Carrie is an interesting, horror tragedy

Rating: 9/10 (13 May 1999)

The first time I watched Carrie I was only in the sixth grade and I was very terrified and shocked that this drama about such a sweet, innocent girl could turn into such a terrifying horror experience. When I watched the movie, I had no idea what to expect and when I saw the bucket, I was praying that It wouldn't fall--how naive I was. I just saw how beautiful and innocent Sissy Spacek was and the thought of blood dropping on her was completely unimaginable. This is one of those horror movies where people would really care about the protagonist, and this is important for us to Sissy as a tragic figure, rather than an evil horror killer. Ever since my first viewing I have grown to love this movie. I bought the novel, which is much more detailed with Carrie thoughts on discovering her powers and the very detailed account on Margaret White's relationship with Carrietta. The whole first hour of the movie I was expecting to be scared but after continuously watching it, I realized that this is just a nice drama with high school kids. The characters were well developed, even though I do admit that they were pretty much cartoon figures--which I liked. Sue Snell was the brown haired nice girl; Nancy Allen was the blond sexual meanie, John Travolta was the dumb druken bum, Betty Buckley was the nice, caring teacher, and William Katt was the blond jockey Prince Charming. I loved all these supporting characters, even though I wanted them to show a more loving relationship(sexual) between Tommy and Sue. The story was wonderful and that is why the Prom scene came as such a horrifying shock, I didn't expect that such a provocative drama would turn so horrifying. There are some reviews that say Carrie is not a horror movie, maybe not in the first hour but the death of Laurie is undoubbly shocking. I was young and all of a sudden I saw knives flying and I couldn't believe what I was watching. It was so surprisingly fresh, something that I have never would expect or witnessed before. The hand coming out of the grave shocked me because I had no idea what would happen. I was cautious when watching the scene but I just couldn't fgure out what happened and then Boom--the hand. This was the most frightening moment of the film because it so unexpected, at least they filmed the knifes flying before they popped into Laurie. Even before the prom scene, images as the crucifix, watching Carrie being dragged across the kitchen floor into the praying closet, the pigs being slaughtered, Margaret's fanatical lines, and the bloody horrifying scene of Carrie's first period. Maybe this is not 90's horror but the scenes are certainly bizarre and entertaining. I give the movie 4 stars because even though I've watched it about 8 times, it still thrills and entertains me. The music, the characters, and Sissy Spacek's prescence cannot be forgotten in this high school drama which is garnered into an interesting and psychological horror film. Better than any of those Hitchcock films.