Movie Review – Carrie (1976)

“If they only knew she had the power.”

Have you ever been bullied at school?

Have you ever felt wanted to let the rage flow freely, allowing that inner demon to wreck havoc?

If so, then you may have something in common with Carrie White.  She’s a seventeen-year-old high school student who has no friends and she feels the wrath of bullies.  Little do they know that Carrie holds a dark secret, and if they push her too far, then they’re all going to pay for it.

That’s the general premise behind Carrie, a 1976 horror film directed by Brian De Palma.  Based on Stephen King‘s 1974 book of the same name, Carrie stars Sissy Spacek in the lead role of teenager Carrie White.  Piper Laurie plays the role of Margaret White, Carrie’s abusive and unstable Christian fundamentalist mother.

Supporting them are Amy Irving as Sue Snell, William Katt as Tommy Ross, Nancy Allen as Chris Hargensen, Betty Buckley as Carrie’s sympathetic gym teacher Miss Collins, and John Travolta as Billy Nolan in one of his first movie roles.

Carrie takes place at Thomas Ewen Consolidated High School in the normally quiet town of Chamberlain.  For most students this is an exciting time of life with their high school prom just around the corner.  For Carrie White (Sissy Spacek), each day is a nightmare.  From the girls tormenting her in class to her abusive and Christian fundamentalist mother at home, there is no escape.

Carrie (1976) – (c) United Artists

One day after gym class, Carrie is alone in the school’s shower when she discovers that she’s bleeding.  Not knowing that it’s a normal process for women, Carrie panics and tries to get the other girls to help her.  Instead of helping, the other girls taunt and ridicule Carrie.  They laugh her back into the shower and throw sanitary products at her.

Teenagers Chris Hargensen (Nancy Allen) and Sue Snell (Amy Irving) lead the gang of girls.  The class’s gym teacher, Miss Collins (Betty Buckley), hears the commotion and rushes to Carrie’s aid.  While she’s consoling her, an old light bulb on the ceiling breaks.  It catches Miss Collins by surprise, but she believes that the bulb’s failure was from its age.

Carrie (1976) – (c) United Artists

A little while later, Carrie is sitting outside of the principal’s office as Miss Collins reports Carrie’s condition.  When Carrie is sent into the office, she’s upset the way that the principal, Mr. Morton (Stefan Gierasch), keeps calling her ‘Cassie’ instead of ‘Carrie.’  After he makes that mistake too many times, Carrie uses the power of her mind to send the principal’s ash tray crashing to the floor.

When Carrie walks home from school, a local boy riding a bike tries to poke fun at her.  Once again Carrie uses the power of the mind, and the boy crashes his bike.  He can only lie there and watch her walk past him, wondering what happened.

Carrie (1976) – (c) United Artists

The White’s home is heavily decorated with religious artifacts.  When Margaret White (Piper Laurie) returns home, she receives a phone call from Miss Collins.  Margaret then abuses and belittles her daughter, blaming her menstrual cycle on divine punishment.  After forcing Carrie to pray with her for forgiveness, Margaret locks Carrie inside of a prayer closet for a number of hours.

Later that night, Carrie is still traumatized.  She stares at her bedroom mirror, focusing her concentration on the reflective surface until it bends and shatters.

The next day in English class, the teacher, Mr. Fromm (Sydney Lassick), reads a poem written by one of the students, Tommy Ross (William Katt).  When he asks for criticism about the poem, Carrie speaks up for the first time.  She claims that the poem is beautiful.  Her comments only reward her with some laughter by her fellow classmates.

Later that day, the girls that tormented Carrie in gym class are are being held after school in detention.  As the janitor removes graffiti that makes fun of Carrie, Miss Collins tells the girls that their behavior was completely uncalled for.  She tells them that the principal initially wanted to give each girl a three-day suspension AND take away their prom tickets.  They’re all shocked when they hear this, but they’re relieved when Miss Collins tells them that that’s not going to happen.  Instead, they will all serve a week of detention . . . in her gym class.

Carrie (1976) – (c) United Artists

Miss Collins has the girls go through a rigorous workout as punishment for tormenting Carrie.  The girls aren’t happy with the workout, but failure to comply means having their prom tickets removed.  Chris reaches the breaking point and tries to rebel against Miss Collins.  She confronts her gym teacher, but Miss Collins stands firm.  Chris’ classmates leave her standing there and she is kicked out of detention as well as the prom.

While the girls are suffering in detention, Carrie goes to the school’s library.  She heads for the occult section and checks out books relating to telekinesis and the power of the mind.  She knows that there’s something special about it, and it’s not related to miracles.  It’s something else.

After detention, Sue asks Tommy, her boyfriend, a big question.  She asks him if he’ll take Carrie White to the prom.  We don’t know why she would sacrifice her prom experience for Carrie.  At their school, nobody is allowed into the prom unless they have a date.

