Carrie (1976)

**Carrie** is a 1976 American supernatural horror film directed by Brian De Palma based on Stephen King's 1974 novel of the same name, which was released on November 3, 1976 by United Artists.

## Plot

Withdrawn and sensitive teenager Carrie White (Sissy Spacek) faces taunting from classmates at school and abuse from her fanatically pious mother, Margaret (Piper Laurie) at home.

When strange occurrences start happening around Carrie, she begins to suspect that she has supernatural powers.

After being invited to the prom by Tommy Ross (William Katt), Carrie tries to let her guard down, but things eventually take a dark and violent turn due to a prank by some of her classmates.

## Cast

* Sissy Spacek as Carrie White
* Piper Laurie as Margaret White
* Amy Irving as Sue Snell
* William Katt as Tommy Ross
* Betty Buckley as Miss Collins
* Nancy Allen as Chris Hargensen
* John Travolta as Billy Nolan
* P. J. Soles as Norma Watson
* Sydney Lassick as Mr. Fromm
* Stefan Gierasch as Principal Morton
* Priscilla Pointer as Eleanor Snell
* Edie McClurg as Helen Shyres
* Michael Talbott as Freddy

## Production

"Carrie" was the first Stephen King novel to be published and the first to be adapted into a feature film. During an interview in 2010, King said he was 26 years old at the time and was paid just $2,500 for the film rights, but added: *"I was fortunate to have that happen to my first book."*

Brian De Palma told Cinefantastique magazine in an interview in 1977: *"I read the book. It was suggested to me by a writer friend of mine. A writer friend of his, Stephen King, had written it. I guess this was almost two years ago [circa 1975]. I liked it a lot and proceeded to call my agent to find out who owned it. I found out that nobody had bought it yet. A lot of studios were considering it, so I called around to some of the people I knew and said it was a terrific book and I'm very interested in doing it. Then nothing happened for, I guess, six months."*

Lawrence D. Cohen was hired as the screenwriter and produced the first draft, which had closely followed the novel's intentions.

United Artists accepted the second draft but only allocated Brian De Palma a budget of $1.6 million (which was a small amount considering the popularity of horror films at the time). The budget eventually rose to $1.8 million.

Certain scripted scenes were omitted from the final version of "Carrie" mainly due to financial limitations.

Many young actresses auditioned for the lead role of Carrie White, including Melanie Griffith, Linda Blair, Jill Clayburgh and Farrah Fawcett.

Sissy Spacek was persuaded by husband Jack Fisk to audition for the title role. Fisk then convinced Brian De Palma to let her audition and she read for all of the parts. De Palma's first choice for the role of Carrie was Betsy Slade, who received good notices for her role in the 1974 film, "Our Time."

Determined to land the leading role, Spacek backed out of a television commercial she was scheduled to film, rubbed vaseline into her hair, left her face unwashed and arrived for her screen test clad in a sailor dress which her mom had made her in the 7th grade with the hem cut off and was given the part.

Spacek prepared for her character by isolating herself from the rest of the cast, decorating her dressing room with heavy religious iconography and studied Gustave Doré's illustrated Bible. She also studied "the body language of people being stoned for their sins," starting or ending every scene in one of those positions.

John Travolta auditioned on a lunch break while filming the sitcom, "Welcome Back, Kotter" and showed up for his audition still dressed as his character, Vinnie Barbarino.

Nancy Allen was the last person to audition. Her audition came just as she was on the verge of leaving Hollywood. She and Brian De Palma later got married.

Allen claims she never that realized her character, Chris Hargensen was going to be so evil until she saw the completed film. She also thought she and John Travolta were playing such self-centered, bickering morons that they were there for comic relief.

Piper Laurie also thought that the character of Margaret White was so over the top that the film had to be a comedy. She would constantly burst out into laughter between takes because not only was her characterization and wardrobe laughable in her eyes, but the dialogue itself was humorous for her.

