Carrie (1976) review

(9/10)

This disturbing adaption of the popular Stephen King novel is a frightening and meaningful horror film under the direction of the great Brian De Palma. However, I believe the film needed a bit more back story than it had.

PLOT:Carrie (Sissy Spacek) is a young 17-year-old girl abused by the girls at school and her mother (Piper Laurie), who's an over-religious freak. After getting all of the other girls who bullied her in trouble, one of the girls convinces hotshot Tommy Ross (William Katt) to take Carrie to prom with no good intentions in mind. Meanwhile, Carrie has discovered she has telekinesis, or the ability to move and use things with her mind. Combining Carrie's telekinesis and whatever may happen at the prom, we know this won't end well. It's a great plot executed very well.



ACTING:The performances in this film were excellent. Sissy Spacek did a brilliant job of playing the over-abused teen Carrie White. I believe she did great honor to the role. Piper Laurie also did a great job of playing the over-religious mother, Margaret White. There really wasn't a bad performance in the film, for the cast was nearly all-star. The performances I would like to mention would be William Katt as Tommy Ross, John Travolta as Billy Nolan, Amy Irving as Sue Snell, Nancy Allen as Chris Hargensen, and P. J. Soles as Norma.

SCORE:The score in this film is pretty good and gets the job done right, moving from emotion to emotion well.



OTHER CONTENT:This film was a really good horror with a great message of anti-bullying in it. I appreciated the message and thought the plot execution set everything up well. This film may have a positive message, but it also, however, is pretty disturbing. From the panic in the opening scenes to the climax at prom, this film is loaded with disturbingly scary imagery, which makes a great horror film. I also enjoyed the way De Palma directed this film, adding in all the disturbances and scares nicely. The only problem I seemed to have with the film is that I felt there was too little character development as I felt was needed. We know Carrie's bullied, we know her mother's a religious freak, and we know Carrie's well known as an outcast with a bad mother. However, we don't have as much character development to back that up. I'm sure the novel build up more than this, but overall, this film seemed to be a bit underdeveloped in characterization.

OVERALL,it's an awesome horror film with a great plot, excellent performances, pretty good score, a great anti-bullying message, a lot of disturbing scenes, and enjoyable direction by Brian De Palma, but I felt a little more character development was necessary.