An exercise in high style that even the most unredeemably rational among moviegoers should find enormously enjoyable.
Carrie (1976)
Tomatometer
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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
DVD Info
Release:
Sep 29, 1998
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
Carrie is a modest but effective shock-suspense drama about a pubescent girl, her evangelical mother and cruel schoolmates.
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.
Carrie rivals The Shining for the title of greatest ever Stephen King adaptation.
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.
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.
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.
Carrie might be a film about high school, but it was perhaps Brian De Palma's first completely mature film.
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.
The fierce sympathy it extends to its unfashionable central character puts the film a million miles above the contemporary line in sick exploitation.
A total knockout. Piper Laurie gives a bravura performance as Carrie's religious fanatic mother, one of the creepiest movie characters ever.
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.
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.
Young director Brian DePalma is fast making his reputation in the genre of the suspense-horror film.
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