Carrie (1976) – (c) United Artists

Chris goes out riding with her boyfriend, Billy Nolan (John Travolta) that night.  He’s a delinquent himself and enjoys drinking beer while driving his car.  He does get upset though when Chris uses profanity and calls him names.  Once they arrive at their destination, Chris informs Billy that she really hates Carrie.

Carrie (1976) – (c) United Artists

The next day at school, Tommy finds Carrie in the library and asks her to the prom.  She knows that he’s in a relationship with Sue, one of her tormentors, and she thinks this is one big trick.  Carrie refuses his offer and runs out of the library.  Miss Collins finds Carrie cowering by a stairwell, and she tries to help her.  She takes Carrie into a bathroom and stands her in front of a mirror, boosting her confidence by showing Carrie that she is a pretty girl.  This works and Carrie feels better about herself.

Miss Collins then has a private meeting with Tommy and Sue.  She tries to get them to explain their actions, telling them that what Tommy did seemed highly suspicious.  Sue sticks to her story of saying that she’s just trying to be nice to Carrie.

Carrie (1976) – (c) United Artists

Tommy then drives to Carrie’s house and asks her to the prom again.  Carrie tries to refuse, but Tommy insists that he’s just going to stand there until she accepts his offer.  Carrie hears her mom in the background, so she quickly agrees to go to the prom with Tommy and then closes the door.

That night we see Chris take Billy and one of his friends to a local stockyard.  We watch as Billy uses a sledgehammer to viciously beat and kill a pig.

Carrie (1976) – (c) United Artists

Over at the White house, Carrie and her mother are having dinner when Carrie tells her mother that she’s been invited to the school’s prom.  Her mother forbids Carrie from going to the prom, blaming Carrie’s sudden popularity with a boy on sin.  As Margaret walks away from the table, Carrie uses her telekinetic powers to close the doors and windows.  Carrie’s mother believe that her daughter is a witch and has the power of Satan, but Carrie insists that it’s all in her mind, and there are others like her in the world.

We then see Billy pouring the dead pig’s blood into a bucket.  It looks like they’re in a school’s gymnasium.  Chris looks frightened, like she knows that she can get into trouble, but Billy lightens the mood by telling her that she can pull the rope that’s attached to the bucket.

Carrie (1976) – (c) United Artists

The next day is prom day.  Girls are getting their hair done and word is spreading that Carrie White was asked to go to the dance by Tommy Ross, one of the hottest guys in school.  Sue is helping decorate their school and she confirms this rumor to one of her friends.  Sue reveals that she felt guilty over the way that she treated Carrie, and she wanted to make it up to her, even if it means Sue missing her senior prom.

Carrie (1976) – (c) United Artists

That evening Carrie is waiting at home for her date when her mother pleads with her not to go to the prom.  She offers to tell Tommy a lie when he comes to the door.  She insists that this is all a trick and they’re all going to laugh at her at the prom.  Carrie doesn’t let her mother boss her around, and she leaves with Tommy to go to their senior prom.

Carrie (1976) – (c) United Artists

At the prom, Carrie is a nervous wreck.  She’s lived a sheltered life and has almost no social experience.  Miss Collins sits down with her and tells Carrie a story about her own prom, letting the girl know about how she had a rough time but still had a great experience.  Once again, Miss Collins helps calm the girl.  I works and Carrie relaxes as she sees that her classmates are treating her like an equal person, and not an outcast.

Tommy returns to their table, and he takes Carrie out to the dance floor.  He teaches her how to dance slowly to the music.  While dancing, Carrie asks him why he asked her to the prom.  Not wanting to tell her the truth, Tommy claims that he asked her because she liked his poem in English class.

Carrie (1976) – (c) United Artists

After their dance, Carrie sees the ballot for prom king and queen.  Somebody added her and Tommy’s names to the listing of candidates.  They decide to vote for themselves for the fun of it.  The ballots are collected, and sure enough, Carrie and Tommy are named the prom king and queen.  What Carrie didn’t know is that the ballot was rigged.  One of Chris’ friends volunteered to count the ballots.

Everything seems perfect for Carrie White.

We see that Sue has sneaked into the prom to check on Carrie and Tommy.  As Carrie is standing on stage, Sue notices the bucket right over Carrie’s head.  Attached to the bucket is a rope that is stealthily guided to the side of the stage.  As she follows the rope, Sue notices Chris and Billy hiding and watching the action.  Chris’ hands are on the rope.

Miss Collins spots Sue inside the prom.  Thinking that Sue is there to cause trouble, and knowing that she does not have a date and shouldn’t be there, Miss Collins grabs Sue and takes her to the rear of the gymnasium.  Sue protests and tries to warn Miss Collins about what’s about to happen, but she’s tossed outside.

And then it happens.

Chris pulls the rope and a bucket full of pig’s blood dumps onto Carrie’s head.  Everybody freezes as they stare at the prom queen.  Before Tommy can react, the metal bucket falls from the ceiling and accidentally hits him on the head.  He’s mortally wounded and falls to the floor of the stage.

