Carrie

Rating:
Summary: They're all gonna laugh at you!!!!
Review: It was watching this movie for the first time as a young lad that I learned what a period was. What a way to start a horror movie! I was never so confused and scared in my life! Watch for John Travolta at the end of his Vinnie Bobarino days. The girls are cute for the most part, but doesn't that girl ever take that cap off?? She even wears it to the prom? Of course the last scene is what everybody loves. At first I didn't like the 'split-screen' effect, because back in the day, you missed someting, but now with DVD and VHS, you can watch one side, rewind and watch the other. That mother's a nut. Watch for those 'dirty pillows'.

Rating:
Summary: Great Value
Review: "Carrie" is definitely one of the best DVDs I own in terms of value. Rarely do you find a DVD at this price with great extras, picture, and sound, but "Carrie" definitely succeeds in this department.

The film is both entertaining and disturbing. Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie received well-deserved Oscar nominations for their excellent performances. Brian De Palma achieves excellent direction en route to one of the most memorable climaxes in cinema history. The score compliments the film well, although some of the 70's music is rather cheesy at times. Overall, a great, entertaining movie on a great DVD.

Rating:
Summary: A great horror movie and a great DVD
Review: Loaded with material (although not a DePalma commentary), and containing a great film besides, this movie's a bargain.
First, the movie itself. "Carrie" is one of those movies that really captures high school in a nutshell. From the opening sequence, DePalma shows a willingness to display the beautiful and the ugly side-by-side. The opening sequence is loaded with beautiful young women running around in various states of undress...followed by one of the most stomach-churning scenes of social abuse and rejection ever put on the screen (for my money, "plug it up" is up there with "squeal like a pig" in terms of a phrase loaded with horror.)
But DePalma doesn't get lost in the social aspects, he knows he has to create more than just social horror. He also delivers the standard violence.
None of this would have worked without Sissy Spacek, who both looked the part and anchored the movie with her vivid and believable performance. This movie also marks the first and only time Travolta's ever been convincing as a bad guy; his character here is a small part, but frightening and, in a lot of ways, accurate. This launched them both into wider success, it should be noted, not to mention being good for DePalma.
Here is a good segway to get into the disc. It has features like "Acting Carrie", a short but informative chat with Spacek and others, and a couple of other featurettes that could stand to be longer but don't skimp on the honesty or information. There's even a small bit on "Carrie: The Musical", probably one of the more misguided Broadway stage shows. No clips of the songs, unfortunately, but at least this disaster is being acknowledged.
The transfer is sharp, and the audio mix is wonderful. This movie is a bargain, and should be in your collection, even if you're not a horror fan.

Rating:
Summary: explosive, righteous climax
Review: Perhaps the best King horror movie, with an explosive, righteous climax anyone who ever felt like an out-cast will fully relish. Check out the tense swirling prom dance, John Travolta as a meanie, and Brian De Palma's show-stopping camera gymnastics. Sissy Spacek won an Oscar nomination as the tormented telekinetic.

Rating:
Summary: The most heartbreaking of horror films
Review: I was like her once.... Maybe that's why this movie is so heartbreaking for me to watch. Its whole buildup to the inevitable climax at the Bates High School prom is so expertly constructed out of plot devices, stellar character development, and amazing visual style that we are helplessly swept out to sea by the undertow of our love for the title character. Carrie White (flawless Sissy Spacek) is so wonderfully innocent and remarkably performed that we have no choice in the matter. We are like her prom date at first: Sort of iffy, but then we can't help but adore her. And we can't help but empathize with her because of this grotesque life that she is forced to lead by her pamphlet-pushing religious radical of a mother (the outstanding Piper Laurie). The scenes between the mother and daughter in this film are the key to its satirical elements, as well as giving us a crucial understanding of Carrie's mind. We know why she's so shy, so emotionally distraught, because we would be too in her situation. The very first scene between Spacek and Laurie is a virtuoso, not so much of acting as being the characters, embodying them so fully that all traces of the actresses disappear. They are the key to the entire film; that and Brian Depalma's incredible visuals, which inject every last bit of fear into our veins. Depalma comments on one of the DVD documentaries that he had more time to toy with the visuals in "Carrie" than in any other movie he made. It shows. His POV and incredibly detailed crane shots are why certain scenes work at all. By seeing what these characters see, it becomes easier to understand why they act the way they do. Some people might criticize for the excessive use of slow motion, calling it overkill, but it does volumes for the buildup to the climax, which is so powerful with its harsh, constant musical undertone that I dare call it one of the best, most disquieting scenes ever filmed. As Carrie's dark and ruthless use of her telekinetic powers practically rules her body as she wreaks havoc, if not for the sounds of the film itself, you could hear a pindrop every time I've watched the film with company.

