Review #241: Carrie (1976)

This review was originally written in October 2022.

Gabe's 100 Bucket List Horror Films Review #95: Carrie (1976)

I'd only ever seen the 2013 remake, and didn't have strong feelings about it, but I'm pretty sure I knew the plot of this movie even before that. This movie definitely felt like it held up pretty well, and actually manages to circumvent a lot of common problems I've been having with numerous older films this month.

The film follows Carrie White, a shy teenage girl who has been struggling through her high school social life due to a very sheltered and religiously-extreme upbringing. But she discovers that she has telekinetic powers right around the time a group of bullies decide to assault her at the Senior Prom, so one way or another it all comes to a head.

I just want to say: it has been shocking how many movies this month seem to have been made under the assumption that the only way to write a story is to pad out the first 45 minutes with a whole lot of nothing before anything interesting or plot-relevant can happen, as if maybe the viewer will be overwhelmed if they get a single ounce of character or story development before they've had the better part of an hour to get used to seeing and hearing the characters on screen in front of them. Carrie has not only introduced all of the main characters' conflicts and even Carrie's telekinesis within the first TEN MINUTES, but by the 45-minute mark the antagonists are already well underway in their plot to dump pig's blood on her. It's almost like Brian De Palma had so much faith in the storytelling that he was willing to get right into the, you know, storytelling right from jump.

This movie isn't perfect, though. I'm not a fan of the fact that literally every character is kind of awful; even the ones that are supposed to be on Carrie's side aren't great. Miss Collins is pretty clearly meant to be a kind and good character, but she strikes a student at school and she's blunt to the point of being insulting when talking about Carrie after she hears Tommy has asked her to the prom. Also, I spent literally the entire movie assuming that Sue urging Tommy to ask Carrie to the prom was part of the sinister plot- in the movie's defense it's never said to be, but it REALLY seems like it was, considering everything else that is allowed to transpire because of it. Maybe that's on me for coming in with preconceptions about the plot, but I dunno, if they have these two plots going on side-by-side I wish it had been made a bit more clear that they weren't connected. In a movie where even Carrie's best defender is utterly incredulous at the idea of someone asking the girl out, I didn't see adequate reason to assume Sue was on Carrie's side. I also don't understand why Christine hated Carrie so much- she was literally willing to outright murder Carrie by the end of the film (even after being the one to dump pigs' blood on her), which only makes sense if she somehow knew that Carrie was using telekinesis in the gymnasium. Otherwise she's just a homicidal maniac from beginning to end with no real justification given, and no character growth or development.

Overall this movie was pretty good. There's a lot of really strong imagery and atmosphere in here, though the music is kind of all-over-the-place and really jarring/goofy at times. But I think the reason it's truly terrifying, far more so than most of the movies on this bucket list, is because we all know that somewhere out there, in the real world, there's people that actually are like Carrie's mom, and that's true terror.

Overall Rating: 7/10 Weird Jesuses with Light-Up Eyes

Casting Party: Apparently, Brian De Palma and George Lucas held a joint casting audition for both Carrie and Star Wars: A New Hope! There was a rumor that Sissy Spacek was originally cast as Princess Leia and Carrie Fisher was cast as Carrie White, but this has been debunked by the actresses.