The years spanning the mid 60’s and the early 70’s
saw some major changes in American movies, and in movies
worldwide. Barriers on nudity (The Pawnbroker, Women in Love) violence (Bonnie and Clyde, The Wild Bunch), sex (Barbarella, I am
Curious Yellow) and language (Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Tropic of Cancer)
were smashed… dramatically and rapidly. Not to say this new
freedom meant everything in those years was better than
before—it was not. Go out and rent
Mandingo, or Zardoz, and judge
for yourself.
But many adventurous filmmakers took advantage of
what was given them—with startling results.
Carrie, written by Lawrence D. Cohen, and
directed by a young Brian De Palma, is a good example of such a
daring attitude paying off—big time. Carrie was based on the
first novel published by a young unknown named Stephen King—soon
to become the best-known writer in the field of horror. Its
plot is rather simple, its characters not all that deep. The
dialogue is nothing great.
But dialogue is not what Carrie is
about. It features some deeply intense acting from Sissy
Spacek (Carrie). Other stand-outs are the up-and-coming
John Travolta, Amy Irving, and Nancy Allen. Not to mention
the first movie in years by the veteran actress Piper Laurie.
And Carrie is loaded with images that add
up to the impact of a tidal wave.
You know this only a few minutes into its story.
As the credits roll, you become a privileged viewer in a
high school locker room. In slow motion, girls walk, fully
nude out of a steamy shower. The effect is more sensual than
pornographic—you sense their freedom, their confidence.
Their whole lives are ahead of them and they know it. They
seem comfortable with their bodies, and have a sense of belonging.
Something else too. As the excellent
commentary to the new Carrie DVD points out, the
nudity has another purpose. Generally, films of this period
saved nude scenes for late in the story. This scene tells
you you’re dealing with filmmakers not afraid to do anything.
Be very afraid.
One girl, Carrie is left to shower alone, and the
contrast with the others is painfully obvious. Carrie is an
outsider, rejected by all. She is not comfortable with her
body. During the shower, Carrie gets her first period, and
unlikely as it sounds, she has never learned what to expect.
Her reaction is pure terror. She runs, nude into the
locker room, desperately seeking help.
Intense fear and shame
None of the girls shows the least bit of
compassion. Instead, they throw a shower of tampons at
Carrie, chanting “Plug it up! Plug it up!”
Only the gym teacher Miss Collins understands what
Carrie is experiencing. The way Carrie reaches out for her
makes this obvious. But in order to calm her, she must slap
Carrie in the face—hard. At the same moment, a light bulb
abruptly shatters—a sign of worse things to come.
Miss Collins wants to help but has only a clue how deep the
family problems go
Carrie is taken to the principal’s office.
The administration appears to understand that Carrie never
learned about periods. But they don’t know where to go with
this. In addition to their lack of concern (they call her
“Cassie” three times in a row) Carrie senses, correctly, that they
simply wish to get rid of her. An ashtray on a desk begins
to vibrate intensely—then breaks.
You follow Carrie home. You expect the ultimate
dysfunctional family, and you’re right. Carrie lives alone
with her mother, a religious fanatic in the worst sense of the
word. Not only does she show her daughter a complete lack of
love, she is obsessed with sin and sinning. Someone who
rules totally by force–not one to be reasoned with… and proud of
it.
She is convinced that Carrie is filled with sin.
Later you will find out her reasons. But looking back
on the story, it’s no real surprise. Mrs. White slaps her
several times, then locks her in a closet. In this closet,
Carrie is forced into close range with a statue of St. Sebastian,
body pierced by arrows.
Abuse she justifies as doing God’s will
That week, Miss Collins announces that the
entire gym class will be punished for their treatment of Carrie.
Most of the class accept this matter–of-factly, but one
girl, Chris (Nancy Allen, who later married De Palma) defies the
teacher, and begins to plot her revenge. At the same time,
prom announcements go out, and students begin making their plans.
One girl, Sue Snell, decides to make things right
with Carrie. Sue asks her boyfriend Tommy to take Carrie to
the prom. Carrie accepts. Sadly, Sue’s plans are on a
collision-course with the violent revenge thought up by Chris and
her boyfriend Billy.
For the first time in her life, Carrie
stands up to Mrs. White, over the issue of the prom.
You already know that Mrs. White sees the prom as the
Devil’s work, a place for evil doings. But Carrie stands her
ground, and goes ahead, despite her mother’s warnings of doom and
damnation.
Carrie’s yearning for love is unmistakable
Without giving away too much of the plot, the
prom starts out like a dream come true for Carrie. Then
suddenly, all Hell breaks loose. The trap set by Chris and
Billy does its deadly work. Sue is helpless to stop it.
Amy Irving, who played Sue, mentioned that
many viewers misunderstood what went on, thinking that Sue was
part of the revenge plan too. On a second viewing, you can
see clearly that Sue is not. But the
first time you watch, things happen too fast—the action is hard to
follow.
Brief moment of pure happiness away from home
Carrie lets her powers loose and people die.
The gym, with its perfect prom setting, is turned into
chaos, then into an inferno. In seconds, people are crushed
to death, electrocuted, burned alive. Those who die are bad
people, good people (including Miss Collins who always did her
best to protect Carrie), and indifferent people—it is strictly a
matter of chance who survives.
Carrie’s world destroyed
Carrie walks slowly home, her face filled with
expressions of agony and terror. Desperate for comfort.
You may remember Robert Frost’s famous line of poetry;
“Home is the place where, when you have to go
there/ they have to take you in.”
That is all Carrie gets from her mother, to be
taken in. To Mrs. White, Carrie is now a lost soul.
Even Carrie’s pleas to her mother to hold her, are in
vain.
Life for Carrie has become ultimate emptiness.
No one to sympathize with her, much less be a friend.
The world, that her mother warned her about again and again,
has turned out to be as just as bad as Mrs. White
promised. 
An insane response to insane events–Carrie lashes out
But the true horror; Home is every bit as bad
as the outside world.
Sissy Spacek, no longer unknown by 1975, but not
famous yet, was a revelation in Carrie. Her
large eyes and face full of expression keep you riveted to her.
To say that you feel her pain is the ultimate
understatement. How many of us as teenagers let ourselves
trust someone we didn’t know that well, and (for whatever reason)
suffered deeply for trusting them? How many of us, feeling
unloved and hopeless, wanted to act as Carrie does?
You may be a teenager, recently a teenager, or
someone with memories still fresh in your heart; memories of
wounds that cut you to the bone.
Carrie may well reopen the pain of those old
wounds, whether you suffered them out in the world, or behind
closed doors where you lived. I can’t speak for everyone.
But I feel a lot of us have a part of ourselves that longs
(if only for one second) to take the revenge Carrie did.
This movie allows you to experience the mix of joy and
horror in that revenge.