Review Tuesday: CARRIE (1976)

With the new version of Carrie coming out last year starring Chloe Grace Moretz in the title role, I read the book about a year ago and reviewed it HERE. A friend said he'd let me borrow the new version but required that I watch the original first. And I did...

CARRIE

(1976)

Carrie White, a strange high school girl, is laughed at for the last time when she unleashes her darkest secret on her class at the prom. 

I remember much of this movie from my childhood. My folks watched it on television and it terrified me as a small child. Afterall, I was only five when it came out. But I guess the age played tricks with my memory and what it chose to recall.

Previously there were scenes that stuck in my head and it made me avoid this movie like that plague. First, it seems that even as a small child I hated John Revolta. I distinctly remember despising his character in the movie. Second, the crucifix in the closet / prayer room always scared the shit out of me. The crucifixion was violent enough as it was, but this abomination with realistic hair, arrows and glowing eyes took it to a new level of horror. The dream sequence at the end gave me nightmares for a long time afterward.

However, I watched this as an adult, trying to separate the childish fears and watch this with a proper perspective. Like many movies from that era, it was rather short, clocking in at just over an hour and a half. It's a simplified version of the book and gets the job done. I was surprised to see that John Revolta's screen time might've been less than five minutes. Big plus! The crucifix was still terrifying. No matter. The special effects were rudimentary but effective. What character development was all that was necessary. The prom scene was fine and the face off between Carrie and her mother was even more depressing yet horrifying than I remembered. 

I think one of the other surprises was how pretty Sissy Spacek was in this role. It made it seem even more sad what Carrie went through. That's accurate to the book, by the way!

I guess what I'm saying is that I have an updated opinion of this movie. It's simple, to the point, and just fine. It's certainly not incredible by my definition, but it's horror, so it gets the job done and freaks you out. Worth watching.

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