Initially, P.J. Soles (who played the role of Norma) was only cast in "Carrie" for two weeks, but after hitting Sissy Spacek over the head with her red baseball hat during the volleyball scene, Brian De Palma decided to keep her around longer.

### Filming

Filming for "Carrie" took place from May 17, 1976 to July of 1976. Brian De Palma began with director of photography Isidore Mankofsky, who was eventually replaced by Mario Tosi after a conflict between Mankofsky and De Palma.

Gregory M. Auer (assisted by Ken Pepiot) served as the special effects supervisor for the film with Jack Fisk (Sissy Spacek's husband) as the art director.

The White house was filmed in Santa Paula, California. In order to give it a Gothic theme, the director and producers visited religious souvenir shops to find artifacts to decorate the set location.

A wraparound segment at the beginning and the end of the film was scripted and filmed, which featured the Whites' home being pummeled by stones that hailed from the sky.

The opening scene was filmed as planned, though on celluloid, the tiny pebbles looked like rain water; however, a mechanical malfunction botched filming the night when the model of the Whites' home was set to be destroyed by stones, so the filmmakers burned it down instead and deleted the scenes with the stones altogether. The original opening scene is presumed to be lost.

Bates High School was filmed at Palisades Charter High School in Pacific Palisades, California and Pier Avenue Junior High School in Hermosa Beach, California. The main entrance of the school was filmed at Morningside Elementary School in San Fernando, California.

The prom scene took over two weeks to shoot and required a total of 35 takes. Originally, Brian De Palma had used the split screen effect extensively during the prom scene, but he was disappointed with the results, so he re-edited most of the scenes into full frame shots leaving only the few split screen moments that he felt worked.

The dizzying camera shot during the prom scene was achieved by placing William Katt and Sissy Spacek on a platform that was spinning in one direction while the camera was being dollied in the opposite direction.

Many of the girls present in the locker room scene were originally hesitant to appear nude in the film, but after Brian De Palma showed them nude shots of Sissy Spacek, they became more confident.

Sissy Spacek filmed the scene in the locker room shower without any of the other actresses on the set.

During filming of the scene where Miss Collins is chewing out the girls in gym class, Brian De Palma was standing behind Amy Irving just off-screen, whispering cruel and hurtful things into her ears in order to make Sue's look of misery and guilt on camera look genuine.

## Box Office

"Carrie" grossed $33,800,000 worldwide on an estimated budget of $1,800,000.

## Critical Reception

"Carrie" received widespread critical acclaim and was cited as one of the best films of the year.

Rotten Tomatoes gave it an approval rating of 93% based on 67 reviews with an average rating of 8.3/10. The site's critical consensus reads: *"Carrie is a horrifying look at supernatural powers, high school cruelty, and teen angst—and it brings us one of the most memorable and disturbing prom scenes in history."*

On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 85 out of 100, based on 14 critics.

Pauline Kael from The New Yorker called it a *"a teasing, terrifying, lyrical shocker"*, adding: *"Pale, gravel-voiced Sissy Spacek gives a classic chameleon performance as a repressed high-school senior."*

Time Magazine wrote: *"Brian De Palma's sure and powerfully individual style, blending romance, darkish satirical humor and suspenseful spookiness, transforms what could have been dreary stuff. From its first shot, Carrie catches the mind, energetically shakes it and refuses to let go even after the end credits have rolled."*

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote: *"Brian De Palma's Carrie is an absolutely spellbinding horror movie, with a shock at the end that's the best thing along those lines since the shark leaped aboard in Jaws."*

The Chicago Tribune called the film a *"a voluptuously shot horror movie, with Piper Laurie (as Carrie's fanatically religious mom) and some nasty teens played by Amy Irving, Nancy Allen and John Travolta."*

Kathleen Carroll of the New York Daily News wrote: *"[Brian] De Palma's "Carrie" would register only 2.2 in terms of actual shock value, but it would score well on the laugh meter. This satiric examination of the American high schooler turns out to be scathingly funny."*