I was disappointed

Rating: 6/10 (28 July 2004)

The legendary Carrie, which everyone has seen and everyone loves. Man, when I read in the newspaper that it was going to be aired, I just had to see it. When I sat infront of the television, I was somewhat confused by the opening shower shot. Naked girls? It felt like a pretty unnecesary shot, but perhaps someway, in Brian De Palmas mind, it was necessary...
The plot is: Carrie White is a girl who goes to Bates Highschool. She's an outsider who has no friends of any kind. The only relation she has is to the gym teacher, who's always nice to Carrie, trying to help her. And then there's her mother, who is an overly religious fanatic who, perhaps, should seriously consider turning to another religion before she dies from praying to much. Carrie has one strange ability, however... She can move things with her mind. Toss objects, unlock doors and open them with a mere thought.

Suddenly, her world is turned upside down as a boy in school asks her to the prom. At first she thinks that it's just another trick, so that the popular kids can get her to the prom and them laugh at her. But as time goes on, she's not so sure anymore... And it also seems that her mind gets more and more powerful.
I didn't really like this movie. First, it took off to fast. 50 minutes into the film, Carrie was already on her way to the prom, and we all knew that that was going to be the climax right there. At the prom, we got some character development, but nothing really more. It just drags on, until the splitscreen finale (which I'm not going to spoil) starts. This so called "legendary" scene, was not quite so good as I had imagined it. It was kind of tame, actually. But for 1976, I can forgive it.
The actors do a pretty decent job at their work, but none of them stand out, except perhaps Piper Laurie, who portrays the mother. I really wanted that person to die from the first scene I saw here, and that means Piper did a good job with her. Sissy Spacek plays Carrie, but I really didn't care for her. Nor any other actors. Even John Travolta, who has a supporting role, doesn't really stand out, but everybody's gotta start somewhere, right?

Nothing else is really remarkable about this film, except that De Palma's loooong scenes, makes sure that 100 minutes seem to fly by, somehow. It feels like we are given less, and that it takes to quick for the film to establish Carrie's character, and then plunge her into the prom... Well. I didn't like it at least. But I will give it some credit, for keeping some cool questions unanswered until the end. You'll see. They are pretty much unrelevant to the story, yet interesting.
5/10