bad things to say about this film; it’s true to the book, the cast are the perfect choice for the characters, the jump scares are jumpy, the special effects are pretty darn good considering this is a 70’s film. The whole story with the underlying bullying plot line and the effect it can have on people is present and strong and just adds fuel to the already burning fire that is Carrie and I highly recommend this film, I highly recommend the novel as well and you can read or watch either first because they’re so similar plot wise that it doesn’t really matter (although, I always suggest reading books first, plus you get so much more detail about family life and other stuff that’s left out in the film).

Before I delve too deeply into this film I’ll stop there just so that I don’t spoil the whole film for you but honestly, watch it even if it is just for the prom scene alone because that is STUNNING. I don’t know how it only got a 7.4/10 on IMDb since every review I read on there said it’s one of the best horror films and the lowest rating review on there seemed to be an 8/10 but whatever; it’s a stunning piece of writing, of acting, of cinematography… brilliant. Also, read the book, it’s not all that long either so it’s not as intimidating as some of King’s other novels (cough IT cough) but it’s incredibly enjoyable.

-Beth