First Things First…
I know this is widely considered a horror classic, but the one time I watched it, about 10 years ago after I read the book the first time, I didn’t love it.
Horror movies don’t always land big stars like Sissy Spacek and John Travolta, nor are they made by acclaimed directors like Brian DePalma that often, so I expected to like it more. Other than my reaction, I don’t remember much about the movie, so hopefully it’ll land better for me this time around.
5 Things I Like
5. Sue Almost Foils the Prank
One of the best changes from the book involves Sue Snell’s actions on prom night. Instead of sitting at home, driving herself crazy because of a premonition that something bad was going to happen, she takes a much more proactive role here.
Sue shows up at the prom without an invitation, looking for something that’s off. And she finds it.
She sees a hanging rope that’s out of place. We follow her gaze as she slowly traces it up to the bucket of blood, then to Billy and Chris as they’re about to pull the rope.
It’s amazing how much tension comes from this scene. Clearly, Sue isn’t going to succeed. Yet the fact that she spots the pranksters, realizes the heinous crime they’re about to commit against Carrie, and desperately tries to stop them, only to be headed off by a dumbass teacher, is one of the film’s most exciting moments.
4. Streamlining the Story
Speaking of changes, there are a few things I like in the book that get left out of the movie, but that make for a crisper, snappier film.
One major change is there’s not nearly as much Sue.
I like how layered she is in the book. There’s a whole aspect of her character resisting becoming the cliché she knows she already is, whose entire life is already mapped out for her. Most of that is left out of the movie. It makes her less compelling, but in a movie that’s under 1:40, she doesn’t need to be such a prominent character. These changes keep things moving briskly.
Another omission is that Chris doesn’t put up a fight about missing out on prom. They skip the subplot of her father, the big-shot attorney, threatening to sue the school and having it out with the principal. I like that scene in the book, but we can still easily get to the point where Chris wants to hurt Carrie without it.
And maybe most importantly, even though Carrie’s prom night massacre is still horrific, the carnage essentially begins and ends at the school. (Other than when she kills Billy and Chris, and then her mother.) Carrie doesn’t set the whole town ablaze by blowing up multiple gas stations, nor does she wreck the fire hydrants so the fire trucks can’t extinguish the fires.
I have some issues about the filmmakers trying to make Carrie seem less severe and more like a victim. I think this is an attempt at making her more redeemable. But here, I like the decision simply because keeping her revenge contained keeps things moving.
3. Prom Night
This is among the most iconic scenes in horror movie history. Carrie looks demonic covered in blood, with her face and eyes in stark contrast with so much red.
Even if you know the slaughter that’s coming—and you probably do, because everyone who knows horror at all knows this aspect of Carrie—it’s still an exciting and satisfying payoff after all the shit people put Carrie through.
2. Margaret and Her House
“I’m here on the Lord’s work, Mrs. Snell; spreadin’ the gospel of God’s salvation through Christ’s blood!”
Margaret White
Carrie’s mother is the absolute worst type of religious zealot. Everything is a sin, nothing fun or pleasurable can ever be tolerated, and every bad thing that happens to you is proof you deserve to be punished. Hell, when Carrie doesn’t want to eat her apple cake because it gives her pimples, Margaret even tells her…
“Pimples are the Lord’s way of chastising you.”
What a nightmare she is to live with! And you can see how off-putting she is to others when she goes to the Snell house and creeps out Sue’s mom.
That’s another change I like from the book. Instead of working in a laundromat, she’s some kind of door-to-door evangelist. I don’t know if she’s specifically soliciting donations, or maybe trying to sell Bibles, but it’s such an obvious choice I almost wonder why King didn’t write her this way in the book.
But there’s more to Margaret being such an effective villain…
There’s also her house. It’s creepy in its dimness and its outdatedness (even for the 70’s). It’s not like a haunted house, but for a house filled with religious iconography, it clearly lacks any love or warmth.
1. Creating a Monster
Carrie is unquestionably a victim.
She’s also a murderer.
It’s the space in between that’s so fascinating. Do her monstrous acts make her a monster?
Considering the violence and terror she inflicts on prom night, the only way you can possibly ask that question is if the crimes committed against her are so depraved…
… AND if she is so innocent and undeserving of the scorn and ridicule she receives.
