Carrie (1976)

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Posted By: brian@brianschell.com September 27, 2022

Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone

It’s a pretty simple story, but a good one. Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie are perfectly cast as mother and daughter with powerhouse performances. The rest of the supporting cast is good too. The special effects look realistic. All in all, it still holds up as entertaining.

Synopsis

We see immediately that Carrie isn’t popular, nor is she good at sports. In the shower, she starts to bleed, and she doesn’t react well. She freaks out, screaming for help, and the other girls all laugh while throwing tampons at her. She’s hysterical, so the gym teacher, Ms. Collins, slaps her to calm her down. She screams, and the light in the shower explodes. Ms. Collins tells the principal, and they’re both surprised that her ultra-religious mother hadn’t explained the facts of life to Carrie. Carrie stares at the principal’s ashtray, and it shakes and rattles on the desk– until it jumps off all by itself.

Carrie’s mother Margaret goes to see Sue’s mother; she’s here to proselytize for her church. Margaret is pretty well known in the neighborhood for being an annoying religious zealot. The school calls her and tells her what happened, and she doesn’t react well either. Margaret tells Carrie, “You’re a woman now; a sinner,” and hits her with a Bible. Margaret goes on and on about how badly Carrie has sinned; Carrie says she hasn’t done anything. Carrie is locked in the closet with the creepiest Jesus statue ever.

At school the next day, Ms. Collins gives the other girls the riot act over what they did yesterday to Carrie. She threatens to ban them from the prom, but the office says it’s detention instead. With her. She makes their afternoon a lot tougher in detention. Chris revolts, and Collins suspends her prom privileges. Meanwhile, Carrie reads up on miracles and telekinesis.

Student Sue asks her boyfriend Tommy to take Carrie to the prom. Sue wants to give Carrie a morale boost plus she feels bad about the bullying that’s been going on. Tommy is reluctant but agrees, he’s basically a decent person too. Chris and her boyfriend Billy argue in his car; then they make up.

At school, Tommy asks Carrie to the prom. Carrie thinks it’s a trick, but Ms. Collins says he might be sincere, and she’d miss out on a good time. Then Collins asks Tommy and Sue why they did this. Sue says she’s trying to help, but Collins doesn’t quite buy it. Tommy goes to Carrie’s house and asks her again. She agrees, mostly just to get him to go away.

Billy and his friends go to the pig farm and kill a pig. Carrie tells her mother about the prom, and that starts a new fight. Carrie gets upset, and all the doors and windows close on their own. “You’ve got Satan’s power!” says Margaret. Back at school that night, Billy and Chris set up a bucket of blood above the stage.

The next day, everybody is talking about Tommy and Carrie and the prom; why would he ask_ her_? Chris hints that there’s something nefarious afoot, but she won’t spill the beans in front of Sue. There is conniving going on that will get Carrie elected queen of the Prom. We have a getting ready for the Prom montage as Carrie gets a dress and Tommy gets a tux. Margaret wants to burn Carrie’s dress. She suggests they do it together and pray for forgiveness. “They’re all gonna laugh at you,” cries Margaret. Carrie makes her shut up.

Tommy seems sincere; he’s a regular gentleman and really takes care of Carrie as they arrive at the dance. Everyone is nice to Carrie, which is a first. Many of them are faking it. Sue, who doesn’t have a date for the prom, so can’t go, leaves home to go out tonight. Ms. Collins talks with Carrie; she’s still concerned it’s some kind of trick, but there’s no real sign of trouble.

Carrie dances with Tommy. It’s her first time, and he shows her how. They kiss, and Tommy actually starts to like Carrie; he’s clearly not in on the prank that Chris and Billy have planned.​​ They actually have a good time. Meanwhile, back at home, Margaret is going insane by herself.

It’s time to vote for the Prom King and Queen. Tommy talks Carrie into voting for themselves. Chris has some friends swap out the real ballots with fakes so Carrie and Tommy win.

The happy couple come up on stage. Carrie is embarrassed, but also incredibly happy about it. Carrie stands under the bucket of pig’s blood that Chris and Billy set up before. Everyone claps for the King and Queen. Sue sneaks in because she wants to see how things are going. She notices the cord running up to the bucket. Sue, who genuinely was trying to help Carrie by getting Tommy to take Carrie to the prom in the first place, tries to stop things, but she gets hauled out and kicked out. Chris pulls the cord, pouring the blood all over Carrie. Then Chris and Billy run for it.

Carrie is shocked. Tommy is shocked. The entire audience is shocked. Then some of the mean girls start laughing. Many people join in laughing. The bucket falls and knocks Tommy right out or possibly kills him. All Carrie hears is her mother saying, “They’re all gonna laugh at you!”

Carrie gets a funny look in her eyes, and all the doors shut and lock. The fire hose sprays the audience and everyone tries to get out of the building. People are electrocuted. Ms. Collins is cut in half. The auditorium catches fire. Carrie leaves the flaming building, locking the door behind her. Chris and Billy try to run over Carrie but she makes the car crash, killing them both.

Carrie goes home. Margaret has lit hundreds of candles. Carrie cautiously goes up to her room. Carrie cries and takes a bath to wash the pig blood off. She tells Margaret that they did laugh at her, but Margaret doesn’t say anything. Margaret finally tells Carrie about her greatest sin– getting pregnant for her.

Margaret stabs Carrie in the back and throws her down the stairs. Carrie uses her powers to fill up Margaret with knives like a pincushion. Then Carrie pulls the house down on top of them both. It literally sinks into the ground.

The next morning, Sue wakes up in her bed. She’s the only one who survived the Prom. Some time later, she goes to visit the pit where Carrie’s house used to be. An arm reaches up from the grave and grabs her. And she wakes up screaming. Apparently, Sue isn’t quite over it all yet…

Commentary

I’d forgotten what a simple plot this had. Carrie gets asked to the prom, she goes, and bad things happen. There’s Carrie’s story and the “prank” side plot, but not much else. It’s really fast-moving and doesn’t have much filler.

Carrie’s telekinesis is there from the start, but it’s not really the focus of any part of the story– until the end. The real monsters here are the other girls and Carrie’s mother. Still, a lot of innocent people end up dying, such as Ms. Collins and Tommy.

Now, if only more YouTube pranksters would run into people like Carrie, the Internet would be a better place. Don’t prank people when you don’t know what their super-powers might be!