Carrie, Stephen King’s novel about a teenage girl, the victim of mass bullying at school and an abusive, religious fundamentalist mother at home who develops telekinetic powers with which she wreaks revenge on her tormentors is, in my opinion, one of his best. The book is superb, high praise from me considering I’m not much of a Stephen King fan, but equally superb is Brian De Palma’s 1976 big screen adaptation.
Carrie is so much more than a horrific story of a girl doing unspeakable things with only the power of her mind. You’d be forgiven for thinking, in the heat of the culmination of her supernatural vengeance, that this is the horror of the piece. Her violent retribution is certainly gruesome, there’s no doubt about that, but the true horror of Carrie’s story is not her telekinetic power. It’s the horror of the abuse she suffers from those around her who have no special powers, or indeed anything unusual about them at all.
Nancy Allen is the ringleader of the school bullies who are making Carrie’s life hell. Like all bullies, she’s unable to accept responsibility for her own actions, an attitude which proves rather costly…
What King and De Palma both capture with laser precision is the sheer despicability of human beings, the vile, grotesque way in which we treat each other for no real reason other than they’re different in some way. The bullying she suffers at the hands of her school mates is one thing, dehumanising and undignified, and the lengths her school nemesis is ready to go to in order to make her suffer are sickening. Here’s the reality of all human evil, an inherent need by some to see others suffer.
Worse still are the abuses handed down to her by her mother, a woman screwed up by her own demons, unable to get over her abandonment by her husband and who has chosen to channel this self loathing against her daughter. Domineering, brutal and unforgiving, Mrs White (an intensely sinister performance by Piper Laurie) personifies the evil that grows from weakness and selfishness, a woman who seems to survive by oppressing her daughter and making her suffer.
Carrie’s mother is at the root of her problems. Her maniacal religious fundamentalism is its own brand of evil.
Given the abuses visited upon her, it’s little wonder that Carrie reacts the way she does, her rage and frustration manifesting themselves via the medium of her particular gift.
The performances are excellent throughout, Sissy Spacek is excellent in the lead and Nancy “Lewis From Robocop” Allen is equally good as the vindictive leader of the pack of school bullies who is hell bent on making Carrie’s life a misery. John Travolta manages to make an appearance too in this damning indictment of the cruel and vindictive nature of human beings, and the everyday horrors we visit upon one another.
A pre-Scientology John Travolta manages to get a look in too…
In 1999 we were treated to a dreadful attempt at a sequel (read: rehash) and this year sees a “reimagining” starring Chloe Grace Moretz in the lead which might be alright, but does seem a trifle pointless given the quality of the seventies original. I’ll reserve judgement on that one until I see it. In the meantime, De Palma’s film will do just nicely thanks.
Highland Fidelity 