After that the laughter begins.  It starts as a few people snickering and then most of the students begin laughing and hollering at Carrie.  Just as her mother warned, everybody is laughing at the girl.  As people are pointing and laughing, Carrie spots a few of the trouble makers trying to leave.  She uses her telekinetic powers to close and lock the doors and windows.

It’s payback time.

Carrie (1976) – (c) United Artists

Carrie uses the power of her mind to take control of a fire hose.  She begins spraying the crowd, sending them into a panic.  The school’s principal tries to use the microphone to calm everybody, but water hits it and he’s electrocuted.  More water hits other electrical areas and a fire is started.  Miss Collins, one of the few people that Carrie believed was a friend, is killed when part of the ceiling falls and crushes the woman.  The fire quickly spreads and more people keep dying.  Carrie calmly walks through the carnage, opens the doors for herself only, and then leaves the school.  She walks away as the burning inferno kills the rest of the students and faculty members still trapped inside of the school.

Chris and Billy had made it outside of the building when Carrie started her revenge.  Chris is driving Billy’s car when she spots Carrie walking along a road.  She tries to run over the girl, but Carrie notices them at the last second, and she uses her telekinetic power to flip and wreck the car.  The car catches fire and explodes, killing both Chris and Billy.

Carrie (1976) – (c) United Artists

When Carrie returns home she discovers that her mother went on a bit of a rampage.  Some of the furniture is knocked over and a few of the religious artifacts have been damaged.  What she does find are hundreds of lit candles throughout the house.  Carrie goes upstairs and takes a bath, washing away all of the pig’s blood.

After cleaning herself and stepping out of the bathroom, Carrie is confronted by her mother.  Carrie asks for her mother to hold her, but her mother has something else in mind.  Margaret reveals that she had never wanted a child.  Years ago she was married and her drunk husband raped and impregnated her.  She tells her daughter that she loved being handled that way by her husband.  Margaret tells her that she regrets not killing the child when she was born.

Carrie (1976) – (c) United Artists

They get down on their knees to pray and ask for forgiveness when Margaret pulls out a large knife and stabs her daughter in the back.  Carrie tumbles down the stairs and lands in the kitchen.  When Margaret follows and tries to stab her again, Carrie uses her telekinetic power to use the other kitchen knives against her mother.  She has some knives pin her hands to the doorway while other knives stab her mother right in the chest.  Margaret dies standing upright with her hands pinned to the walls.

When Carrie realizes what she has done, her rage explodes.  The house begins to collapse and catch fire.  Carrie pulls her mother to the prayer closet, but she’s killed in the resulting chaos.

Some time later we see Sue recovering from the shock of the events at her school.  We hear her mother speaking on the phone, revealing that pretty much all of the students and much of the faculty was killed at the prom.  It’s going to take some time before Sue recovers enough to live a normal life.  Thankfully she’s still young and will (hopefully) forget most of the events.

Carrie (1976) – (c) United Artists

We then see Sue carrying some flowers and walking towards the ground where the White’s house once stood.  The “for sale” sign has been made into a cross.  There’s much hatred though as a message on the cross states, “Carrie White Burns In Hell!”  An arrow points straight down to the ground.  When Sue crouches down and places the flowers at the site of the cross, Carrie’s bloody hand suddenly pops up and grabs Sue’s arm.

Carrie ends as Sue wakes up screaming.  Her mother holds and tries to calm the girl from her nightmare.

So is Carrie a good movie?

As a whole, Carrie is a great tale of torment followed by the victim’s ultimate act of revenge.  You feel for Carrie as she’s tormented by not just the students but her mother as well.  It’s uplifting when she goes to the prom and has a great time, even being crowned the queen.  And as a horror film, it’s very satisfying seeing her get her revenge by killing a bunch of students and faculty members.

This is a rather simple story, but the great cast and directing have made Carrie into a classic tale of terror.  Throw in a bunch of fire and a few bloody deaths and there you go.  Carrie is a fantastic Halloween film.

Ultimately, Carrie White is a coward and took the wrong approach to dealing with her tormentors.  She was almost eighteen years old and about to graduate from high school.  She could have finished her classes and moved away from her abusive mother and colleagues, making a name for herself in a new town.  The best revenge against bullies is living well, even if it means moving away to do so.

But she doesn’t do that.  Carrie lets her rage win control of her emotions, and like the troubled people you hear about who cause significant harm to innocent students, she decided to just kill them all.  Lock the doors, trap them in a burning inferno, and just kill them all whether they had a hand in her tormenting or not.

And that’s the coward’s way out of trouble.

Carrie (1976) – movie trailer

But this is a horror film, and as a tale of terror it’s a very satisfying story.  Despite this film being from 1976, and the cheesy fashion and music score that go with it, Carrie can still impress today’s audiences.  I’m sure that the 2013 remake of the film will spurn more interest in the 1976 original version.

Chris Hargenson – “She can’t get away with this.  I’m gonna get her.”
Sue Snell – “Let it go, Chris.”
Chris Hargenson – “Like Hell, I will!”

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Margaret White – “They’re all gonna laugh at you.”