Carrie (1976)

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​Based on the Stephen King novel of the same name (and apparently the first of his actual published books), this is another one of those cases where the movie became far more popular than the book. In a dark and somewhat twisted way, it became one giant screening of symbolism having to do with being the unpopular girl in school.

As the movie opens, we meet Carrie Whie (Sissy Spacek) in the high school locker room where she is in the midst of enjoying an after-gym shower. Suddenly... well, womanhood happens, let's just say. She cries for help, but the girls all push her back into the shower, picking on her for doing what a woman does. It's a pretty brutal scene to watch, and almost instantaneously, you wanna see these girls get their comeuppance.

The act leads to these shitty people receiving detention with their gym teacher, and the group of them decide on a massive revenge tactic that will involve setting Carrie up and knocking her down like never before. The plan involves rigging the prom so that Carrie wins the title of Prom Queen, and of course, dumping that bucket of pig's blood on her in an attempt to destroy her. Seriously, though, if that's a spoiler, you need to come out from under that rock. It's one of the most famous scenes in horror history.

Anyway, these kids of course don't bank on Carrie having apparent telekinesis, which, without throwing too much your way, is what makes the whole movie worth it in the end - Carrie's revenge! But, in all honesty, I'd be lying if I said I fully enjoyed the movie. It may be because the ending is so out there and well-known, there wasn't much of a surprise to any of it. In fact, I was even let down by parts of it that were hyped up to be truly scary moments.

One could almost take the 80's film 'Some Kind of Wonderful' to be a sort of reimagining of this story, but without the horror aspects of it and with the genders changed. Or even 'Cruel Intentions' for that edgier side of things. But it's a movie about trying to interfere in someone's life and make them miserable, which is a formula I've seen a few times already. In 'Carrie's defense, however, it predates anything else I've seen like it. So it does get some points for that.

There's a nearly comedic aspect to this movie as well, in the form of face-slapping. It's meant to bbe taken as harsh and serious, I know, but seriously, I don't think I've ever seen so much of it in one movie. I double checked for a total of six, maybe seven if you count one done with a hat. Maybe that doesn't sound like a lot, but for movie that's just over an hour and a half long, it feels excessive. It's like it's the primary solution to every problem.

Anyway, I'm curious to watch the remake now, since this pretty much just felt dated to me, and 100% un-scary. But who knows? In the end, the '76 version might beat it on one thing, and one thing alone... Pre-'Grease' John Travolta is actually really funny to watch at times!

3/5

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