IHR induction #21: "Carrie" (1976, Brian De Palma)

I knew that this movie would pop up in my little pea-brain sooner or later. Right now, it's springtime in Minnesota (not to be confused with Springtime for Hitler), and for some stupid reason this fact always makes me think back to high school. You know, those days when I would walk home from Worthington High (because yes, I lived within walking distance of the place) to an often empty home, throw my neglected bookbag on my bed, and pop on some horror flicks. The kids at school were getting ready for prom, but I was having none of it (or just wasn't cool enough to get asked by anybody, 'cus you know I wasn't the one doing the asking). So get ready to come full circle, kids - spring always reminds me of high school prom season, and there's no more memorable prom then the one in this particular movie...

I've heard from a few people that enjoyment of Brian De Palma's unbelievable classic "Carrie" is dependent on two things: (1) your age when you first see it, and (2) how many horror films you've seen before it. While this is true for many other movies ("Texas Chain Saw Massacre" most primarily), I hereby call B.S. on the theory as it goes for "Carrie." My first viewing of this film occurred in (of course) the spring of 1998, when I was in eighth grade. As is the case with many other horror films, I saw it first via Joe Bob Briggs and MonsterVision, with my beer-drinking uncle on TV making the tension infinitely more bearable via his never-ending parade of hilarious antics and fascinating backstage stuff in between the commercial breaks. I was fascinated by the movie then, as it was one of the first high-school related films I'd seen that actually dealt with the experience in a realistic way (despite all that pesky stuff about psychokinesis) instead of the gushy romantic Hollywoodized way that I'd become accustomed to seeing on Fox TV shows. Put more simply, it was also scary as hell, and continues to be to this day.

"Carrie" is based on the first nationally published novel by horror master Stephen King, and was also the first film adaptation (or "adaption," as a lot of people are now fond of saying) of his novels. Brian De Palma, the man responsible for this movie, was already a pretty experienced guy when it came to horror. Two of his earlier movies, "Sisters" and "Phantom of the Paradise," are now widely considered early-'70s horror classics, and by the time this beast hit theaters in 1976 he had already perfected his signature techniques that would grant the guy pretty hefty paydays in the future. Most notably, De Palma has a huge hard-on for Alfred Hitchcock. Like, a huge one. Watching his movies can send you through fits of deja vu, because a LOT of the camerawork is eerily reminiscent of the Master's. This movie in particular has some doozies, but we'll get to them later. Suffice to say, De Palma is a guy who makes horror movies who is ALSO genuinely a fan of the genre, so mazel tov to him.

This is also one of the most faithful translations from book to screen in the entire Stephen King catalogue, so a full plot recap isn't really necessary, but here we go anyway just to annoy you.

THE MOVIE!!

The movie wastes little time introducing us to Carrie White (Sissy Spacek), an ostracized, bullied teenage girl, and the immensely cruel and superficial world of girls depicted in this film. While showering after gym class, Carrie has her first period, and doesn't know what is happening to her. The other girls throw tampons and rags at her, and begin laughing hysterically at how terrified Carrie is of all the blood on the ground.

Carrie's world is a sad one. Her only friend seems to be Miss Collins (Betty Buckley), her gym teacher and a kind soul who takes Carrie under her wing. Her mother Margaret (Piper Laurie, and wow what a performance she gives) is a religious nutjob who believes all human beings, and all women especially, to be evil, nasty creatures. When Carrie tells her about her period, Margaret's reaction is that Carrie has sinned, as the coming of blood is a representation of inner evil. These scenes pack a genuine punch; as someone who didn't have the greatest experiences in junior high, I related to Carrie on a very emotional level when I first saw the film, but at least I had home as a solace. Carrie White doesn't even have that level of support, and in a stirring and scary early scene, she is given Margaret's preferred form of punishment - locked in a closet with a huge, menacing Crucifix for hours on end.

