Brian De Palma's adaptation of Stephen King's horror classic gave society the iconic scene of Carrie White (Sissy Spacek) becoming the victim of the cruel prank of having pig blood is dumped on her at the High School Prom. The meek, abused girl then retaliates by decimating her classmates with her telekinetic powers.

What is often forgotten about this movie is the overwhelming anti-Christian bigotry that permeates the production. Carrie White is the victim not only of arrogant classmates but also of her psychotic, fanatic mother (Piper Laurie).

Carrie's mother is an insulting caricature I call the American Zealot, a character that has developed over the past forty years. The American Zealot is generally a southern Baptist type who is all fire and brimstone and no Heaven. They are the wild-eyed, intolerant and often violent Christian bogeymen that secularists warn are living under our cultural beds. You don't have to take a theology seriously if you can hype it up to ridiculous levels and then point to it and say "see, they're all dangerous crazies."

The film itself hasn't aged well at all. There has been a change in film making since the 1970's and those changes are very obvious in this case. The very intentional plotting, the twenty-odd-year-old actors pretending to be teenagers, the music. It all has a warped after-school special vibe that undermines any potential horror the film would otherwise offer.


Related Reviews:
Stephen King Movies
The Mist (2007)
The Shining (1980)


Other Critic's Reviews:
DVD Authority
11th Hour Reviews



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Labels: film, John Travolta, movie review, Sissy Spacek, Stephen King