Carrie

One of the best horror movies ever made, and the one that made DePalma a superstar director for the next few years (although he had already made the excellent Sisters). Based on the book by Stephen King, I’m sure you know the story: Carrie White is a poor misfit that everybody shits on, until she’s invited to the prom by the high school jock and it all turns to hell when the popular girls pull a prank on her and douse her with pig’s blood. The movie is stylish as hell, DePalma pulling all the stops when it comes to the third act in the prom, double-cutting, quick editing, etc. The music is excellent, and very much inspired by Hitchcock’s regular musician, Bernard Herrmann, whose music was used by DePalma in Sisters. The acting is great. John Travolta and Nancy Allen are great as airheads, and Amy Irving and William Katt are great as the good-hearted popular kids. Sissy Spacek is excellent of course, showing a lot of vulnerability and making you feel her plight, and as her powers evolve, so does she, although personally I feel she’s too attractive for the role. But of course, it’s the great Piper Laurie, as her psychotic religious mother, who steals the show. I’m amazed at how over-the-top she took it, and I believed every insane moment she was in on. In the end, one of the greatest horror movies of all time.