A superb King adaptation

Rating: 9/10 (14 December 2019)

Within the first three minutes of Carrie we are in a girls' locker room with full frontal nudity and poor Carrie, brilliantly played by Sissy Spacek, having her first period in the shower. That is quite a powerful way to start. For most of its running time Carrie does play as a teenage, school drama - Carrie is relentlessly bullied by both her school peers and by her religiously fanatical mother. It is a very sad tale. Carrie possesses powerful telekinetic powers and in the infamous Prom scene, where she is cruelly humiliated in front of the school, she unleashes these to devastating effect. Awesome! But her revenge doesn't end there!
I remember watching Carrie for the first time in the 1980' on TV, I nearly crapped my pants!! Having just watched it again it no longer has that effect, I assume that's because I'm older and know what to expect. Carrie is a brilliant film, one of the standout horror movies of the second half of the 1970's. Naturally it does look dated. The disco music is still pretty groovy, but the split screens look a tad naff now. It's quite behind with the times, John Travolta slapping his girlfriend around her face is seriously NOT cool! I liked the cinematography and de Palma is a great director, but there was no need for him to rip the famous Psycho shower scene music.
Essential viewing.