The One That Started It All...

Rating: 10/10 (28 April 2008)

It has been copied, remade, parodied and lampooned, and forever become a part of the lexicon of popular culture. But whether you love it, hate it or are indifferent about it, no one can deny the impact that CARRIE has made on everyone who grew up in the Seventies...or that it continues to resonate with new audiences even today.
Based on the very first runaway bestseller by Stephen King, this was a tale that acknowledged the peril-laden sharks-and-piranha-filled environment that was high school. Teasing, bullying, ostracism and how shockingly (at least back in the day) the girls were more adept at practicing casual cruelty than boys would ever be.
Into this circle of Hell as yet undocumented by Dante, comes poor Carrie White. No friends, a bleak future at best, and her only family being her Christian funda-MENTAL-ist wack-job of a mother, the last thing she needs is to become the favorite scapegoat of two of the meanest of the "Mean Girls" at Bates High School...Blond, frosty bitch-goddess Chris Hargensen and her irritating sidekick, Norma Watson. But that Carrie does, and the taunts, teasing and relentless bullying reaches its breaking point, when a terrified and clueless Carrie experiences her period for the very first time in the girls' locker room, and the resulting chaos resembles an all-female version of LORD OF THE FLIES (if you add flying tampons).
But that very day, Carrie discovers something else she possesses....Latent telekinetic powers that have been unearthed along with her traumatic introduction into womanhood. Nobody knows - not the teachers, her tormentors or even her mother - and as Carrie begins to discover that maybe she does have a chance to assert herself and find some kind of happiness after all, the stage is set for a teenage tragedy of epic proportions.
A lot of things were at stake with this film. It was Brian de Palma's last chance to prove himself as both an auteur worthy of carrying the torch for his hero, Alfred Hitchcock, and as a director capable of producing a box-office smash. It was THE long-shot at the big time for a cast of virtual unknowns: Sissy Spacek as the tortured title character; Piper Laurie, leaving semi-retirement to play religious fanatic Margaret White, Carrie's mother; Nancy Allen (a future Mrs. de Palma) and P.J. Soles as Chris and Norma respectively; Broadway and film star Betty Buckley playing the sympathetic gym teacher Miss Collins; Amy Irving (one of the future Mrs. Steven Spielbergs) as Sue Snell, the only girl on Carrie's side; William Katt (THE GREATEST American HERO) as Tommy Ross, Sue's BMOC boyfriend and the key to Carrie's downfall; and in a cameo that would send his career skyrocketing, John Travolta as Chris Hargensen's lunk-headed boyfriend, Billy Nolen.
Some films are so bad that for those who participate in them in front of and behind the camera, no one's career is left unscathed. Happily, in the case of CARRIE, the exact opposite was true. Where de Palma's penchant for raiding Hitchcock's bag of tricks usually got him into serious trouble, he was firing on all cylinders with CARRIE, because it all worked perfectly. Everything - from the dynamic performances (both Spacek and Laurie were Oscar nominees), to Mario Tosi's photography and Pino Donaggio's unforgettable score - meshed together to go above and beyond King's effectively horrifying prose, and what resulted was a tale told about the hopefulness - and horror - of humanity, that has served as a genre touchstone for nearly four decades.
All this time has passed, and even having seen it about two dozen times or more, the movie never fails to affect me. I almost envy those who have never seen it, because there is nothing like the first time. The experience will never leave you....EVER...