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Movies / On DVD / Carrie
Carrie

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Carrie (1976)

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Reviews Counted: 43

Fresh: 38

Rotten:5

Average Rating: 8.1/10

Consensus: Carrie is a horrifying look at supernatural powers, high school cruelty, and teen angst -- and it brings us one of the most memorable and disturbing prom scenes in history.

Runtime: 1 hr 41 mins

Genre: Horror/Suspense

Synopsis: Brian De Palma's commercial breakout, based on a novel by Stephen King, helped launch a whole slew of teen-based horror films, and Carrie the blood-spattered prom queen has taken her throne in the pantheon of modern American myth. High... Brian De Palma's commercial breakout, based on a novel by Stephen King, helped launch a whole slew of teen-based horror films, and Carrie the blood-spattered prom queen has taken her throne in the pantheon of modern American myth. High school girls played by Amy Irving (in her film debut), P.J. Soles, and Nancy Allen plot to avenge themselves on ostracized fellow student and budding telekinetic Carrie White (Sissy Spacek) after they get in trouble for pelting her with tampons. When they get popular boy Tommy Ross (William Katz) to be her date for the prom, the stage is set for some heart-rending cruelty and fiery retribution. De Palma expertly uses split screens, slow motion, color filters, and tracking shots to imbue the proceedings with a haunting, allegorical elegance. Piper Laurie plays Carrie's mentally ill, devoutly Christian mom; she's brilliant, as is Spacek. John Travolta has a memorable pre-SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER role as one of the girls' beer-guzzling boyfriends. There was finally a sequel in 1999, as well as a short-lived Broadway musical. [More]

Starring: Sissy Spacek, Amy Irving, John Travolta, William Katt

Starring: Sissy Spacek, Amy Irving, John Travolta, William Katt, Nancy Allen, Piper Laurie, Betty Buckley, P.J. Soles, Sydney Lassick, Stefan Gierasch

Director: Brian De Palma

Director: Brian De Palma
Screenwriter: Lawrence D. Cohen
Producer: Paul Monash
Composer: Pino Donaggio

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DVD Info

 
 
 
 
Release:

Sep 29, 1998

[DVD Details]
 
 

DVD Features:

  • Region 1
  • Keep Case
  • Letterboxed - 1.85

Audio:

  • Dolby Digital 5.1 - English
  • Dolby Surround - French

Additional Release Material:

  • Original Theatrical Trailer

Interactive Features:

  • Scene Access
  • Interactive Menus

Additional Products:

  • Booklet - 1. Featuring Trivia and Production Notes

Reviews for Carrie

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1 - 20 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 >> >|
Arrange By: Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 
Ratings Image

An exercise in high style that even the most unredeemably rational among moviegoers should find enormously enjoyable.

Full Review Source: TIME Magazine | comment Comment
10/13/08
Richard Schickel
TIME Magazine
Ratings Image

Carrie is a modest but effective shock-suspense drama about a pubescent girl, her evangelical mother and cruel schoolmates.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment 1 Comment
10/07/08
Variety Staff
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image

... [O]ne of the best horror films of the 1970s.

Full Review Source: ESplatter | comment Comment
06/18/08
Lucius Gore
ESplatter
Ratings Image

The first big hit directed by Brian De Palma.

Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | comment Comment
02/10/08
Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews
Ratings Image

The reason Carrie is still held in such high regard as a horror classic is very simple: it's all in the sheer directorial bravado. De Palma at the top of his game.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
09/25/07
Andrew Collins
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image

Carrie rivals The Shining for the title of greatest ever Stephen King adaptation.

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
09/25/07
Channel 4 Film
Ratings Image

The film has a strikingly unsettling mood that enhances its power and gives it an impact that the story would otherwise lack. Much of the credit, though, must go to Spacek, who so convincingly portrays Carrie's pain and her longing for acceptance.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
09/25/07
TV Guide's Movie Guide
Ratings Image

This 1976 thriller, about a high school outcast (Sissy Spacek) who uses her telekinetic powers to massacre the graduating class, contains a number of interesting ideas. But as with most of his films, De Palma can't keep track of them.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
09/25/07
Dave Kehr
Chicago Reader
Ratings Image

The bulk of "Carrie" is not a gore-fest, but a prescient tone poem about the mental torture of social outcasts in high school halls in the pre-Columbine era.

Full Review Source: Arizona Daily Star | comment Comment
07/15/07
Phil Villarreal
Arizona Daily Star
Ratings Image

Carrie might be a film about high school, but it was perhaps Brian De Palma's first completely mature film.

Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | comment Comment
08/25/06
Eric Henderson
Slant Magazine
Ratings Image

De Palma's Gothic thriller is at once trashy and lyrical, a nasty revenge story in which its misfit-Cinederella-like heroine (an exquisite Sissy Spacek) discovers her sexuality under the most terrifying conditions.

Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | comment Comment
05/30/06
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com
Ratings Image

The fierce sympathy it extends to its unfashionable central character puts the film a million miles above the contemporary line in sick exploitation.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
02/09/06
Time Out
Ratings Image

A total knockout. Piper Laurie gives a bravura performance as Carrie's religious fanatic mother, one of the creepiest movie characters ever.

comment Comment
01/24/06
Chuck O'Leary
Fantastica Daily
Ratings Image

No review available.

comment Comment
10/10/05
Cole Smithey
ColeSmithey.com
Ratings Image

It is sometimes funny in a puzzling kind of way, it is generally overwrought in an irritating kind of way, and once in a while it is inappropriately touching.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
05/09/05
Richard Eder
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image

A nearly perfect film. The combination of pathos, shocks, and grand guignol excess is orchestrated with jaw-dropping precision by young Depalma, whose later films would pale by comparison.

comment Comment
03/31/05
Brian Juergens
Bloody Disgusting
Ratings Image

Young director Brian DePalma is fast making his reputation in the genre of the suspense-horror film.

Full Review Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution | comment Comment
03/06/05
Barbara Thomas
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Ratings Image

No review available.

comment Comment
12/27/04
Michael Dequina
Mr. Brown's Movies
Ratings Image

No review available.

comment Comment
12/18/04
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com
Ratings Image

No review available.

comment Comment
11/19/04
Robin Clifford
Reeling Reviews
1 - 20 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 >> >|
all

Latest News for Carrie

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