Ode to Hitchcock falls short

Rating: 7/10 (21 February 2000)

Brian De Palma's "Carrie" has been said to be his ode to Hitchcock. Unfortunately such a claim isn't justified. Brian De Palma imitates much of the master's style, specifically that in "Psycho" as he uses the same pitching music and a similar mother-offspring scenario. But, what starts off as a great movie dealing with powerfully emotional issues of social ostracization and physical and emotional maturity turns into a cheap blood and gore fest. Where Hitchcock triumphed with subtlety and masterful editing De Palma fails with explicit gore and split-screens and that awful jesus-christ pose Carrie's mother is in at the end was so stupid it was funny. Scariest moments occur in the first half of the film.