Carrie (1976)

This review was written about an hour after finishing Carrie during the spring semester of my sophomore year at college. My overall rating was 2 stars out of a possible 4. On my scale, 2 stars qualifies as "okay/average."

I did not like this movie. Now maybe that’s not a surprise to some, since I find horror to be one of the more immature narrative film genres, despite it being one of the oldest genres in cinema. I talked out what I liked and did not like with my roommate, so I don't expect this review to be in my typical stream of consciousness approach.

There are three strong acting performances: Sissy Spacek as the eponymous teen, William Katt as her date Tommy Ross, and Betty Buckley as gym teacher Miss Collins. The rest range from mediocre (Piper Laurie as Carrie’s religious fanatic mother) to pathetic; there are several of the latter, so I'll only mention John Travolta's sorry performance as Billy, the moron boyfriend of vengeful Chris (portrayed by Nancy Allen in an almost equally pathetic performance).

The cinematography here is very much like the swipes from scene to scene in the Star Wars films. As a little film tidbit, I cannot help pointing out the funny coincidence with bringing Star Wars into the conversation since directors Brian De Palma and George Lucas held joint auditions when casting their films Carrie and Star Wars. So, boy am I glad the majority of this cast did not make it into Star Wars, or else Star Wars may have been a massive flop. Anyway, in Star Wars, the swipes that are more fit for today's PowerPoint presentations are cute and enjoyable the first forty minutes and a massive bore the rest of the film and in the following several sequels and prequels. In Carrie, the use of the tracking shot is very good and a solid choice for the first five-ish times it is used. But very quickly, it becomes clear that De Palma and cinematographer Mario Tosi have no other methods for moving the camera or capturing the scenes. As a result, the once impressive usage of the tracking shot becomes a glaring cry for help, echoing “we have no idea what we are doing” for the final hour-plus of the film. There are some good tracking shots here and there sprinkled throughout the rest of the film, but not enough to give De Palma and Tosi any credibility as capable filmmakers.

The music is good for the most part, as both the orchestral sections and the actual songs performed by the prom band are strong and very fitting for their scenes. Some of the music is overly '70s, but I guess that is expected. But some of the music does not fit, or worse, is too cliché, echoing towards Psycho (1960).

Perhaps my expectations were misled, but I did not find this film to be very thrilling, or even just thrilling at that. The primary source of this expectation, besides hearing consistently from friends, family, critics, and film professionals that this is a classic and staple of the horror film genre, was from the American Film Institute's 100 Greatest Thrills list, honoring and ranking the most thrilling films in American cinema. They have Carrie as the 46th most thrilling film, sandwiched in between 1998's World War II film Saving Private Ryan and 1956's science fiction classic Invasion of the Body Snatchers. On my Thrill-Meter, which tracks how thrilling every narrative feature-length film I see is, Saving Private Ryan has a rating of 8.3/10, Invasion of the Body Snatchers is 8.1/10, and Carrie is a paltry 3.3/10. The big prom scene that holds a massive place in horror and film lore is really quite laughable. The film feels more like an after-school comedy special for the majority of its runtime. The first times that Carrie’s telekinetic powers occur on screen, I felt nothing. In fact, apart from the twist after Carrie returns from the prom and the jump scare at the end, I do not think my heart accelerated at all.

The last thing I will say about this movie is that it does not know when to die. I will preface this by admitting that I have never read the Stephen King story that it's adapted from, so I do not know how true the movie's ending is to book's. However, there are several moments where Carrie could and should have ended. One is after Carrie leaves the gym: simply end with the gym on fire and her leaving the devastation behind her. It could've ended after she flips Chris and Billy in their car a few seconds later. How I would've ended it is in the same manner as it began, with Carrie bathing and blood running through her fingers. Another possible ending spot was with her mother crucified, before utilizing a Psycho fade-in to the crucified Jesus statuette in her praying closet. Or end it with the house collapsing if you want, just do not show Carrie dying. From there, you can decide to fade out and end the movie immediately, or wait for the new day and zoom in on the place where the house was taken into the depths of Earth (or Hell, depending on your interpretation of the house’s demise), focusing on the for sale sign. Those are all acceptable and honorable ways to conclude the movie: the jump scare and ensuing paranoia ending that actually exists is not.