Ranking high on lists of top horror and high school
movies, 1976’s Carrie offered major career boosts to director Brian De Palma
and a perfectly selected cast giving individual, indelible performances that
ring true 50 years on. Based on Stephen King’s landmark 1974 debut novel, the
inventive, incisive and at times slyly amusing screenplay by Lawrence D. Cohen outlines
the fascinating story of outcast teen Carrie White, who catches few breaks in
life at school or home, wherein her domineering, religious fanatic mother
Maragret rules with an imposing force that would make Joan Crawford at her
(alleged) worst blush. How Carrie evolves throughout a tight 98-minute runtime as
the introverted heroine discovers telekinesis gifts keeps an audience
completely enthralled, with De Palma masterfully detailing each major plot
point, including a “jump scare” sequence rarely matched, while guiding his
terrific actors to deliver work that ranks among their best, including Sissy
Spacek’s haunting interpretation of the title role and Piper Laurie, returning
to films after 15 years, deftly adding layers of humor and sexiness to her colorful,
emotionally-driven portrayal of the unhinged Margaret.
Brian
De Palma’s filmography gained hefty stature with the success of Carrie after
he’d toiled for over a decade primarily in independent films as a writer,
director and editor, including collaborations with Robert DeNiro at the outset
of his career. 1973’s Sisters and the following year’s Phantom of the
Paradise brought attention to De Palma, before Carrie brought him to
the forefront among the most creative forces in American cinema. Although De
Palma’s output, both pre (Obsession) and post Carrie (specifically
1980’s controversial hit Dressed to Kill), would face comparisons,
both good and bad, to his most influential directorial forerunner, Alfred
Hitchcock, with his singular take on King’s macabre story, the young director
proved himself second-to-none in crafting a suspense-ladened movie mixing a
consistently unsettling tone with a perverse sense of fun, all brought to life
with a compelling artistic vision that captures a high school setting,
including the innocence and hatefulness found therein among the teen set, as
well as any film. Sequences such as the climatic prom set piece, which De Palma
lends a dreamlike tone to, aided by Pino Donaggio’s eerily lush score,
perfectly illustrating every emotion Carrie goes through as she experiences the
eventful night’s highs and lows, or the deceptively serene opening scene shot
in slo-mo through a steamy mist as girl’s cavort through their locker room
before Carrie is introduced, leading to the first of many unnerving moments, offer
proof how the confident, talented De Palma was fully prepared to bring all his
filmmaking gifts to the screen, thrilling audiences in a manner rarely
experienced. Following this achievement, De Palma would go on to an eclectic
career featuring returns to the horror/suspense genre (Kill, Blow Out, Body
Double) as well as scoring with mainstream fare such as The Untouchables
and Mission: Impossible, while also tackling challenging projects
such as Casualties of War and the fascinatingly woe begotten production
of The Bonfire of the Vanities.
Sissy
Spacek also moved significantly up the Tinseltown ladder via Carrie, managing
to bring both an ethereal, incandescent quality and a bizarre, “Creepy Carrie”
aspect to her landmark work that places the viewer on the fragile wallflower’s
side even as she demonstrates signs of ominous, otherworldly powers. Starting
in films with 1972’s Prime Cut, Spacek would immediately score the
following year with standout work in Terrence Malick’s tense crime thriller Badlands,
setting her up nicely for a star breakthrough with Carrie. Spacek
appears to intuitively understand how to carefully modulate each of the
character’s diverse moods, ranging from heartbreaking shyness to terrifying
vengefulness. Spacek never appears to lose belief of the central truths of the
role in her sublime portrayal, regardless of how wild the circumstances
surrounding the lost girl become. For example, the tour de force prom scene
could not work as believably without Spacek’s sublime handling of the vast
emotional arc Carrie is subjected to; similarly, she brings a fervent realism
to highly dramatic scenes such as the film’s opening or during Carrie’s
confrontations with Margaret, while also adding subtleties that help convey the
generally quiet nature of the character. After Carrie, Spacek would
receive further critical acclaim with on-target work in another key 1970’s
film, Robert Altman’s 3 Women, before starting the 1980’s off with
possible her screen peak winning an Oscar for her pitch-perfect interpretation
of Loretta Lynn in Coal Miner’s Daughter, the smash hit film adaptation
of Lynn’s autobiography. After a fruitful decade which brough Spacek three
additional Oscar nominations, her screen output slowed considerably, before
she made a major comeback with 2001’s In the Bedroom, which once again
placed Spacek among the Best Actress contenders. Since then, Spacek has thrived
in films and television with artful character work in offers such as 2011’s The
Help, mostly recently showing up in 2025 on the big screen in 2025’s
Die, My Love and in the Dying for Sex miniseries.
