Carrie (1976) by Brian De Palma

Director: Brian De Palma

Year: 1976

Country: USA

Alternate Titles: N/A

Genre: Supernatural

Plot:

Relentlessly tormented and humiliated by her peers, a teenager finds that her growing telekinetic powers are the manifestation of her ascent into puberty, which reaches a boiling point during her high school prom that no one at the school wishes would've been discovered.

Review:

While it's a little overrated, that doesn't take anything away from it at times since there's still some good stuff to it. One of the best points is the fact that there's an exceptional build-up initially based upon the religious angle, which is from the rather well-done religious angle on display. From the ranting and raving, which are perfectly done to really amp up the tension, along with her house, which is like a containment camp for the religiously devout with crucifixes in every possible location, 'Last Supper' paintings placed in ominous places, and her special confessional, a small hole in the wall with figures, ornaments, and strange candles, is just weird. All of these are building up tension, and it actually succeeds where others haven't before in making this seem genuinely unnerving.

It's also great at building tension earlier on with what happens at school from the very beginning, which has the distinction of showing some of the scariest images of a high school ever during the shower scene, which is one of the absolutely best parts due to it instigating all the great parts that followed, and the traumatic events that followed are what make it work so well. The initial bits used to show her gift are also some creepy images, and the events are pretty creepy. There's also some really great action scenes towards the end, with the prom as one of the highlights of the genre, which is quite fun when it gets going, with the fire raining down on everyone and the different methods of telekinesis-inspired torture that are simply fun to see, as there's lots of impaling, a couple of people set on fire and some electrified while standing in water or touching a microphone, and the rampage through town with a fantastic car crash and some more damage to be had, making for a fantastic finish here.

These here are the film's good points, while there were a couple of flaws with this one. The main problem here is that it takes a long time to get going, as a long portion of the film, at least fifty minutes, takes place before we get anything remotely interesting. Making the beginning focus on the mother-daughter relationship over anything else tends to drop the film down a lot since it doesn't tend to place any kind of importance on the supernatural aspects of the story, which are far more important to the story. There are so few jumps due to how the film is going, especially with the drama-like focus for much of the time, that after repeated viewings it loses some of its initial impact with how it goes about it. Also, some of the religious discussions can be a bit much for those who aren't that versed in religion or don't believe in it. The religious aspect of the film is a large part of the film, and if you don't believe in what is presented, it can lead to some unpleasant experiences. These are the film's flaws.

Overview: ****/5

One of the better King adaptations out there, this stands up quite well with the amount of likable qualities which overcome most, if not all, of the few flaws out there that keep it down just slightly. Those with an appreciation for the style or approach of this era, who are curious about it, or who are fans of the creative crew will have the most to like here, while most others out there should heed caution.