Carrie, a shy teenager with a fiercely religious and oppressive mother, struggles to come to terms with her emerging sexuality and extraordinary telekinetic powers. Just as she's beginning to enjoy a sudden change in her life, a cruel practical joke drives her to a monstrous act of revenge and destruction.
Total Film, 01/01/2004, p.134-5, "Brian De Palma's best movie, his virtuoso technique meeting its match in Sissy Spacek's touching performance."
Premiere, 04/01/2004, p.60, "[A] masterful mix of horror and adolescent angst..."
Sight and Sound, 02/01/2001, p.66, "...The opening sequence is an uncanny tour de force..."
USA Today, 12/02/1991, p.3D, "...[The film] may be Brian De Palma's best....It's a definitive revenge piece..."
Title Note
Theatrical Release: November 3, 1976.
Release Note
DVD Features:
Region 1 Keep Case Anamorphic Widescreen - 1.85 Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1 - English Dolby Digital Mono - French, Spanish Additional Release Material: Behind the Scenes - 1. "Acting CARRIE" 2. "Visualizing CARRIE" Featurettes - 1. "CARRIE the Musical" 2. "Stephen King and the Writing of CARRIE" Trailers - Original Theatrical Trailer Text/Photo Galleries: Stills/Photos - Animated Photo Gallery
DVD Features:
Region 1 Keep Case Special Edition Anamorphic Widescreen - 1.85 Letterbox - 1.85 Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1 - English Dolby Digital Mono - French, Spanish Additional Release Material: Trailers: Original Theatrical Trailer Behind the Scenes: 1. "Acting CARRIE" 2. "Visualizing CARRIE" Featurette: 1. "CARRIE the Musical" 2. "Stephen King and the Writing of CARRIE" Text/Photo Galleries: Stills/Photos: Animated Photo Gallery
Product Notes
Brian De Palma's commercial breakout, based on a novel by Stephen King, helped launch a whole slew of teen-based horror films, and Carrie the blood-spattered prom queen has taken her throne in the pantheon of modern American myth. High school girls played by Amy Irving (in her film debut), P.J. Soles, and Nancy Allen plot to avenge themselves on ostracized fellow student and budding telekinetic Carrie White (Sissy Spacek) after they get in trouble for pelting her with tampons. When they get popular boy Tommy Ross (William Katz) to be her date for the prom, the stage is set for some heart-rending cruelty and fiery retribution. De Palma expertly uses split screens, slow motion, color filters, and tracking shots to imbue the proceedings with a haunting, allegorical elegance. Piper Laurie plays Carrie's mentally ill, devoutly Christian mom; she's brilliant, as is Spacek. John Travolta has a memorable pre-SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER role as one of the girls' beer-guzzling boyfriends. There was finally a sequel in 1999, as well as a short-lived Broadway musical.
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