Max’s Drive-In Movie – Carrie

Carrie Header

Next to The Shining, this is my favorite King adaptation. 

Carrie is a 1976 horror film directed by Brian De Palma, based on Stephen King’s 1974 debut novel of the same name. He used many techniques in this movie that put it over the top. Split screens, slow motion, and vivid color contrast just to name a few.

It is one of the most iconic films in the horror genre and focuses on subjects like bullying, supernatural powers, and revenge. It’s so easy to relate to because in high school we have all been through embarrassing things…getting pig blood dumped on you…probably not but we can relate with Carrie. We know the good people and we have known the bad people in this movie. We also know the popular cliques and the not-so-popular cliques. The girls that were out of reach and the ones that were.

The story revolves around Carrie White, a shy and socially awkward high school girl who is mercilessly bullied by her classmates. Raised by an overbearing, fanatically religious mother, Carrie leads a lonely and repressed life. After experiencing a traumatic event at school, she discovers that she has telekinetic powers. The situation escalates when her classmates cruelly prank her at the senior prom. In a moment of intense emotion, Carrie uses her powers to take a horrifying revenge on those who tormented her.

Sissy Spacek starred in this film and was perfect in the role. Piper Laurie portrayed her mother with an exaggerated, fanatically religious fervor. Laurie’s portrayal of a zealot was intentionally over-the-top, adding to the film’s tone. . The movie also launched the film careers of Nancy Allen and Amy Irving who both went on to star in many movies.

 In 1976 my class went to see Charlotte’s Web at the theater. On the wall were movie posters of Carrie. Since then I’ve always associated them with each other. As a 9-year-old, seeing a teenager covered with blood with an evil look made me want to see it. I didn’t get to see it until almost a decade later. It was worth the wait!

Both Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie received Academy Award nominations for their performances, a rarity for the horror genre.

This story has been remade in 3 different movies. This one in 1976, 2002, and a remake in 2013. I’ve watched all of them…trust me on this…this is the best version out there at least to me. 

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

24 thoughts on “Max’s Drive-In Movie – Carrie”

  5. Spacek was perfectly cast as Carrie, a case of exactly the right face for the role. Lesson One; Do not get the shy quiet kid at the back all fired up. Lesson Two. Put your flowers on the graveside and quickly move on; ‘Don’t linger, don’t tarry, Lest you bring up Carrie.’

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  6. There are a lot of teenagers out there like Carrie. Haven’t seen the movie since it came out but I remember the pig blood and her going berserk at the prom. I wonder how many school shooters saw this movie and modified the telekinesis to automatic weapons to handle their bullies?

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    1. I never thought of that…but yea it’s shocking…When I first watched it I couldn’t believe there were so many deaths. It was not an…ok make them uncomfortable…it was death.

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  9. Haven’t seen this in a long time. I watched the trailer to refresh my memory. This and The Shining are the only Stephen King movies I’ve seen, and a little bit of the Salem’s Lot miniseries when it first aired. The Dead Zone is the only book of his I’ve read. Carrie is well cast and acted. I have to admit I’m a wimp when it comes to horror nowadays. I just don’t want all that stuff in my mind. By the way, are there any religious fanatics that aren’t over the top?

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    1. I do like Salem’s Lot…I almost did that one. Whenever Spacek is involved you know it’s going to be good. I remember seeing her in A Coal Miners Daughter…she was excellent as Lynn.
      See I haven’t run into many over the top fanatics…well not THAT over the top lol. She was on another level.

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      1. I was being sarcastic about the fanatics, but some people do take it too far. Salem’s Lot didn’t grab me at the time, but maybe if I watched it with fresh eyes it would.

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      2. lol… oh yes I agree…there are some that are terrible.
        The floating at the window was a great special effect in Salems Lot is great and creepy. I want to find out how they made it look so real for that time.

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  13. Long time since I’ve seen Carrie. Only saw it a couple of times, I think – which was rare for me as I liked horror so much then. But what I took away from the movie was something you (as a guy, so not surprising really) didn’t pick up on and that was the theme of her being bullied for having her first period. That resonated with me, even though I was in my mid-twenties when the film came out. Unless, as a girl, someone tells you about it first, before it happens, it can be one of the most frightening and unexpected things to happen to you, and the last thing you want is anyone to laugh at you, let alone bully you. In his original novel, as in the film, King got it spot on (I seem to recall he had quite a lot of input from his wife, on this one! She’s a writer, too – though not in this genre) which was quite a revelation, really.

    I used to be a big Stephen King fan, but stopped reading his books a few years ago when his style and purpose seemed to change (I think after he had his accident in 1999.) To me, they seemed to lose direction.

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    1. I liked King about like you…until the mid 90s… yea I can only imagine how that would feel at the time…that would be traumatic.
      It does have characters that we have all known before.

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