The film's alternate characters are no less fleshed out. The most memorable is Chris (Nancy Allen, who would later appear in De Palma's magnum opus "Dressed to Kill"), the most evil and cruel of all Carrie's tormentors, who seems to hate Carrie in a very virulent way. Her boyfriend, by the way, is played by John Travolta in an early pre-"Grease" performance. It's easy to see how he became a big star, as he melts right in to the smug, self-important character seamlessly and makes you forget you're seeing someone who is now a super-duper big deal. There's also Sue Snell (Amy Irving), a nice girl who takes pity on Carrie and asks her own boyfriend (William Katt) to take Carrie to the prom as a sort of atonement for her own guilty conscience in taking part in the prolonged torture of Carrie.

If you're a casual cinephile, you likely know some of those names in parentheses above. Thus, this goes without saying, but "Carrie" is a movie with fantastic acting across the board. Every principal cast member absolutely nails their character, but none more than Spacek, which is quite amazing considering that she was 29 when she filmed this movie. In the hands of the wrong actress, the character of Carrie White could even be dislikable. Some audience members could find the character annoying or whiny, but Spacek is able to reach right through the screen and captivate us. She is meek, but not in a grating or beat-you-over-the-head way. We can tell that her yearnings are both fantastical and realistic, and that she is, at heart, a good person. It's no wonder that she would go on to win an Academy Award for best actress a few years later for "Coal Miner's Daughter."

Throughout the movie, there are interludes that show us the menace underneath Carrie's very meek exterior, however. Carrie has telekinetic ability (read: the ability to move objects with her mind). She experiments with this ability in the privacy of her own home, and there are a few incidents where her power comes into play in the company of others (in the opening shower scene, for example, she blows up a light bulb with the force of her mind). Her mother discovers this, and tells her that it is something that she must lock away and never use, believing it (as everything else) to be the product of Satan. For her own part, Carrie seems to view the ability with a quiet restraint, even slightly scared of the things that she could do.

This being a horror film, however, there are other characters who set the wheels of this movie's horrific third act in motion. When Chris finds out that Carrie is going to the prom with a handsome guy, she decides to ruin the experience, dumping a bucket full of pig's blood on Carrie during her moment of redemption in front of the school. And if you're a horror fan, you know what happens next. They're all gonna laugh at you, Carrie...

No doubt, there are several modern horror fans who likely consider this film boring or dated. It's not a scary flick for those with short attention spans. Nope, what "Carrie" is is yet another example of the slow burn, perhaps the BEST one ever played out on film. For the vast majority of "Carrie," we experience the high school heartbreak and drama right along with Carrie White, the telekinetic power she possesses lurking underneath the surface of the film as a kind of tea kettle gathering steam. It builds and builds and builds, as Spacek and Katt enjoy their time together at the prom. These scenes go on for FAR longer than we would have expected, including one very dizzying (and Hitchcock RIPOFF) dance scene where the camera spins around them in very disconcerting fashion.

And then that bucket of blood falls, and the real movie begins.

These closing chapters of "Carrie" take up perhaps fifteen minutes of screen time, but they are without a doubt some of the most riveting passages of any horror film you will ever see. It's a closing section of a film that is nothing short of absolute perfection, taking in everything in the movie that had occurred before it and shoving it right back in our faces. This movie had the balls to have a heroine who also, in a way, turned out to be the villain, although when Carrie gets her revenge at the prom, we are revolted but also in a way grateful. In this way, this is really a textbook three-act screenplay structure played out before us. It builds up things that we want to see, and then pays them off in a very satisfying fashion.

In the annals of Stephen King-based horror films, "Carrie" is right up there with the greats (it's arguably the equal of "Pet Sematary" and, in my opinion, better than the Kubrick version of "The Shining"), and in the annals of high school films there are few equals. It's well-acted, well-directed, well-written, very heartfelt, and a very scary film that plays your emotions like Hitchcock's proverbial piano played audiences, and a movie that feels just as fresh and relevant today as it did almost thirty-five years ago. An essential for horror fans and movie fans at large.