Carrie

Stephen King chilled me to the bone with how he drove Carrie towards her magnificent finale without any signs of emotion or understanding, only occasionally peeking into her thoughts and wrapping everything in almost documentary form. Brian De Palma and Lawrence D. Cohen do it exactly the opposite way. Carrie becomes a supernatural being who does not belong to the ruthless and cynical world around her. Her feelings, whether it's anger, astonishment, or joy, are the main driving force of the story, which thanks to its brilliant form, elevates the story almost to a message. The original and the adaptation are ultimately quite different, yet both won my favor easily. (06/09/2008)

The first King’s film adaptation turned out to be quite good, great, in fact (which is something you can’t say about most adaptations of his books, but let’s be happy with the few good ones – and when the stars align, they can be great). For most of its runtime, Carrie is a drama rather than horror, but the tension escalates with every minute and and it keeps you expecting something unpleasant coming. The story is quite predictable (and it must have been so even in the 70s), but that’s well compensated by the psychology of the characters – the mother is especially good. PS: At least one and a half stars go to Sissy Spacek, she’s great in the role. (22/05/2008)

I found it hard to rate this film, it’s subtle and precise as a drama, effective and terrifying as horror. Perhaps deliberately, perhaps unintentionally, De Palma completely abandoned King's mystery style and his story of a high school girl tormented by her mother and ridiculed by her classmates is an example of the kind of slow build-up of tension we know only from Kubrick's The Shining. Some of the scenes and the characters' actions may seem silly, predictable and tedious, but what we actually have here is a well-served teen drama that has everything in the right place, and the occasional glimpse of supernatural horror seems to prepare us for the impending climax. Sissy Spacek is absolutely fantastic in her role and her deranged and fanatical mother exudes a hearty aura of fear and madness thanks to Piper Laurie's performance. The last half hour is masterfully directed and perfectly reflects the unpleasant atmosphere that builds up during the film. Carrie probably won't bring modern audiences to their knees, but compared to today's would-be horror films, it has enormous charm. 75% (14/03/2012)

The ending was changed and the plot was chewed to the bone, but even so, the film Carrie does not owe anything to the book version. Brian de Palma is great and the way he shot the prom scene blew my mind. But his Carrie isn't just about a bucket of blood. Far from it. The dispute between the daughter and the mother is portrayed so engagingly, is so visually striking and underlined by Donaggio's beautiful music, that it is not boring for even a moment. And I don't need to tell you that Sissy Spacek is unique in the lead role (but she is). (20/03/2013)

I didn't read the book, but it launched Stephen King's career as a bestselling author, so I have no doubt that it had its qualities and appeal to fans of psychological horror. After all, critics may point out King's work as part of the so-called "lower literature," but his sense of atmosphere, psychological portrayal, expression of emotions, etc. cannot be denied - he was a true master at that. On the other hand, no offense to Brian De Palma, but I don't see the same atmosphere, tension, and sense of capturing emotional dramas in his characters, not even in Mrs. White as Carrie's mother. The only thing that really works well is the casting and the performance of the main character. For the outstanding Oscar-winning actress Sissy Spacek, this was probably the most gratifying role in her otherwise fruitful career. The opening scene set in the girls' locker room is interesting, where Brian De Palma demonstrates his sense of eroticism and the exploration of the beauty of the female body. He had a rather long period when he experimented with how far nudity and sexuality could go in mainstream cinema, and his music video connected to the song "Relax" by Frankie Goes to Hollywood on YouTube best illustrates what De Palma was aiming for. Overall impression: 45%. (05/07/2014)