A Chilling and spellbinding horror movie from a master of suspense.

Rating: 9/10 (22 August 2009)

Brian De Palma's Carrie is a unique gem in the genre of horror, made with love to offer a great piece of entertainment. De Palma who is without a doubt has been influenced by Alfred Hitchcock, often uses the great master's edgy mysteriousness mixed with humor to create a masterful character study. Carrie, the young protagonist is a pale faced teenage girl who is shy, quite, strange, weird and anything else that one could describe as a trait of an outsider. She is a sad result of extreme religious oppression, forced onto her by her overtly religious mother. A walking ghost, she wears the same generic clothes with no sense of style, wanders alone in school and hardly ever communicates with people. She is in a mental prison created by her mother, for she is not allowed to go to the prom, talk with strangers or experience the bliss that a young teenage girl meant to. This confinement causes her to tread more dangerous territories. She has a mysterious ability to control objects around her with her thoughts, and the inescapable abuse and hate she suffers causes her to use these powers with devastating results.
De Palma, who went on to make a slew of classics after Carrie, is seen experimenting with the trademark visual styles that would propel him to the forefront of great directors. The opening credits sequence which is a slow motion shot of the girl's locker room is hypnotic and at the same time shocking for it's eroticism that makes one think that anything could happen in the movie. The director has an uncanny ability to manipulate images to create a certain emotional depth in the characters, simultaneously building surprise and suspense.
The acting in Carrie is another if not the best aspect to appreciate in this movie. Most actors who are making their debut appearances are quite effective. Carrie played by Sissy Spacek, looks as if she had almost worked herself into a state of trance during the climatic scenes, making her portrayal of Carrie more shocking and real. Carrie's mother played flawlessly by Piper Laurie brings humor and craziness to her character. John Travolta, Nancy Allen and the rest of the supporting cast adds vibrancy that makes the movie flow according to its agenda.
Carrie is an entertaining horror movie wonderfully made to give the audience the shock of their lives. It avoids all clichés of the horror movies of today which are nothing but gruesome portrayals of human torture. This very reason is why Carrie is filled with humanity, humor, suspense and surprise for it intelligently avoids letting the Butcher make the film.