Halloween Countdown: #5 Carrie
Narrowing down my films to just five has been hard. It turned out that I had about seven/eight favourites, but being the perfectionist I am, it had to be either five or ten. Besides, I'll give honourable mentions afterwards to the films that didn't make the cut. But, to get the ball rolling, I settled for Carrie (1976) for No.5.
AT THIS POINT, I HAVE TO SAY: SPOILER WARNING!!
Carrie is an amazing high-school revenge film with a nice twist of horror and the supernatural. I think Sissy Spacek portrays downtrodden, abused Carrie White wonderfully. She's an extremely sympathetic character and I genuinely feel for her as I watch her having to suffer the systematic abuse from her peers at school as well as from her religious nut of a mother. The poor girl is relentlessly tormented, yet she still retains her softness throughout the majority of the film. Luckily, she has decent support in the form of teacher Miss Collins (named Miss Desjardin in the Stephen King novel) and their interactions in the film are really lovely to see. There is one particular scene where Miss Collins sticks up for Carrie that is extremely satisfying; that is the detention scene with the girls who tormented Carrie in the showers after she panicked about getting her first period. Miss Collins lambastes the girls for acting the way they did, then informs them that their detention will be spent doing gym with her; if they refuse to take part then they receive three days' suspension and refusal to the prom. The incentive to carry out the grueling detention works with all but one of the girls. Chris Hargensen, the token high school bitch, eventually rebels. This rebellion earns her a swift slap across the face from Miss Collins (which is a long time coming!) and sets her on her path to create more misery for Carrie. However, Miss Collins' words seem to get through to one girl, Sue Snell, who then decides to try and redeem herself by asking her boyfriend Tommy to take Carrie to the prom instead of her. Miss Collins is naturally sceptical about Sue's motive, but eventually decides to let it play out. I just really love the fact that Carrie has a defender at school. Miss Collins is tough but fair and the confidence boosts she always tries to give Carrie are well needed; the scene where she encourages Carrie to attend the prom is a great example of this. Miss Collins is really the mother Carrie deserves to have, which makes her fate towards the climax of the film so hard to watch.
As nice as it was to see Carrie have at least some support at school, sadly there's no-one to help her when she's at home. At this point, I'd like to say kudos to Piper Laurie who plays Margaret White. She really gets the crazed, religious fundamentalist character down to a tee. In a nutshell, everything in the world seem to be a sin in Mrs White's eyes. She neglected to tell Carrie the facts of life but when Carrie asks why, she gets the Bible thrust in her face and ordered to recite "Eve was weak". Mrs White then proceeds to tell Carrie that her period (or the "Curse Of Blood") is divine punishment for Carrie being sinful. There's no dressing this up; Mrs White's attitude and treatment of her daughter is just plain disturbing to watch. Puberty is a crazy enough time as it is, throwing a mental parent with a ridiculously strict moral code into the mix just makes that phase of life almost impossible. The tension throughout the Whites' scenes is so strong - you can actually feel the anxiety building inside you as you're willing Carrie not to say/do anything that could set Mrs White off. The atmosphere or terror in the White household makes Carrie's decision to tell her mother that she's attending the Prom, and also that she "can move things" (telekinesis), all the more gut-wrenching. Margaret freaks out enough over the normal things in life, so this revelation of Carrie's is guaranteed to crank the craze-o-meter right up! Despite her mother's adamant objections (plus a cup of coffee thrown in her face), Carrie stands her ground and doesn't let her mother take over and beat her down for once. Although I believe Carrie's new found confidence in herself mainly stems from her powers, I like to believe that Miss Collins' influence and encouragement has given Carrie a stronger sense of self-worth. Despite the feelings of euphoria that are created from seeing Carrie defy her mother, the audience can sense that the rejuvenated Carrie isn't going to last long. Before she sets off for the Prom, Carrie's mother warns her that it's all going to end badly and that everyone will laugh at her attempts to fit in. It sounds like sour grapes and bitterness, but it's not that far from the truth.
