Perfect. 10

Rating: 10/10 (24 April 2009)

I have seen this movie I know at least 50 times or more, but to this day the acting of Sissy Spaceck (Carrie) & Piper Laurie (Margaret White) still astound me. Sissy was perfect as the mistreated, picked on teenager and Piper went over the top as her religious fanatic mother. It is in all reality the best revenge story, and anyone who was ever picked on in High School can relate to Carrie and deep down wished they had the power to do what she did.
Granted, I did read the book and it is in my opinion one of King's true masterpieces and this version deviated a bit from the book. Brian DePalma himself said that back in '76 there just wasn't the technology to put on screen some of the effects of what Carrie could actually do, like making the fire come from the sky and pretty much destroy the whole town. But that is O.K. I still love this movie. And no matter how many times I do see it, the Prom scene with the bucket of blood shocks me because of DePalma's tight direction for building it up and the music just built it up even more.
Although by todays standards this movie is lame and tame according to some, I disagree. This really wasn't a horror movie. It was more suspense and nail biting tension which is lacking in movies today.
The sequel "The Rage: Carrie 2" was a joke. All it was was a blood fest. And the remake that was "re-imagined" for television, even though it was more faithful to the book, lacked the suspense of the original. Angela Bettes did an OK job as Carrie but Sissy she is not. And I did not like Patricia Clarksons portrayal of the tyrant bible beater. Piper nailed it completely. And besides, it was too digital for me. Even when the blood was dumped on Carrie you see a quick fake digital shot of blood coming out of the bucket and it just kept coming and coming and coming and coming. No real shock value of just ONE splash of blood as in the original. So the remake gets a 5 out of 10. It did not need to be remade. It was fine as it is. Convincing acting (to me both actresses deserved their Oscars for which they did not get), great direction by DePalma which all together made for a classic that to me still holds strong today.