Carrie (1976 film)
| Carrie | |
|---|---|
 Original 1976 theatrical poster | |
| Directed by | Brian De Palma |
| Written by | Lawrence D. Cohen Stephen King (novel) |
| Produced by | Brian De Palma Paul Monash |
| Starring | Sissy Spacek Piper Laurie Amy Irving William Katt Betty Buckley Nancy Allen John Travolta P.J. Soles |
| Cinematography | Mario Tosi |
| Edited by | Paul Hirsch |
| Music by | Pino Donaggio |
| Distributed by | United Artists |
Release dates | November 3, 1976 (USA) |
Running time | 98 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $1.8 million US (est.) |
Carrie is a 1976 film directed by Brian De Palma, based on the novel by Stephen King. This is one of the few adaptations of a Stephen King novel that the author himself appreciated.
Plot summary
The film tells the story of Carrietta "Carrie" White, a teenager from Chamberlain, Maine, who has been bullied at home for years by her vindictive and mentally unstable Christian fundamentalist mother, Margaret White.
Carrie does not fare much better at her school, Bates High School, where her plain looks and unfashionable attire make her the butt of ridicule; at the beginning of the movie, she has her first period while showering after her physical education class. Carrie, who is terrified, has no concept of menstruation; her mother never spoke to her about it, and she has been a social outcast throughout high school.
But the thought that this could be Carrie's first period, or that sympathy might be appropriate, never occurs to her classmates; as with everything else, they use it as an opportunity to taunt her. Led by Chris Hargensen, the most beautiful and popular girl in school, they throw tampons and sanitary napkins at her instead of helping. When gym teacher Miss Collins sees what is going on, she is horrified when she realizes that Carrie had never had a period before and has no idea what is happening. She helps her clean up and tries to explain. Later, she talks to the principal and wants all the girls who taunted Carrie barred from attending the upcoming school prom as punishment, but does not get her way, and instead all the girls get detention for a week.
Carrie gradually discovers that she has telekinetic powers. Carrie practices her powers in secret, developing strength.
Meanwhile, Sue Snell, another popular girl who had earlier teased Carrie, begins to feel remorseful for her participation in the locker room antics, takes pity on her and offers to become her friend. With prom fast approaching, Sue sets Carrie up with her boyfriend, Tommy Ross, one of the most attractive and popular boys in the school. Carrie is suspicious, but accepts, and makes her own outfit, including a pink gown. Carrie's mother won't hear of her daughter doing anything as carnal as attending a school dance. She believes that sex in any form is sinful, even after marriage. Carrie shows her mother her telekinetic powers, and her mother believes it to be the work of the devil. Carrie is tired of hearing that everything is a sin; she wants to try to live a normal life and sees the prom as a new beginning.
However, Chris is incensed that she is unable to attend prom, as she refused to participate in the detention she got for teasing Carrie. Chris devises her own plan of revenge with her abusive boyfriend Billy Nolan. At one point in the movie Billy Nolan slapped Chris across the face after she called him a derogetory name. Billy, along with some friends, drives out to a farm and slit two pigs' throats to fill buckets full of pig blood, and suspends the buckets over the stage with a pull cord. Chris, meanwhile, arranges with her school friends to rig Carrie's election as prom queen. When Carrie and Tommy go up to get crowned, one of Chris' friends will pull the cord on Carrie, ruining the happiest moment of her life.
Although Sue Snell tried to stop them, the plan succeeds beyond their wildest hopes. Tommy is injured by one of the falling buckets, and he and Carrie are drenched in blood. Almost no one is laughing. However, Carrie, so overwhelmed with shock, remembers her mother's words, "They're all going to laugh at you!" and in her mind sees them laughing. Carrie is finally pushed over the edge and her power takes control. At this point, Carrie seeks terrifying revenge against those who tormented her. She uses her powers to drench everyone with a fire hose, and eventually causes a massive electrical fire that destroys Bates High School and traps almost everyone inside, killing them.
While Carrie is walking home, Chris and Billy attempt to run her over after spotting her. Carrie senses what is about to happen and, using her powers, flips their car, and blows it up.
Carrie returns home to confront her mother, who believes Carrie has been completely taken over by Satan and that the only way to save her is to kill her. Revealing that Carrie's conception was a result of unresistable temptation, she stabs Carrie in the shoulder with a kitchen knife. In self-defense, Carrie kills her mother with a hail of knives, then in her guilt pulls the house down on herself, killing herself.
