Carrie is a 1976 film based on a novel by Stephen King. Sissy Spacek stars as Carrie, an outcast teen with a bible basher for a mother and a group of bitchy teenage girls out to make her life hell. Little do they know that Carrie possess telekinetic powers and for lack of a better term, she will fuck their shit up.
I really like Carrie, it reminds me of being a young teenager and seeing it for the first time. As an adult, the cliches of the outcast who gets her revenge stand out a bit, but when i first saw it at 12 or 13 years old, it was really powerful. As a school outcast myself, i would have loved to go 'Carrie' on everybody.
As i said before, it wouldn't be hard to work out it was a novel by King if you weren't told before as Kings stereotypes are all there. He has a running theme of outcasts who get revenge, psychic powers and is set in Maine as are almost all of Kings novels.
The film throws us right in to things and sets up Carries character with a scene in the school gym showers. Carrie gets her first period in the shower and is distraught as she doesn't know what is happeneing. The other girls ridicule her for this and further traumatise Carrie. She gets home to a less than warm welcome as her mother locks her in a closet for her sin.
Sue, one of the popular girls at school convinces athlete jock type Tommy to take Carrie to the prom as she feels sorry for her. The news leaks and the school is flooded with gossip. Carries mother is obviously not very impressed and rants and raves about sinning and has a great line with "first comes the blood and then comes the boys."
Against the wishes of her mother, Carries goes to the prom with Tommy. Things start looking up for Carrie, Tommy treats her well, the other girls seem to begin to like her due to her association with Tommy and the couple are even crowned king and queen of the prom.
While everything appears to be going well for a change, one of the bitchy girls, Chris, has concocted a plan with a bucket of pigs blood, planning to drop it on Carrie, with help from John Travolta of all people.
As the happy couple take the stage to recieve the high honour of prom royalty, the blood is dumped on Carrie and Tommy is KO'd by the bucket. In a now iconic shot, Carrie stands on stage, soaked in blood. Carrie is pissed and uses her powers to lock all the doors, sets off a fire hose and brings down the lights and rafters, killing people. The headmaster is electrocuted and this starts a fire. Carrie leaves, soaked in pigs blood as the school burns down.
Carrie returns home to her mother, who lovingly stabs Carrie as she believes she is possessed by the devil. Carrie kills her mum by using her telekinesis to throw kitchen knives at her. Carrie then sends the house down, killing herself too.
Carrie is a great little film. To a modern audience it would seem a bit of a cliche but it's still very good. The acting is good, the camera work is good and the effects are good. Outside of it's slightly cliche story i can't fault it. Sissy Spacek in her finest hour.
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