Carrie (Special Edition) (Wide Screen) > Reviews > The Prom Queen From Hell!

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Loved it
Story	Good
Characters / Performances	Good
Special Effects	Good
How does it compare to similar films?	Good

Advantages:	A really good film adaptation of a great book
Disadvantages:	None apart from a slightly wooden Travolta performance

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Here is one of my Amazon bargains. I think I paid around £5 for it (shop around as you can get it for less if you don't mind it being a second-hand copy). This was one that was ready to watch as soon as I got the parcel through the post but hubby is not a fan of Stephen King so I had to wait till he went away before I could watch it.! In the end, he's been away a month now and I have just gotten round to watching it - better late than never!

"Carrie" is the film adaptation of Stephen King's book of the same name, originally published in 1973 (good year that one!). I did previously review the book (http://www.ciao.co.uk/Carrie_Stephen_King__Review_5635222) - anyone who knows me will know that I am a fan of King's books and generally love to see the film adaptations to see how true to the books they are ...

~~~Synopsis~~~

Carrie White (Sissy Spacek) is a lonely young girl, osctracised by her peers in high school for being "weird" and repressed at home by her religiously fanatical mother Margaret (Piper Laurie). All she really longs for is to be accepted by the other girls and live a normal life. Unfortunately for Carrie she experiences her first period at the age of 17 in the showers of the girls locker room at school. Terrified, she does not know what is happening to her and panics. The other girls think that this is hilarious and make fun of her, until the teacher steps in and sorts it out.

One of the girls who taunted Carrie is Sue Snell (Amy Irving). She feels terrible about what happened and so she asks her boyfriend Tommy Ross (William Katt) to take Carrie to the Prom . Sue feels that in some way this may make up for the way that she treated Carrie in the locker room. After some persuasion Carrie finally agrees to go to the prom with Tommy.

Chris Hargensen (Nancy Allen) has other ideas. Because of what happened in the locker room (Hargensen was the ringleader) Chris has been banned from attending the prom, and enlists her boyfriend Billy Nolan (John Travolta) in helping her wreak her revenge on Carrie.

One thing no-one has counted on is that Carrie White is far different from the rest of them - she is telekinetic.....

That is really about all I can say about the film without giving too much of the plot away. Sorry but if you really want more then you will just have to watch the film yourself!

~~~My Opinion~~~

The film may have been out for 31 years but this was the first time I had ever seen it. I would not say it is that scary - certainly not the horror it is made out to be, but I would say that in the 70's it would have been one of the scarier films out there. By today's standards, it is fairly tame. But that certainly did not detract from my viewing pleasure ... in fact it enhanced it in a twisted kind of way. To watch a film based on a book published in the year you were born is kind of strange, but this film is certainly a thriller of sorts.

I was not scared but sat enthralled by each scene. I have to say that Sissy Spacek was certainly perfect for the role of Carrie. She managed to play the shy, awkward girl so well, but when the time came, she played the vengeful Carrie perfectly! Piper Laurie was another moment of perfect casting for Brian De Palma. Laurie is certainly perfect as the religiously fanatical mother, who by today's standards would be classed as downright abusive. If Margaret White were my mother, I would have been quiet and respectful and certainly petrified of crossing her!

There are quite a few other members of the cast worth mentioning here. I thought that Nancy Allen (later of the Robocop movies) was great as Hargensen. She managed to pull off the spoilt/hateful/promiscuous brat perfectly and complimented John Travolta's not-so-bright but handy with the slaps Billy Nelson. My only gripe is that Travolta's performance is certainly not one of his best - at times I felt that his performance of Nelson was almost forced, while at other times it came naturally and flowed perfectly. Thankfully though, he was not in the film that much (sorry to all the Travolta fans out there!).

Amy Irving (Sue Snell) and William Katt (Tommy Ross) were the complete opposite of Allen and Travolta. Their performances together were flawless in my opinion. They were convincing as the high school sweethearts and Katt (also of Perry Mason fame!) was certainly a good choice at playing the "jock with a brain".

I cannot really say too much about the soundtrack as it is pretty 1970's and not really that memorable, although it compliments the film perfectly.

Have you guessed my opinion yet? I loved this film and will certainly be watching it again, although it will be a solo viewing as hubby is not a fan of this film. I would have to say that I enjoyed this film on a par with other King classics like Jack Nicholson's "The Shining", although it may have to go into third place past this as "The Stand" is still my favourite King film of all time!

I certainly do recommend this one to you all. It may not be as much of a horror as some of today's films but it certainly is a thriller of sorts. I have no hesitation in giving this one 5 stars as it is certainly one I will watch again.

~~~DVD Info~~~

Region - 2 (PAL)

Run Time - approximately 1 hour 34 minutes

Certificate - 18 (it was originally X-rated when it first came out!)

Language - English

Subtitles - English, Swedish, Finnish, Norwegian, Danish, Portuguese, Polish, Hungarian, Slovenian, Croatian

Cast - Sissy Spacek, Piper Laurie, John Travolta, Nancy Allen, William Katt, Amy Irving

~~~DVD Extras~~~

* Visualising Carrie: From Words to Images (Making Of)

* Acting Carrie (Making Of)

* Singing Carrie (Featurette)

* Stephen King and the Evolution of Carrie

* Animated Photo Gallery

* Original Theatrical Trailer

I have to admit to not watching these extras yet, as I was too tired after watching the film and would not have been able to keep my eyes open long enough to watch all of these. But when I have watched them I will be coming back to edit the review, I promise. But I have a feeling that they will be quite interesting in places.

~~~Trivia~~~

The film was made in 1976 and received two Oscar nominations for Best Actress (Sissy Spacek) and Best Supporting Actress (Piper Laurie). Unfortunately both actresses lost out but certainly not through lack of talent.

Brian De Palma originally wanted to cast Spacek as Chris Hargensen but she turned up for her audition in a dress her mother had made for her as a child, with a dirty face and vaseline in her hair. As soon as he saw her like that, she was cast as Carrie.

Piper Laurie also turned up for her audition wearing clothes that she believed Margaret White would wear. And was cast perfectly I think!

~~~Final Word~~~

I really enjoyed this film and I think that it has a hidden message in there as well. The film, while being great viewing and mildly scary in places, also shows that bullying has a negative effect on people and that, at some point, the victim will snap and turn on the bullies. Having been in the situation where my husband was bullied (a different review again) I know that this is the case, and I think that, even if De Palma did not intend for it, the message against bullying is there within the film anyway.

If you are a fan of King's books, or of De Palma's films, then this is a great film to watch. It is quite close to the book, although there is some artistic licence in there. The special effects are typical of the era but well done all the same.

Definitely one to watch!

Thank you for reading and happy viewing! Di xx