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Carrie
Withdrawn and sensitive teenager Carrie White faces bullying from her classmates and abuse from her fanatically pious mother. When she begins to suspect that she has supernatural powers, things take a dark and violent turn.
1976 · Directed by Brian De Palma · 98 min · Horror · Thriller · Screenplay in the scene database · 24 frames
Tagline
If you've got a taste for terror...Take Carrie to the prom!
Plot
16-year-old Carrie White is a shy high school student who is frequently bullied by her peers. When Carrie experiences her first period while showering after gym class, she panics, having never been taught about menstruation. Her female classmates laugh and throw tampons and sanitary pads at her until the gym teacher, Miss Collins, intervenes. Her abusive and religiously fanatical mother, Margaret, tells Carrie that her period was caused by sin and locks Carrie in a "prayer closet" to pray to God for forgiveness. At school, Miss Collins reprimands Carrie's tormentors by punishing them with exercise detention, threatening to suspend them, and revoke their prom tickets if they refuse. Carrie's longtime bully, Chris Hargensen, eventually refuses and gets banned from the prom.
Plotting vengeance against Carrie, Chris and her delinquent boyfriend Billy Nolan break into a farm and slaughter pigs to drain their blood into a bucket, which they place above the school's stage in the gym. Carrie realizes she can control objects with her mind when she is upset. She learns that her abilities result from telekinesis and begins researching books on the subject. Sue Snell, a classmate who feels remorseful for her part in bullying Carrie, asks her popular athlete boyfriend, Tommy Ross, to invite Carrie to prom. Carrie believes the proposition is a prank, but he insists it is genuine, and she eventually accepts. When Carrie informs her mother that she plans to attend the prom, she angrily forbids her. Despite her protests, Carrie rebels as Margaret witnesses evidence of her daughter's telekinetic powers, denouncing Carrie as a witch corrupted by sin.
During prom, Chris and Billy hide under the stage while her best friend, Norma, and other conspirators switch the ballots to ensure Carrie wins the Prom Queen title. As Carrie stands onstage with Tommy, finally beginning to feel accepted by her peers, Sue realizes Chris and Billy's plan and tries to intervene. Miss Collins spots Sue and, thinking that she is plotting a prank, throws her out of the prom. Chris and Billy douse Carrie in pigs' blood before sneaking out of the school. The empty bucket hits an angered Tommy on the head, knocking him unconscious. Norma begins laughing with other students, causing Carrie to hallucinate that everyone is mocking her, believing it was their plan all along. She telekinetically seals the exits, and the students are attacked by a fire hose, injuring several and killing Norma. A falling basketball backboard crushes Miss Collins after she and the students attempt to carry Tommy's body, and Carrie electrocutes her principal and English teacher, one of the two bursting into flames, setting the gym on fire. She exits the burning school and seals the doors behind her, leaving the trapped staff and classmates to die. As Carrie walks home, Chris attempts to run her over, but Carrie causes the car to swerve and roll over. Carrie ruptures the gas tank, and the car explodes, killing Chris and Billy.
Plot summary from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA.
Crew
- Screenplay: Lawrence D. Cohen
- Cinematography: Mario Tosi
- Edited by: Paul Hirsch
- Music: Pino Donaggio
- Produced by: Paul Monash
Cast
- Sissy Spacek as Carrie
- Piper Laurie as Margaret White
- Amy Irving as Sue Snell
- William Katt as Tommy Ross
- John Travolta as Billy Nolan
- Nancy Allen as Chris Hargenson
- Betty Buckley as Miss Collins
- P. J. Soles as Norma
- Priscilla Pointer as Mrs. Snell
- Sydney Lassick as Mr. Fromm
Production
- Country: United States of America
- Language: English
- Studios: United Artists
- Budget: $1,800,000
- Box office: $33,800,000
- Themes: high school, child abuse, based on novel or book, isolation, cemetery, stage, bible, telekinesis, teacher, revenge
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