Carrie a classic American horror story

Rating: 9/10 (15 October 2017)

Carrie is both disturbing and horrifying. And for a horror flick that's obviously a good thing. Most of the complaints about this movie are that it is "not scary." Whoever believes this, however, apparently has never met people, because Carrie's main villains seem all too real. The main villains are not a vampire or a redneck with a chainsaw but are instead a bunch of sexually awakened teenagers and an overly protective mother. These characters on the surface don't sound scary, but Carrie brings out how evil and sadistic these characters can all be. The real to life villains makes Carrie feel truly unique and worth watching over 40 years later.
Carrie, played by Sissy Spacek, struggles to fit in with a sexualized society full of "mean girls" and a mother, Piper Laurie, who plays a religious nutjob hellbent on protecting her daughter from said society. The conflict between her mother and a sexualized society forces Carrie into becoming a social outcast. An isolated Carrie is a strange protagonist. As sometimes, you will feel strong sympathy for her character, but yet as soon as you feel her pain, you will just as quickly become completely horrified by her. This dichotomy about Carrie as a character makes her an iconic horror movie protagonist that you will never forget.
The movie has many interesting themes worth taking note of like sex, religion, parenting, womanhood, isolation, and bullying. For exploring so many different and pertinent topic, Carrie, as a film is much more powerful than the horror flicks of today that are instead all about cheap jump scares and plastering the screen with guts and gore. Carrie does a little bit of that, but it also explores some deeper and more interesting societal issues. It is worth a watch just for these reasons to see if you agree or disagree with some of the larger messages.
In sum, Carrie is a fantastic horror film from beginning to end. It gets the tough balance of making a film both scary and relatable as you will feel like you have met these characters before in real-life. Since Carrie was filmed in the 1970s, however, it may scare away some modern audiences because of the outdated film quality. Luckily, the superb acting and thoughtful script make it still worth the watch. The 1970s atmosphere also makes it extra haunting. Because watching Carrie filled with retro relics, hairdos, and clothing made me feel like if the portraits in my high school Health class textbook came to life and were destined to suffer a terrible fate. For this reason the classic film Carrie is wicked haunting!