Carrie (1976)

I wanted to watch a good Stephen King adaption and naturally leaned towards The Shining as it's some of King's and director Stanley Kubrick's best work. But I watch The Shining all the time, no matter what time of the year it is. My choices narrowed because King adaptions are notoriously hit or miss. I finally decided on De Palma's Carrie since it had been well over 10 years since I last watched it. A damn fine choice, I think.

Like so many horror movies in the 70s, we get promiscuous teenagers, bullies, and blood, all filtered through King's typewriter and De Palma's lens. It's a testament to them both that the movie holds up so well nearly 40 years later, despite the weak plot. On the surface, Carrie is only mildly interesting. A young girl develops telekinetic powers... that's pretty much it. But it's the layers and messages underneath that are most interesting: lost innocence, abuse, coming of age, and more.

Carrie is a girl who has it pretty bad: her mother has all but lost her mind and she is socially awkward and endlessly bullied by her peers at school. Bullying that goes way beyond the "get stuffed into a locker" variety. Consider this iconic opening scene: Showering in the gym. The camera caresses her skin, close shots of arms, breasts, legs, observing innocence in its purest form. And then she gets her period. She has no idea what's going on but her cries for help only get her pummeled by tampons as the girls chant "plug it up, plug it up." De Palma isn't exactly subtle with some of his themes, but they are effective.

This bullying coincides with her "becoming a woman" which coincides with her developing powers of telekinesis. The supernatural powers could be a metaphor for anger, or learning how to stand up and fight back. Emotions that could easily spiral out of control, and in Carrie's case very much do.

What helps this film stand the test of time is not so much the story but how De Palma chooses to tell it. He's one of my favorite directors because he's not afraid to experiment with visual techniques in the camera or in the editing room. The famous prom scene is a perfect example. How the camera spins relentlessly around Carrie and her date. How he uses split screen to draw us further into the action. Visceral and edgy, even by today's standards. The extra cherry on top is the casting. It's all perfect, but I especially enjoy seeing John Travolta smacked around and called a "stupid shit" over and over again.