The answer to the first part is a resounding yes.
As for the second part, I think they nail it with her portrayal as naïve, sheltered, and innocent.
Sissy Spacek is fantastic at making Carrie seem fragile and pitiable. She has a way of shrinking into herself most of the time she’s at school. Yet she earnestly wants to be normal and to fit in with her classmates.
This is never clearer than at the prom, before the incident. It took courage to say yes to Tommy’s invitation, and even more courage to defy her mother. And once she goes, she makes the most of it. Despite her shyness, she actually does fit in. And she gets swept away in the evening’s enchantment.
It might seem normal to everyone else there, but it’s like nothing she’s ever experienced before. That’s what makes her final humiliation—and the way she finally fights back, at the expense of her soul—so heartbreaking. And so effective.
1 Thing I’m Mixed On
1. Miss Collins
This is the Miss Desjardins character, just with a different name.
It seems in the movie, she cares more genuinely about Carrie. And Carrie trusts her more.
That speaks to Carrie’s earnestness, which is so critical in making her murder spree effective. But it also makes the way Miss Collins can’t help herself from snickering at Carrie when she’s covered in blood—after Miss Collins herself just stopped Sue from preventing the whole thing from happening—ring less true.
In the book, Miss Desjardins pitied Carrie, but she never fully lost that sense of disgust with her for being so helpless. It doesn’t feel right that this version of the character would laugh at Carrie, though.
5 Things I Don’t Like
5. WTF? Their House Implodes?
When the Whites’ house implodes at the end, it’s kind of a cool visual.
But also—WTF? What is this? Is this supposed to be Carrie’s final act of terror?
Like, I buy into the unnaturalness of Carrie’s power. But after an intense sequence between Carrie and her mother, where Carrie sends a bunch of knives flying across the kitchen to pin Margaret to the wall, the house folding in on itself completely took me out of the movie because it’s so insane.
4. Opening Naked Montage
Speaking of ridiculous…
The opening montage in the locker room leading to the infamous shower scene is absurd. Not only does the movie open with a bunch of fully nude girls running around the locker room after gym class, but for some reason cheesy romantic music plays over it.
I don’t know if it’s meant to be artsy, or provocative, or what, but I found it weird and unnecessary.
3. Travolta Neuters Billy
Considering the huge star he became, and that he’s no stranger to playing a greaser, I expected John Travolta to be one of the best parts of the movie, but I don’t like his performance at all.
I don’t want to minimize the fact that Billy hits Chris a few times. But he doesn’t come off as dangerous as in the book.
Travolta plays him more like a bumpkin. Chris literally calls him dumb a bunch of times, which hurts Billy’s feelings.
Here, Chris calls the shots, and Billy is just along for the ride. Even in the scene when they get the pig blood—in the book, it’s just Billy and his boys, and you can tell that even though they’re supposedly friends, they’re all afraid of Billy. Here, he’s not nearly as in control of the situation. And that’s made worse because here, Chris joins them.
Also, since the book gives us the characters’ thoughts and feelings, we know that Chris felt Billy would’ve raped her if she didn’t relent and have sex with him when she did. And we know that as Billy got tired of dealing with Chris, he got off on thinking about hurting her. This Billy is nowhere near as menacing.
2. Less Rage, Less Buildup
As much as they get Carrie’s innocence and earnestness right, they don’t nail her rage.
It’s not entirely absent. It comes through occasionally, like when she freaks out at Mr. Morton for continually getting her name wrong. But it’s not as present. So no matter how bad the prom prank is, Carrie killing dozens of her classmates still feels too far out of character.
1. Begging for Forgiveness
“It was bad, Mama. They laughed at me. Hold me, Mama. Please hold me.”
Carrie
Rather than her rampage snowballing to the point where she annihilates the whole town, as in the book, here Carrie settles back down. When she returns home, she takes a bath and cleans off all that blood. And she begs her mother for forgiveness.
I much prefer the idea that she’s already past the point of no return, completely overtaken with rage. But here, she kills her mother mainly out of necessity—because her mother tries to kill her first while Carrie tries to reconcile. This feels most untrue to Carrie and to the story.
Tim Matassa
