Carrie-d out on a stretcher when I saw it as a kid

Rating: Null/10 (20 November 2001)

Notorious 70's schlock noteworthy for it's abandonment of traditional Hollywood narrative and moral compass. The road to hell is paved as much by good intentions as by malicious ones. Art house flourishes towards the end hint at profundity but the cheque inevitably bounces due to the preference of a striking image over internal logic, moral or otherwise. This abandonment of rhythm and reason for off the cuff reasons is probably what makes the film disturbingly memorable. It's cheeky hijacking of the avante-garde in the service of the pop culture prerogative of making money makes it an undeniably magnificent piece of time wasting trash. De Palma's masterful arrangement of various disparate, not to mention preposterous elements from Stephen king's dire novel does not disguise the fact that without a good reason to emotionally distress his audience, he has made a thoroughly despicable piece of film making.