Performing
one of the more spectacular comebacks in films, Piper Laurie brings amazing
skill, intensity and wit to her stunningly original work as one of the cinema’s
most perplexing and riveting mothers. Born in 1932, Laurie gained a Universal
Studios contract at the tender age of 17, leading to a 1950 film debut and
years as a charming ingenue in escapist fare such as The Prince Who Was a
Thief and The Golden Blade before turning to New York City to hone
her acting skills. Her prodigious thespian talent was put on view thereafter,
with incredibly moving dramatic work on television in the live television
version of Days of Wine and Roses and in films via The Hustler demonstrating
what Laurie could do with a meaty role. However, after her Oscar-nominated work
in Hustler, Laurie stepped away from the camera to focus on her family,
only returning to films when the opportunity to play Margaret White arose.
Laurie has stated she thought of the role in comedic aspects, and she superbly
blends lighter moments (her indelible reading of “Prom?” backed by lightening for
example) into the stark material, as well as using her husky voice and
unabashed appearance (that uninhibited hair!) to indicate the erotically-charged
nature lurking beneath Maragret’s repressed exterior. Working in perfect sync
with Spacek, they create unforgettable moments of profound impact depicting a
Generation Chasm. Following Carrie, Laurie would grace the screen with
more frequent appearances, in the process gaining an Oscar nomination for Children
of a Lesser God, an Emmy for Promise and reaching a wide audience
with Emmy-nominate work on Twin Peaks, before her final film work in
2018, followed by her passing in 2023 at age 91.
A
phenomenal group of supporting players, each coming through with expert,
distinct and creative performances, aid in marking Carrie as one of
filmdom’s definitive casts. As Chris, the chief mean girl on campus, Nancy
Allen (similar to Laurie) also held the idea the role was comic in nature, and
she manages to invest the part with a sense of lively fun while simultaneously making
the alluring yet sneering prima donna an ultimate example of the villain you
love to hate. As her hunky, horny and dim boyfriend Billy, John Travolta shows
the star charisma and impressive comic and dramatic acting chops that would
place him at the top of the Hollywood echelon the following year with Saturday
Night Fever. Amy Irving holds the screen with a delicacy and quiet
fortitude as Sue, the school’s nice girl wanting to help Carrie, while Willian
Katt grants a beguiling good-natured down-to-earth quality to his role of
Tommy, the handsome BMOC boyfriend of Sue also interested in Carrie’s plight.
Betty Buckley is welcomingly both compassionate and tough as Miss Collins, the
gym teacher protective of Carrie and willing to go toe-to-toe with Chris and
her similarly unsympathetic ilk. Irving’s real-life mother, Priscilla Pointer, carries
a wry knowingness to her brief part as Sue’s mother and adeptly shares the
screen with Irving in one of the movie’s most unforgettable moments, while P.J.
Soles and Edie McClurg also can be spotted in early roles before gaining
greater career fame.
Released
in November of 1976, Carrie quickly found favor with critics who
marveled at the accomplished, astounding manner in which De Palma and his
formidable cast and crew brought off the fantastic and lurid tale with such
conviction and power. Strong word-of-mouth caused audiences to turn out in
droves, allowing Carrie to place among 1976’s major hits, amassing
$15,000,000 in U.S./Canadian first-run rentals, according to Variety
(side note: as a wee lad too small to see the film during its original run, the
author can confirm the movie was the talk of playgrounds everywhere, with kids
desperate to get a peek at this one-of-a-kind thriller). The film also scored
impressively during awards season, with placement on Time magazine’s top
ten movies and a Best Actress prize for Spacek from the National Society of
Film Critics, and a Golden Globe nomination for Laurie in her comeback role.
Rare for a horror movie, both Spacek and Laurie also gained Oscar nominations
(for Best Actress and Supporting Actress, respectively) for their stunning teamwork
in creating a mother/daughter duo unlike any other found in film. The passage
of time only solidifies how correct the Academy was in citing their memorable portrayals,
and how wayward, even in a strong movie year (All the President’s Men,
Network, Rocky, etc.), they were in overlooking other key aspects of the
singular film, including noms for De Palma, Cohen and Best Picture. The
influence of Carrie has seen subpar remakes and even a musical take on
the story, with none coming close to capturing the viewer’s imagination and
admiration as in the alternately scary, funny and heartbreaking first and best
screen adaptation of King’s unforgettable classic tale.
