Carrie | |
---|---|
Directed by | Brian de Palma |
Produced by | Paul Monash |
Written by | Lawrence D. Cohen |
Starring | Sissy Spacek Piper Laurie Amy Irving William Katt Nancy Allen John Travolta Betty Buckley |
Music by | Pino Donaggio |
Distributed by | United Artists |
Release date(s) | November 3, 1976 |
Running time | 98 minutes |
Language | English |
Budget | $1.8 million |
Gross revenue | $33.8 million |
Preceded by | – |
Followed by | The Rage: Carrie 2 |
Carrie (1976) is vigilante horror film and the first film adaption of Carrie. It was directed by Brian de Palma and is a supernatural horror film. The film was made one year after the publication of the novel and is considered a classic. It revived the horror genre.
Plot
A shy, unpopular and bullied 16-year-old high school student named Carrie White experiences her first period as she showers with her fellow female classmates after gym class.
Unaware of what is happening to her, she panics and desperately pleads for help, believing herself to be bleeding to death. The other girls, led by the arrogant, popular and beautiful student Chris Hargensen, who frequently bullies Carrie, gleefully responds to this by pelting her with tampons, laughing and chanting "Plug It Up! Plug It Up!" Gym teacher Miss Collins breaks up the commotion and slaps Carrie in the face in an attempt to calm her down. A light bulb mysteriously breaks as Carrie reaches the height of her panic. Miss Collins manages to console Carrie and tell her what menstruation is.
Later, the school principal seems uncomfortable as Miss Collins expresses bewilderment that Carrie is so uninformed about menstruation. As he dismisses Carrie from school for the afternoon, she becomes frustrated as both cigarette smoke emanates from an ashtray, and the principal repeatedly referring to her by the name "Cassie", causing the ashtray to flip from his desk and shatter. On her way home, a young boy teases Carrie, and she makes him fall off his bicycle with just one look.
At home, Carrie is abused by her fanatically religious mother, Margaret, who rants about menstruation being the result of sinful thoughts. Carrie is dragged and locked in a small specially decorated “prayer closet” and forced to pray for forgiveness. When she is finally allowed to go to her room, she gazes into her reflection, causing the mirror to shatter. Carrie's classmate Sue feels guilty for participating in the locker room antics, so she arranges for her boyfriend, handsome and popular Tommy, to ask Carrie to the upcoming prom instead of her in order to make up for her cruel actions. Carrie is reluctant, but is encouraged by Miss Collins in a conversation to accept.
During Miss Collins’s after school detention, Chris furiously throws a tantrum and defiantly skips her detention for tormenting Carrie, resulting in her getting slapped in the face by Miss Collins and gets excluded from attending the prom. Swearing vengeance, she recruits her delinquent boyfriend Billy to play a prank on Carrie. They slaughter pigs from a nearby farm and place a bucket of their blood above the stage at the school’s gymnasium. Margaret discovers Carrie's prom plans and attempts to abuse her again. Having researched her telekinesis, Carrie asserts her power and stands up to her mother. Margaret responds by accusing Carrie of being a satanic witch.
At the prom, Carrie finds acceptance among her peers and shares a kiss with Tommy. Chris's friend Norma rigs the election and Carrie is crowned Prom Queen. Carrie’s joy is cut short when Chris pulls a rope to dump the pig's blood on her. Chris and Billy escape through a back door, while the bucket falls on Tommy's head, knocking him unconscious. The blood-soaked Carrie hallucinates that everyone in the gymnasium, including Miss Collins, is laughing at her motivated by the fact that a small majority is indeed laughing at her. Enraged, Carrie goes into a silent-psychotic breakdown which causes her to unleashes telekinetic fury upon the crowd, guilty and innocent alike.
The doors slam shut, a high-pressure water hose assaults many people (including Norma, who is knocked unconscious), the principal is electrocuted, Miss Collins is crushed to death, and Mr. Fromm is electrocuted so badly his body erupts in flame, setting the gym on fire. As the inferno rages, the enraged and entranced Carrie calmly walks out and locks the remaining students inside, sealing their fates.
Later that night, Carrie still entranced with rage walks slowly home as a firetruck rushes by her, siren on full blast and racing towards the burning school. Just then, Chris and Billy, who witnessed all, attempt to run over Carrie in revenge for the massacre as she walks home, but Carrie causes their car to flip and explode, killing them both by burning them alive.
At home, Carrie washes the pig's blood off in the bathtub, finally breaking out of her insane state. Carrie is comforted by her mother, who strokes her daughter's hair as she tenderly comforts her in her arms; revealing her guilt about having conceived Carrie through her only act of sexual intercourse with Carrie's drunken father, which was marital rape that she had in part both enjoyed and loathed. As they pray together, Margaret stabs her daughter in the back and pursues her through the house with a delirious smile on her face. Defending herself, Carrie causes kitchen utensils to fly through the air using her telekinesis and crucify Margaret. Distraught over her mother's death, Carrie loses control of her powers as the house crumbles and burns down around her.
Sometime after Carrie’s death, Sue, the sole survivor of the prom massacre, is seen laying flowers on the charred remains of Carrie's home beside a vandalized For Sale sign saying "Carrie White Burns In Hell!". Just then, a bloody arm reaches from the rubble and grabs her, causing Sue to wake up from her recurring nightmare, screaming.
Cast
Carrie | Sissy Spacek |
Margaret | Piper Laurie |
Sue | Amy Irving |
Tommy | William Katt |
Billy | John Travolta |
Chris | Nancy Allen |
Miss Collins | Betty Buckley |
Norma | P.J. Soles |
Mrs. Snell | Priscilla Pointer |
Mr. Fromm | Sydney Lassick |
Mr. Morton | Stefan Gierasch |
Freddy | Michael Talbott |
The Beak | Doug Cox |
George | Harry Gold |
Frieda | Noelle North |
Cora | Cindy Daly |
Rhonda | Deirdre Berthrong |
Ernest | Anson Downes |
Kenny | Rory Stevens |
Helen | Edie McClurg |
Boy on Bicycle | Cameron de Palma |
Ruth | Sharon Benson |
Trudy | Terry Bolo |
Katie/The Balladeer | Katie Irving |
Vance or Towers | Dan Protheroe, James Saad, Mike Towers and Glen Vance |
Julia | Janie Squire |
Alice | Cynthia Schuler Larsen |
The Balladeer/Katie | Katie Irving |
Afro Guy | Jean Glaudé |
Music
Soundtrack
- Heatwave by Martha and the Vandellas
- Education Blues by Vance Or Tower
- Born To Have It All by Katie Irving
- I Never Dreamed Someone Like You (Could Love Someone Like Me) by Katie Irving
Score
- Theme from Carrie
- Ashtray
- And God Made Eve
- The Closet
- Cracking the Mirror
- Calisthenics
- Card Catalogue/Telekinesis
- You Can Trust Me
- Pig Pen
- Supper
- Hanging the Bucket
- Sewing
- Tuxedo Shop
- Per-prom Jitters
- At The Prom
- Contest Winners
- Bucket of Blood
- They're All Gonna Laugh At You
- School in Flames
- Mother at the Top of the Stairs
- The Bath
- For the Last Time, We'll Pray
- Carrie's home collapses
- Sue's Dream
- End Credits