Carrie
Cast
Sissy Spacek as Carrie White
John Travolta as Billy Nolan
Piper Laurie as Margaret White
Amy Irving as Sue Snell
William Katt as Tommy Ross
Betty Buckley as Miss Collins
Directed by Brian De Palma
Rater #2 has description and Review
Rater #1
Has not seen movie
Rater #2
8/10. Carrie boomed Sissy Spacek's and John Travolta's career. I understand
why.
Carrie starts off at a gym locker room, where we find out how much
the other kids hate Carrie. But, we find out that Carrie has some
powers. Like in other Stephen King book-movies, the supernatural
aspect is only minor compared to the rest of the story, but it comes
into play at the end. Carrie's mom (Piper Laurie) is an over-
protective religious zealot who makes The Royal Tenenbaums seem
normal. So Carrie tries to cope with her horrible life, but it's
getting tougher and tougher.
Spacek is exceptional as Carrie, and I now know why she was nominated
for Best Actress. Her emotions are real, not some fake tear drops
that make us think she's sad. Either she has great motivation, or
she's one of the best actresses of the century (or both!). Laurie was
equally good as her mother who locks Carrie up in a closet everytime
she thinks that Carrie has sinned. This movie wouldn't be half of
what it was if the acting wasn't so great. When Carrie was sad, you
were sad. When the other kids ridiculed her, you felt like you wanted
to kill the kids. When she smiled, you smiled. Emotions that raw
couldn't come from just any movie.
If you know me, I'm a stickler for character developement. Carrie
didn't take much time, but from the opening scene you knew about
Carrie and her weakness. So are the secondary characters; they're
nicely developed even if their role isn't that major. Travolta had a
miniscule role, but he was fine in it; it led to Grease and Saturday
Night Fever.
The prom scene has got to be one of the most memorable scenes from a
horror movie. That red tint is awesome; it's like a premonition. In
fact, the movie is full of premonition: the red tint, the freaky
looking voodoo doll, "They're all going to laugh at you." I'm
assuming that director Brian De Palma meant to put that in, so it
just isn't about some supernatural powers, it's also about
foreshadowing. Also, I dig that camera movement during the dancing.
The blood and gore wasn't held back, but they just put in what was
necessary. De Palma obviously stole from Hitchcock's Psycho, mainly
the music cue whenever Carrie is using her telepathy. Also, her
school, Bates High, is another Psycho refrence.
Carrie was also very creepy. It wasn't a thrill-a-minute, but at the
ending, that was Scary with a capital S. The last ten or twenty
minutes were scare-inducing for sure. That last jump scene in the
dream...wow! It's still jumping at me. If there was one complaint I
had to do about the movie, it's that it took too much time to get to
main scene and the prom went on a little too long, but other than
that it's a first class horrror/thriller that any horror buff needs
to see.
Rated R for nudity, some language, and blood.
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