Sue Snell survives, and has a dream in which she visits Carrie's property. When she reaches down to put flowers on the burnt lot, Carries dead hand reaches up and grabs her. The movie ends with Sue Snell waking up from her dream and screaming.
Reaction
Although always marketed as a horror story, the main appeal of Carrie has been as a sad and emotionally intense story of being excluded and victimized. The film and book retain a cult following that includes many who experienced bullying at school or overzealous parenting.
It was the first horror film to be nominated for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress at the Academy Awards, for the performances of Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie respectively; it also won the grand prize at Avoriaz film festival and Sissy Spacek was rewarded with "Best Actress" by the American National Society of Film Critics Awards.
Differences between 1976 film and novel
The 1976 film ends differently:
- The High School name is changed to Bates High School (an obvious reference to Hitchcock's Psycho)
- Both the film and the book see Carrie dying in guilt for killing her mother, but the film has her bleeding to death from the knife wound her mother gave her and then dropping the house on her, whilst the book has her dying of hemorrhage.
- In the book, Carrie is slightly overweight with long, flat red hair and pimples on her neck, back and buttocks. However, in the movie, she is extremely skinny with brownish red hair and clear skin.
- Miss Desjardin is renamed 'Miss Collins' and unlike her counterpart in the novel, she does not survive the prom massacre.
- In the movie, Carrie doesn't run out of the auditorium after being splattered with pigs' blood. After she gets splattered, Carrie instantly lets her telekinesis take over and (inadvertently) kills the students who laughed at her
- In the novel, Carrie's mother is a large, heavyset and rather ugly woman with white hair, whereas in the movie, she's slim, with relatively pleasant features and red hair.
Themes
Carrie draws strong parallels between the onset of the title character's adolesence, especially her menstruation and sexuality, and psychic powers.
Cast
- Sissy Spacek as Carrie
- Amy Irving as Sue Snell
- William Katt as Tommy
- Betty Buckley as Miss Collins
- Piper Laurie as Mrs. White
- Nancy Allen as Chris
- John Travolta as Billy
Other works
Sequel
A much-belated sequel, The Rage: Carrie 2, appeared in 1999. It featured another girl with telekinetic powers, who is eventually revealed to have shared a father with Carrie.
Remake
In 2002, a TV movie remake, starring Angela Bettis in the title role, was released. The film garnered some positive critical and fan reviews. Despite updating the events of the story for the modern day - Carrie uses the internet in one scene, discovering that her powers of telekinesis are not unique - the film is surprisingly faithful to the original novel, including "interviews" that were shown via news articles in the book. The ending has certain differences as well, in part because of the film's purpose: it was meant to be a pilot for a Carrie series that never surfaced. In this version, Mrs. White does not stab her daughter, but instead tries to drown her in the bathtub. Carrie then uses her power to stop her mother's heart (as in the novel), and slips beneath the water, supposedly dying. She is found by Susan Snell, and is revived. Sue then drives Carrie out of state, where she plans to start a new life helping others with similar gifts to her own (which would have been shown in the series, had it been made). Carrie's survival is kept a secret from the public.
Broadway musical
A 1988 Broadway musical, starring Betty Buckley, Linzi Hateley, and Darlene Love closed after only five performances and 16 previews. An English pop opera filtered through Greek tragedy, the show was such a notorious turkey it provided the title to Ken Mandelbaum's survey of theatrical disasters, Not Since Carrie: Forty Years of Broadway Musical Flops.However,a UK revival of the musical in currently in the works with hopes of a scheduled February 2007 premiere.
Soundtrack
The 1976 film's soundtrack was composed by frequent DePalma collaborator Pino Donaggio. Donaggio's work has gone mostly unrecognized, but the subtlely and ominous themes demonstrated give the film an eerie, yet beautiful essence. Donaggio has been repeatedly referred to as the equivalent of Brian DePalma's outspoken role model director Alfred Hitchcock's score collaborator Bernard Hermann.
A rerelease CD of the 1976 film soundtrack is available on the Varese Sarabande label. Template:Endspoiler
External links
- Carrie at IMDb (1976 movie)
- The Rage: Carrie 2 at IMDb
- Carrie at IMDb (2002 TV movie)
- Internet Broadway Database entry for Carrie
- Fan site on all the Carrie films and novel
- Review of Carrie musical adaptation