The film begins with Carrie in the far corner of the screen, awaiting a volleyball toss that she will miss, provoking insults from the girls in her gym class. Then we are shown the locker room in what would have been an exploitation shot if not for the fact that the music and slow motion camerawork make it seem so beautiful. But we are also put on our guard because of this shot, which shows full frontal nudity; frowned upon in most corners of cinema. However it makes one thing clear: This is a director who will do anything. All the "Halloween" cliches are not to be found here. There are no cheap shocks. Everything is crafted with only the purpose of building tension, from the blood cascading down Carrie's leg in the shower to one of the single best crane shots I've ever seen, where our fears are allowed to build and build to the breaking point, only to have them build some more before the final purge. The parallel stories of a revenge plot and Carrie's being asked to the prom by the most popular guy in school take the film along at the exact pace it needs, and the intercut scenes with Carrie and her mother supply the emotional center for the film, which rests with our love for Carrie: A character so sweet and unassuming that the slow motion approach to the stage brings a smile to our faces too, even though we are terrified of what awaits her. Therein lies the power of the film. The more we love Carrie, the more we hate her antagonists and feel hurt that they would be so cruel.

"Carrie" is quite possibly the single most dramatically sound horror film ever made. It maps out its characters so vividly and realistically that we never question anyone's actions. There's none of those traditional "She's so stupid!" remarks you hear in so many a horror film audience. "Carrie" is the real deal. A film that builds an entire house made out of brittle cards of terror, stacking it up until it falls and our fears are realized. There are no scenes of ridiculous scares or people jumping out of the closets to scare their buddies. Depalma recognizes these kind of devices for what they are: Useless. His film is a superb example of how many ways a story can go right, and it is a masterpiece that I am proud to place very high on my list of favorite films.

Rating:
Summary: Almost Exactly the Way I Imagined the Book.
Review: My review is titled that way for a reason. I can still remember picking up the book for the first time when I myself was in high school. Although I laugh at most modern horror movies, due to the fact that it's fairly easy to see just how cheesy the special effects which are supposed to scare us really are, I didn't laugh at "Carrie". That's probably a good thing too.

Some of the movie's scenes, as they are described in the book, are still with me now, as though I'm recalling something I actually lived through rather than my favorite parts of a work of fiction. Watching this movie reinforced that deja vu-like feeling in a tangible way for me. And it made me feel thankful
that I never had experiences like Carrie's when I was in school.

All the scenes I remember most vividly from the book are in the movie: the terror and humiliation the other girls inflict on Carrie in the locker room; her abusive, religious zealot of a mother, played brilliantly by Piper Laurie. The destruction of the prom is made that much more believable by the effective use of glaring red light, split screens, and the voices of the people Carrie hates the most being played over and over again like a false mantra. Maybe one of the reasons I didn't go to my own prom was that I was unconsciously afraid that something like that would happen. Maybe I enjoy Stephen King a lot more than I care to admit.

Rating:
Summary: I absolutely loved it.
Review: Comming from a 13 year old, I absolutely loved it,I really think Sissy Spacek was a wonderful part in this movie. I saw past the looks and I actually really think she was really beutiful, call me blind but I really hate the end, It made feel so bad, This movie was filmed in my hometown, her House was in my town but unfortunatly they tore it down, damn it!

Rating:
Summary: carrie is a great movie
Review: the movie carrie is a very good movie and it is also a very sad movie. Carrie is about a girl who no one likes and she discovers that she these powers and she kills every one at the end

Rating:
Summary: A sharp dose of sensuality and scares, De Palma style
Review: "Carrie" gets the royal treatment here: great print, lots of extras. Especially recommended to those who have seen only the edited network-TV version of this classic. Wait'll you see the punch this original cut packs in terms of adult content and scares. Say what you want about De Palma, but the man is daring and refuses to bore his audience.

Rating:
Summary: Horror classic
Review: This Brian dePalma smash hit has become a horror classic. And rightly so! The story is about a teenager called Carrie who gains telekinetic powers through her harrowing adolescence. The reason that this movie was so far ahead was the fact that it made the viewer question whether the victims were completely innocent. Various acts of cruel torture inflicted upon Carrie by her peers are visually arresting, with one being known as the second most famous shower scene in all of film (the first being Marion Crane's death in 'Psycho'). Adolescence is shown for the horror that it really is, making us think whether all those popular girls from other horror flicks were as sweet and nice as they really looked. This certainly sets it apart from many other such movies.

The acting is also fantastic, with Sissy Spacek as Carrie and Piper Laurie as her obsessive mother being especially impressive. We also get to see a young John Travolta in one of his early movie roles, as the boyfriend of the most popular girl in school. Each character is fleshed out, and it's a credit to the director that the audience feels such a mixture of feelings for every character. For instance, the kindly P.E. teacher is overheard sneering at Carrie's trauma, a mean girl ends up crying and a popular girl tries to do her best to get Carrie a date for the prom. Meanwhile, Carrie herself is a mixture of burnt up rage from years of oppression and a secret desire to be a part of the crown that she abhors so much.

Plus, if you like your scares, then there are plenty here. Carrie's mother is absolutely terrifying in her absolute certainty that she is doing the right thing by her daughter. The end scene especially will make you jump out of your seats and you're constantly left wondering what will happen next. All that and there's a great score. It is simply magnificent and a milestone in the horror genre.