Carrie (1976)
Average Rating: 8.1/10
Reviews Counted: 47
Fresh: 43 | Rotten: 4
Carrie is a horrifying look at supernatural powers, high school cruelty, and teen angst -- and it brings us one of the most memorable and disturbing prom scenes in history.
Average Rating: 6.5/10
Critic Reviews: 9
Fresh: 6 | Rotten: 3
Carrie is a horrifying look at supernatural powers, high school cruelty, and teen angst -- and it brings us one of the most memorable and disturbing prom scenes in history.
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Average Rating: 3.3/5
User Ratings: 324,073
Movie Info
This classic horror movie based on Stephen King's first novel stars Sissy Spacek as Carrie White, a shy, diffident teenager who is the butt of practical jokes at her small-town high school. Her blind panic at her first menstruation, a result of ignorance and religious guilt drummed into her by her fanatical mother, Margaret (Piper Laurie), only causes her classmates' vicious cruelty to escalate, despite the attentions of her overly solicitous gym teacher (Betty Buckley). Finally, when the
Nov 16, 1976 Wide
Sep 29, 1998
United Artists
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Cast
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Sissy Spacek
Carrie White -
Piper Laurie
Margaret White -
Amy Irving
Sue Snell -
William Katt
Tommy Ross -
Nancy Allen
Chris Hargenson -
John Travolta
Billy Nolan -
Betty Buckley
Miss Collins -
Sidney Lassick
Mr. Fromm -
Stefan Gierasch
Principal Morton -
Priscilla Pointer
Mrs. Snell -
Michael Talbott
Freddy -
Cameron de Palma
Boy On Bicycle -
Edie McClurg
Helen -
Noelle North
Frieda -
P.J. Soles
Norma Watson -
Doug Cox
The Beak -
Anson Downes
Ernest
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All Critics (47) | Top Critics (9) | Fresh (43) | Rotten (4) | DVD (32)
More superpowers from Brian De Palma, this time in high school, in a screen version of a Stephen King novel that's become a horror classic.
An exercise in high style that even the most unredeemably rational among moviegoers should find enormously enjoyable.
Carrie is a modest but effective shock-suspense drama about a pubescent girl, her evangelical mother and cruel schoolmates.
This 1976 thriller, about a high school outcast (Sissy Spacek) who uses her telekinetic powers to massacre the graduating class, contains a number of interesting ideas. But as with most of his films, De Palma can't keep track of them.
The fierce sympathy it extends to its unfashionable central character puts the film a million miles above the contemporary line in sick exploitation.
Top CriticIt is sometimes funny in a puzzling kind of way, it is generally overwrought in an irritating kind of way, and once in a while it is inappropriately touching.
Carrie is one of the most heart-breaking and cringe-worthy high school dramas ever made, and that's before she even gets to her apocalyptic revenge.
Brian De Palma transcends the pulpy horror feel by emphasising the awakening-sexuality metaphor, and using some glorious trickery.
Stephen King's disturbing prom horror classic.
I might be the only person in the world who thinks Brian De Palma's 1976 classic thriller Carrie (now out on DVD) is one of the most overrated, disappointing horror films of all time, but I stand behind my review, and I swear I can knock down just about a
... [O]ne of the best horror films of the 1970s.
The first big hit directed by Brian De Palma.
The reason Carrie is still held in such high regard as a horror classic is very simple: it's all in the sheer directorial bravado. De Palma at the top of his game.
Carrie rivals The Shining for the title of greatest ever Stephen King adaptation.
The film has a strikingly unsettling mood that enhances its power and gives it an impact that the story would otherwise lack. Much of the credit, though, must go to Spacek, who so convincingly portrays Carrie's pain and her longing for acceptance.
The bulk of "Carrie" is not a gore-fest, but a prescient tone poem about the mental torture of social outcasts in high school halls in the pre-Columbine era.
Carrie might be a film about high school, but it was perhaps Brian De Palma's first completely mature film.
De Palma's Gothic thriller is at once trashy and lyrical, a nasty revenge story in which its misfit-Cinederella-like heroine (an exquisite Sissy Spacek) discovers her sexuality under the most terrifying conditions.
A total knockout. Piper Laurie gives a bravura performance as Carrie's religious fanatic mother, one of the creepiest movie characters ever.
A nearly perfect film. The combination of pathos, shocks, and grand guignol excess is orchestrated with jaw-dropping precision by young Depalma, whose later films would pale by comparison.
Audience Reviews for Carrie
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
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- Margaret White: They're all gonna laugh at you.
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- The Beak: I know. I only got ten bucks, though.
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- Carrie White: Why am I here with you?
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- Sue Snell: Shut up, Chris. Just shut up.
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- Carrie White: Everyone isn't bad, Mama! Everything isn't a sin!
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- Margaret White: Red. I might have known it would be red.
- Carrie White: It's pink, Mama.
- Carrie White: Look what Tommy gave me, Mama. Aren't they beautiful?
- Margaret White: I can see your dirty pillows. Everyone will.
- Carrie White: Breasts, Mama. They're called breasts, and every woman has them.
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Latest News on Carrie
March 26, 2012:
Chloe Moretz and Haley Bennett Rumored for Carrie RemakeThey reportedly join a list of contenders that includes Dakota Fanning and Lily Collins.
January 5, 2012:
Kimberly Peirce in Talks for Carrie RemakeThe "Boys Don't Cry" director could helm MGM's planned update.
Fresh Links
Featured
Movie: ID: 15878 Title: Carrie Release Date: 1976-11-16 00:00:00.0 MPAA: 4 Status: 1
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Foreign Titles
- Carrie (1976) (CA)
- Carrie au bal du diable (FR)
