Run, Don't Walk

CARRIE

So over the weekend, I happened to catch, in it’s entirety, Carrie by Brian DePalma. This was a movie I watched quite a bit as a teen and seeing it again, I was reminded of all of its sad tragedy.  Everybody is just so mean to Carrie and even when they’re not, they’re unwitting participants in a chain reaction that cannot be avoided. Watching it again and knowing where its going I was thinking if one person could just have done one thing differently, maybe it wouldn’t  have gone all pear-shaped for Carietta White.

Sissy Spacek gives a great performance as poor, mistreated, abused, picked-on Carrie. From the shower scene in the beginning, to the stuff at home with her crazy Mom, to her slowly coming out of her shell at the Prom to the pig’s blood to the crazy-ass Post Prom Queen scene to her walk home and finally the confrontation with her Mother, Sissy Spacek was pitch-perfect. 

Piper Laurie is so totally over-the-top as Mrs. White with her “dirty pillows” and her “they’re all gonna laugh at you” to her stabbing to her throwing Carrie in that weird crawl space.  PJ Soles from Halloween and Rock and Roll High School is in there, too. Oh and look, there’s a young pre-gross John Travolta. Oh, and the secretary from Ferris Bueller as one of the teens! And the chick from RoboCop! The Greatest American Hero with huge hair. Oh and speaking of huge hair, Amy Irving was gorgeous! Eight is Enough’s step-mom as the tough PE Teacher! 

I found this movie especially timely because of all the bullying talk in the media and I like to think that some kid out there accidentally discovers this and gets some kind of satisfaction from watching poor Carrie’s downfall. There has been a really bad sequel and a pretty bad remake of this but if you ask me, this is the real deal. If you haven’t ever seen Carrie, I’m sure you know the whole story, but see it anyway. If you loved it then and haven’t seen it since, it’s worth a revisit.