Carrie

The king froze me with how he drove Carrie towards the magnificent finale without any signs of emotion or understanding, only occasionally peeking into her thoughts and wrapping everything in almost documentary form. De Palma and Cohen do it exactly the opposite way. Carrie becomes a supernatural being, not belonging to the ruthless and cynical world around her. Her feelings, whether it's anger, astonishment, or joy, are the main driving force of the story, which, thanks to its brilliant form, elevates the story almost to a message. The original and the adaptation are ultimately quite different, yet they easily won my favor. 85% (06/09/2008)

The ending was changed and the plot was chewed to the bone, but even so, the film Carrie does not owe anything to the book version. Brian de Palma is great and the way he shot the prom scene blew my mind. But his Carrie isn't just about a bucket of blood. Far from it. The dispute between the daughter and the mother is portrayed so engagingly, is so visually striking and underlined by Donaggio's beautiful music, that it is not boring for even a moment. And I don't need to tell you that Sissy Spacek is unique in the lead role (but she is). (20/03/2013)

DePalma is a demon and his shot composition should be considered a national treasure. In some shots (like the opening prom) he goes from almost a panorama to a medium close-up of a character the shot ends up following, which must be a real art, considering almost everything in that shot is in motion. Sissy Spacek is ingenious, and it's by working together with the director that they are able to create in record time a solid relationship between the main character and the audience such that it’s a wonder they don’t clap along with the audience as Carrie and Tommy become the queen and king of the evening. Not to mention that we all know how it's going to turn out anyway. Otherwise, the De Palma-esque tension here isn't even based on when things break and Carrie wipes out the school, it's based on Carrie losing all illusions and going from feeling absolutely happy to the very bottom, which no one wishes for her. An awesome King adaptation that's only killed by five additional endings (the movie should have ended imho either like the book or, if there's no money, by leaving the prom) and the occasional haha scenes like something out of Grease. Anyway, I'll give it a five for the directorial bravura. (01/06/2011)

The first King’s film adaptation turned out to be quite good, great, in fact (which is something you can’t say about most adaptations of his books, but let’s be happy with the few good ones – and when the stars align, they can be great). For most of its runtime, Carrie is a drama rather than horror, but the tension escalates with every minute and and it keeps you expecting something unpleasant coming. The story is quite predictable (and it must have been so even in the 70s), but that’s well compensated by the psychology of the characters – the mother is especially good. PS: At least one and a half stars go to Sissy Spacek, she’s great in the role. (22/05/2008)

Absolutely brilliant in its direction, Brian De Palma's style is incredibly progressive and purposeful, at times, it feels like being on a roller coaster. It starts with a phenomenally shot scene in the showers, continues with several silent scenes (only music and image), and ends with the division of the screen into several frames and the sped-up voices of the actors. Insane, but incredibly daring. Some of the script tricks are hard to understand, but the story itself is relatively simple. However, it is the director's skills that truly stand out on this relatively flat and straightforward film. Sissy Spacek is not particularly terrifying, and even the final scene did not make me cover my eyes – although it is impressive, no doubt. However, there are several significantly better adaptations of Stephen King's books that easily overshadow the slightly above-average Carrie. (30/01/2007)