It's time to go to a true classic from the King master himself. Carrie was his very first officially published book, and it was very quickly made into a movie. This movie will go down in his library's very greatest halls of greatness. While it may not be among the scariest movies or novels, it is definitely a psychological masterpiece. It captured the torture that many go through when they are excommunicated from the high school social groups. Carrie was bullied, manipulated and ultimately found some semblance of happiness, only to have it stricken from her.
Carrie White is horrified as she has her first menstruation in the school showers. Having never seen one or even known what it was, Carrie panics as many of the girls chant and make fun of her while throwing tampons at her. This point in her puberty, however, unlocks something within her. Whether it was the reason for her late period or not is unclear, but Carrie now has the power of telekinesis.
If there is anything to be said about this movie, it's that the casting is immaculate. From John Travolta as a very abusive beatnik to Sissy Spacek as the titular character, this film brought a life to the book that even Stephen King didn't see coming. Spacek had the eyes, the mannerisms, even the body of a child who was very meek and timid, like a field mouse. Then her mother, played by he late Piper Laurie, stole so many great scenes with her amazing performance. The scenes with Margaret and Carrie White are some of the best. The drama that goes on is somewhat otherworldly.
With bullies and a very emotionally abusive mother, it's really no wonder why Carriie latched onto whomever she could for emotional support. It's just such a sad story from her standpoint, especially when she gets a date she didn't know was set up by a girl out of sympathy. While the girls who bullied her in the shower were punished with exercise and drills around the playing field, Carrie was asked to the prom by a legit nice guy. He was good looking and she was unbelieving at first. As she gave into the fantasy, though, you can really see her true self flourish.
Yeah, then Billy Nolan and Chris Hargenson, played by the lovely Nancy Allen, just needed to dump pig's blood on her in an absolutely terrible prank gone wrong. They didn't know that their little joke was played on someone with telekinetic powers, and the bucket they used fell on her date, Tommy Ross's head, played by William Katt. It killed him, as it turns out.
To say that the prom incident is iconic is like saying a drugstore has gum. Yeah, Carrie became iconic with the blood covered Carrie going crazy and killing half of her high school peers. You see the electricity zap some of them while others were burned. Hargenson and Nolan attempt to run her over with a car, but she flips them over and explodes them.So, most of the people who wronged her were dead while the others were completely traumatized. The incident obviously comes to a head when Carrie goes to her mother for love but only gets a murder attempt. So, Carrie kills her and they're both buried with the house coming down around them.
Stephen King obviously had no idea this story would take off the way it did, and it did. Carrie sold gangbusters and ticketsales at the box office were through the roof. If you haven't seen this classic iteration, thinking the new versions were good enough, then you must not be from around these catacombs! The Blood Pool states that Carrie of 1976 is the one and only true film adaptation and we will show you exactly why very soon. For now, the blood shall flow as the Halloween season rolls on! We will bring you more horrors and oddities very soon. Until then, try not to bleed on the carpet.
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