Christina Crawford thought SHE had it bad?!

Rating: Null/10 (5 October 2006)

It doesn't take long for this film to demonstrate that it isn't any ordinary scary movie. Several minutes in, the viewer is shocked to be observing a bevy of naturally-arranged nude and semi-nude girls in a locker room, followed by a daring, sensuous and then horrific shower sequence involving its star Spacek. From this moment on, the audience should expect anything to occur, and often it does! Spacek plays a backward, naive high school senior possessing virtually no self-esteem and living a tortured existence with her fundamentally religious mother Laurie. Things are bad enough at home, with Laurie raging and preaching about sin and locking Spacek in a closet to pray, but at school they are worse, with Spacek receiving the type of ridicule and taunting that would drive anyone over the brink. Fortunately (?) for Spacek, she has an ace up her sleeve. She has burgeoning powers of telekinesis which reveal themselves in the form of jumping ashtrays, shattering mirrors and slamming windows. Then, when she believes she has overcome the horrid cruelty of her classmates, but is proved dead wrong, she unleashes a torrent of anger that results in a massive amount of destruction and demise. Spacek, who had only limited experience at this stage in her career, is excellent in the title role. She projects vulnerability, gentleness, desperation and rage with equal skill. It's a remarkable, unforgettable, actually, performance. Laurie, an actress who had toiled for many years in tacky period films and colorful fluff, came back after a long absence from the screen to inhabit the role of this maniacal mother. It's a huge, engulfing role and Laurie nails it. She's petrifyingly scary at times, though never outside the realm of possibility or believability. A raft of relative newcomers appear as Spacek's fellow classmates including Allen, as her chief antagonist, Katt as the school's big jock, Travolta as a dumb lug, Irving (in her screen debut) as an enigmatic student and Buckley (also making her debut) as a thoughtful, but stern, gym coach. Buckley, oddly, was only marginally older than the people cast as her students, but she pulls off the role very well. Some of the acting on the part of the others is weak, but the film is effective nonetheless. Making an appearance in a minor role as another student is pudgy comic actress McClurg. Pointer appears as Irving's mother, as she was in real life. The film is overloaded with carefully planned camera shots and creative methods of relaying the story by director De Palma who practically worshipped Alfred Hitchcock (and some would say stole a lot from him.) Not every single thing works (the split-screen used in the climax or the overly-dizzying dance between Katt and Spacek, for example), but so much does that the film succeeds anyway. It works on a visceral level thanks to the vivid performances of Spacek and Laurie and the overall mood of the piece. The score goes a long way in aiding the mood as well and is reminiscent of Hitchcock's favorite composer Bernard Herrman. A memorable, influential film, it ushered in a new approach to horror and thriller film-making.