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Movies / On DVD / Carrie
Carrie

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Carrie (1976)

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Reviews Counted:42

Fresh:38

Rotten:4

Average Rating:8.1/10

Consensus: 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.

Runtime: 1 hr 41 mins

Genre: Horror/Suspense

Synopsis: Brian De Palma's commercial breakout, based on a novel by Stephen King, helped launch a whole slew of teen-based horror films, and Carrie the blood-spattered prom queen has taken her throne in the... Brian De Palma's commercial breakout, based on a novel by Stephen King, helped launch a whole slew of teen-based horror films, and Carrie the blood-spattered prom queen has taken her throne in the pantheon of modern American myth. High school girls played by Amy Irving (in her film debut), P.J. Soles, and Nancy Allen plot to avenge themselves on ostracized fellow student and budding telekinetic Carrie White (Sissy Spacek) after they get in trouble for pelting her with tampons. When they get popular boy Tommy Ross (William Katz) to be her date for the prom, the stage is set for some heart-rending cruelty and fiery retribution. De Palma expertly uses split screens, slow motion, color filters, and tracking shots to imbue the proceedings with a haunting, allegorical elegance. Piper Laurie plays Carrie's mentally ill, devoutly Christian mom; she's brilliant, as is Spacek. John Travolta has a memorable pre-SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER role as one of the girls' beer-guzzling boyfriends. There was finally a sequel in 1999, as well as a short-lived Broadway musical. [More]

Starring: Sissy Spacek, Amy Irving, John Travolta, William Katt

Starring: Sissy Spacek, Amy Irving, John Travolta, William Katt, Nancy Allen, Piper Laurie, Betty Buckley, P.J. Soles, Sydney Lassick, Stefan Gierasch

Director: Brian De Palma

Director: Brian De Palma
Screenwriter: Lawrence D. Cohen
Producer: Paul Monash
Composer: Pino Donaggio

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Release:

Sep 29, 1998

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Reviews for Carrie

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1 - 20 (sorted by critic A-Z)
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It's high time for the young generation of filmgoers to stop throwing their money [away] and see what a real horror movie is.

Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | comment Comment
01/01/00
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid

De Palma's classic creep show has dark undertones about the nastiness of teen spirit, emergent female sexuality, and rabid Christianity.

Full Review Source: Austin Chronicle | comment Comment
03/10/03
Marjorie Baumgarten
Marjorie Baumgarten
Austin Chronicle

There is little suspense or dramatic tension; everything plays out like bad melodrama or cheap exploitation.

Full Review Source: ReelViews | comment 3 Comments
01/01/00
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli
ReelViews
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
09/25/07
Andrew Collins
Andrew Collins
Empire Magazine

Brian De Palma's Carrie is an absolutely spellbinding horror movie, with a shock at the end that's the best thing along those lines since the shark leaped aboard in Jaws.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
10/23/04
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

It 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.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment 1 Comment
05/09/05
Richard Eder
Richard Eder
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
08/02/09
Blake French
Blake French
Filmcritic.com

... [O]ne of the best horror films of the 1970s.

Full Review Source: ESplatter | comment Comment
06/18/08
Lucius Gore
Lucius Gore
ESplatter

Unlike other examples of the horror genre, there are classic elements of tragedy that lend this gruesome tale a compelling edge.

Full Review Source: BBC | comment Comment
04/17/01
Almar Haflidason
Almar Haflidason
BBC

Carrie might be a film about high school, but it was perhaps Brian De Palma's first completely mature film.

Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | comment Comment
08/25/06
Eric Henderson
Eric Henderson
Slant Magazine

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.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment 3 Comments
09/25/07
Dave Kehr
Dave Kehr
Chicago Reader
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King's pulp-gothic imagination was perfectly realized on-screen in De Palma's Hitchcock-influenced manipulative camerawork

Full Review Source: Q Network Film Desk | comment Comment
08/21/01
James Kendrick
James Kendrick
Q Network Film Desk

It’s a gripping and rousing perusal of our human souls -- an opportunity to become aware of our dark sides and meet them head on.

Full Review Source: Cinemaphile.org | comment Comment
01/01/00
David Keyes
David Keyes
Cinemaphile.org

This horror classic might be the ultimate teen angst flick.

Full Review Source: Montreal Film Journal | comment Comment
09/10/02
Kevin N. Laforest
Kevin N. Laforest
Montreal Film Journal

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.

Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | comment Comment
05/30/06
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

It's a simple tale, told briskly and effectively by director Brian DePalma.

Full Review Source: Reel Film Reviews | comment Comment
09/27/02
David Nusair
David Nusair
Reel Film Reviews

...suspenseful, scary, and humorously cunning by turns, it boasts superb acting, excellent pacing, good production values, and...a thought-provoking premise.

Full Review Source: DVDTown.com | comment Comment
09/10/01
John J. Puccio
John J. Puccio
DVDTown.com

An exercise in high style that even the most unredeemably rational among moviegoers should find enormously enjoyable.

Full Review Source: TIME Magazine | comment Comment
10/13/08
Richard Schickel
Richard Schickel
TIME Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The first big hit directed by Brian De Palma.

Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | comment Comment
02/10/08
Dennis Schwartz
Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

Carrie is a modest but effective shock-suspense drama about a pubescent girl, her evangelical mother and cruel schoolmates.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment 1 Comment
10/07/08
Variety Staff
Variety Staff
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
 
 
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