So, off Carrie goes to the Prom with date Tommy Ross and I have to say that Carrie looks beautiful. She's glammed up for the night like all the other girls. I think the first half of the Prom scene really tugs at the heartstrings because, for once, Carrie is one of the crowd. It's as if Carrie finally fits in somewhere and she's relishing every moment. I have to hand it to Tommy too, as he really goes all out to make Carrie feel comfortable. He spends a lot of his time trying to coax her out of her shell and it finally pays off when he persuades her to dance with him. The dance scene is another one of my favourite scenes purely for the temporary feel-good emotion it generates. I think the song fits the scene perfectly too, so much so that I downloaded it after I'd watched the film. The lyrics, I think, echo Carrie's thoughts perfectly: "I'm afraid 'cause it feels too good and I want it too bad" I think this is the ideal notion of 'too good to be true' for Carrie. She continually questions Tommy while they dance, about why he asked her to the Prom. After her initial reservations, she now wants to believe it's because he genuinely likes her, but is worried that she's getting carried away in the moment. Part of her just doesn't believe it's really happening to her. But these next lyrics pretty much sum the entire evening up for Carrie:
So come on, let's dance
Let me have it while I have the chance
'Cause there's another world
Where there are other girls
But tonight there's only me
I never dreamed someone like you
Could love someone like me
Let me have it while I have the chance
'Cause there's another world
Where there are other girls
But tonight there's only me
I never dreamed someone like you
Could love someone like me
Yes, this perfect night was never going to stay perfect. Earlier on, Chris Hargensen recruited boyfriend Billy (John Travolta everybody!) to help her sabotage Carrie's night at the prom. They'd killed a pig, drained it's blood and rigged a bucketful of it in the gymnasium, directly above the stage. Chris has also enlisted best friend Norma (P J Soles) to fix the voting for prom King and Queen so that Carrie and Tommy win. The ultimate plane is for them to get on the stage so Chris can pull the rope and dump the bucket of pig's blood all over Carrie. For a moment, it almost looks as if the plan is going to be foiled when Sue Snell (who's covertly slipped into the Prom to make sure it's all going well for Carrie) realises the booby-trap and tries to expose it by warning Miss Collins. Unfortunately, Miss Collins believes Sue has barged in to cause trouble and swiftly ejects her. Seconds later, Chris pulls the cord and the bucket tips over Carrie. This is the catalyst that triggers Carrie's massacre. While Chris and Billy make a hasty exit after a job well done, Carrie descends into a homicidal rage. Fully embracing her telekinesis, Carrie traps everyone inside the gymnasium and proceeds to tear the place apart. One of the most heartbreaking scenes is when Carrie decides to include Miss Collins in her murderous attack. Every time I watch this film,, I will Carrie to spare her because of her genuine compassion towards Carrie. It just feels so wrong that Carrie decides to take out one of the only people who genuinely cared about her. Other deaths aren't so tragic; a huge cheer goes out when Carrie upturns the car that Chris and Billy in. But after annihilating everyone at the school, Carrie makes a return home - but the drama isn't over yet.
Carrie eventually returns home, truly devastated at how the evening turned out. She cleans herself up and reunites with her mother. Margaret pretends to comfort her, but ends up stabbing her. Margaret is convinced that Carrie's power come from Satan and sets herself of eradicating her. During the attack, Carrie uses her powers on her mother and ends up telekinetically crucifying her in the kitchen with knives. This scene is a nice imitation of the crucified figurine that exists in Carrie's prayer closet. It's an unsettling sight, but very well done. Soon after Mrs White's death, the house begins to crumble. Carrie releases her mother and pulls her body into her prayer closet, with herself. The house collapses and burns to the ground, presumably killing Carrie. The next scene is one of Sue Snell, who was the only person to survive the prom massacre due to her ejection, dreaming about visiting the site of Carrie's house - and thus comes Carrie's infamous jump scare. As Sue lays flowers, Carrie's bloodied hand comes shooting out of the ground and grabs her around the throat. I think for first time viewers who have remained spoiler-free, this jump-scare is brilliantly effective. Actually, even on repeated viewing, I still sometimes misjudge the timing and still end up getting that major jolt of fright. The last shot is quite a juicy beyond-the-grave attack which unsettles the viewer as much as it does Sue. As closing scenes go, it's certainly memorable!
All in all, I think Carrie is a fantastic film that convincingly portrays the notion of the underdog getting even. I'm sure that a lot of us have gone through that phase in school where we so desperately wanted to hit back at our peers. I, for one, can relate to a lot of Carrie's misery and I can't help but feel immense pleasure when she eventually cuts loose. Of course, this feeling of mine is a knee-jerk one that is strictly related to the fictional premise. As it stands, the majority of people Carrie killed were innocent; in fact, the film suggests that the mocking laughter she endured after the pig's blood stunt was in her imagination; this is supported by the shot of Miss Collins laughing at her, but we know by Miss Collins' previous dealings with Carrie that there's no way in hell she'd have found her distress funny. In fact, it's my belief that Norma and her friends were the only people that genuinely laughed at Carrie. I just feel so much sympathy for Carrie throughout the film that I can completely understand her reaction to the latest prank. Everybody has their breaking point and they lash out when it's reached; the lasing out in this story just so happened to have a supernatural element to it, but the message is still the same.
Carrie isn't a terrifying film, more a tragic story of a tormented girl who finally decides enough is enough. There really is no happy ending here, but it's one of those compelling films that I will never tire of watching. The cast really give the characters believability, Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie in particular.
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