A disturbing if flawed and too melodramatic story of a bullied girl (Sissy Spacek) who unleashes Hell at her school's prom once her classmates go too far. Without Spacek's tender, heartwarming, and memorable turn, this movie might not have been completely worth it. However, due to her understated, brilliant work here,
in addition to one of the most iconic horror movie scenes ever, this film does remain intriguing. Director Brian de Palma has often been criticized for his work over the years, and fairly so, given he has some ambitious ideas but he never remains focused on one theme and running with it. "Carrie" is a lot of half-baked things thrown together, a high school drama, a character study, a damning of over-doing one's religion, a relationship forming (between Carrie and Tommy), and some balls-out horror. To put it simply, it just never comes together fully, despite some really, really great scenes (the prom scene is just so well done), and as said, Spacek really creates such a tragic, though likable figure, as Carrie's meekness is paired up excellently with her demonic "gift". Although it starts out badly (and creepily, de Palma's camera work in the opening shower scene feels dirty), it picks up some steam despite a few set-backs in between. The prom scene brings the goods, but the movie just does not know how to end correctly. So all in all, a frustrating film, it had the potential to be great, but it's mostly just "okay".
June 24, 2007
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