Carrie (1976) starring Sissy Spacek

Unlike Carrie, Edie's character was probably upper-middle class & didn't have a religious fanatic for a mother.

Fat funny girls find their niche sometimes

She's really attractive

She was the dealer.

Poor Barb.

This film is a masterpiece. The prom scene was the best.

Sue Snell and her 70s perm.

Short shorts.

Saw it over and over as a kid. It's a true unblemished genre classic

Here's Edie all grown up:

Edie had the best glasses--that's why she was so popular.

It's Edie McClurg and she is FABULOUS!!

She was the DUFF

As r13 said, she was the DUFF. And sometimes the popular kids let in an ugmo if they’re really clever or cruel. They can’t think of all the taunts themselves because they’ve never experienced it. And fat girls know where all the vulnerable places are.

It shows too what people considered to be a fat kid in the 70s. Compared that to now.

OP, a lot of times in popular girl circles, there is that ONE friend who is butt ugly, yet somehow still popular. She is one of those girls. The one who will never be as popular as the others but is still part of the group.

Carrie is a classic and De Palma is an underrated genius, but I like Dressed to Kill, Blow Out, Body Double, Carlito's Way and (especially) Femme Fatale way more than I like Carrie.

William Katt was an underrated hottie.

Betty Buckley was marvelous as the tough as nails, but sensitive gym teacher. She stole every scene she was in. It’s too bad that Jane Lynch wasn’t cast as the gym teacher in the “Carrie” remake in 2013. She would’ve been brilliant in that role.

Best musical score ever in a movie, IMO (by Pino Donaggio.) Besides maybe Hellraiser and Shawshank Redemption, anyway.

She was up on the cool kids' lingo.

This movie really is a masterpiece and actually improves upon the novel. I think Stephen King agrees. Taking out the white commission subplot and silly prologue with the falling stones, etc. helped the film a lot. It's interesting that both remakes (the 2002 TV movie and the 2013 big screen version) tried to incorporate more elements from the novel and failed to make very interesting movies. De Palma was the absolute perfect director to bring this to life with the perfect cast. Literally everyone in this movie is perfectly cast.

Plus, the new ending they came up with for the film has ended up being one of the most memorable (and most copied) endings of all time. So scary and haunting. It's also a much meaner film than the novel. It's implied that Carrie killed everyone at the prom (including the kind gym teacher), whereas, in the novel, there were quite a few survivors. Sure, Carrie got to continue her rampage around the entire town in the novel, but it wasn't as effective.

The one thing I never understood was how Piper Laurie made Margaret White such a memorable, funny, terrifying creature and, yet, Patricia Clarkson and Julianne Moore - two brilliant actresses - barely even register in the same role. Laurie really deserved that Oscar nom. She went for broke and, after seeing other people play that role as more toned down, it was obviously the right (and only effective) way of playing that role.

I could talk about this movie for days.

the slo-mo lead up to the blood dump is perhaps the most brilliant piece of mis-en-scene ever committed to film. Sublimely choreographed. Donaggio was never better. He is just as much a genius as De Palma. I listen to his soundtracks incessantly, especially: Dressed to Kill, Blow Out, Body Double, The Howling, Damned in Venice and Don't Look Now.

You know, there's just something about the cynical, media-saturated age we live in now that has all but decimated the possibility of gothic genre films like this being made. It's sad.

R18 Agreed! He was also great in the movie House and the show Greatest American Hero. I still love the admittedly cheesy theme song that still comes on the radio from time to time.

yes r23!!! Great post!!!

and before it goes slow motion that whole scene where they are collecting the ballots is one long shot done without an edit.

Brilliance. And the split screen could have been so cheesy but it worked so well. I love how at one point Betty Buckley looks up at Spacek in horror and in the split screen shot of Spacek she glares back at her and actually seems to let her anger go from 100 to 150%.

all around great film making.

De Palma was masterful with those split screens. They shouldn't work but they build tension beautifully. I don't think any other director could get away with that. That whole prom sequence really is one of the perfect set pieces in cinema - photography, music, acting, editing, everything. It engages so many primal emotions.

the moment when Amy Irving is just about to stop the whole blood dumping and Betty Buckley swoops in and pulls her away just like a second before she could have saved the whole school is just so suspenseful and well perfect.

Loving this discussion! I used to think that killing off the gym teacher in the movie was just mean-spirited considering she lives in the book, but these posts make sense.

There's a reason that prom scene has been parodied so many times. It's a very unique kind of horror, I think. It isn't a jump scare or even suspense -- WE, the audience, know what is going to happen before everyone else does, and it makes us feel awful about it.

I sort of love how Carrie pointedly kills the gym teacher in the movie. If I were a lawyer prosecuting the case I'd charge Carrie with first degree murder for the gym teacher and a lesser charge for the others because she is acting out of shock and self-defense.

But the way she moves Betty Buckley out of the little group carrying out William Katt throws her up against the wall and then crashes the basketball net on her....wow. And Buckley screams out Carrie!! Carrie!! indicating she knows Carrie is doing this. And then Spacek glares at her even more with such pure rage (she trusted the gym teacher and felt the most betrayed by her) and then Nancy Allen watching Buckley get killed and then looking at Carrie indicating Allen has figured out Carrie is somehow doing this!!! Wow. Talk about keeping the narrative thread going.!!!!!!

R18s picture is weird — Katt has blue eyes

I might have known they would be blue.

Ok bitches you can’t go this long in a post about this film and mention how brilliant our stealth DL icon SISSY was as CARRIE. No one else could’ve pulled of the necessary delicacy and innocence in 1976. You HAD to be on Carrie’s side

I love Spacek's story of how she thought she'd be doing DePalma a favor by starring in the film since she was the more respected name at the time. Her husband got hired as the Art Director and Spacek read the script and said tell Brian I'll do it if he wants. She thought he'd jump at the chance to have her but Depalma was casting more based on the character in the book where she is initially fat and kind of more repelling to people. He thought Spacek was too sympathetic and didn't really want her. Spacek said she went to the audition all sulky and kind of sad and feeling like they didn't really want her......and that vulnerability and rejected quality was perfect for Carrie. Depalma says after she read it was obvious he had to hire her and all his other ideas went out the window.

Was Melanie Mayron considered for the role ever? She was kind of who I picture when I read the book. She was totally the type the book described. (this was before Mayron's make over in the eighties and weight loss and plastic surgery.

Spacek's performance is really what elevates the movie to the realm of genuinely tragic.

R33 good post. IMDB says de Palma originally wanted Irving as Carrie. Ugh can you imagine? This IMO was the only role Nancy Allen was decebt in

Correct me if I’m wrong but I don’t think Hitch ever used split screen though I feel like he was thisclose to. Of course De Palma famously used the technique in SISTERS before Carrie. De Palma may have used the technique as a crutch in fact

Amy Irving was only offered the role in her ego. She went to the famed duel audition for Star Wars and Carrie. She wanted either Carrie or Princess Leia and got neither.

The person Brian De Palma was thinking of hiring before he settled on Spacek was a somewhat obscure actress named Betsy Slade.

He saw her in something and wanted her but then after seeing Spacek's audition that idea of casting the other woman seemed ridiculous and totally wrong so I changed his mind and cast Spacek.

Best scene in the film in the movie imo

And I somewhat disagree that the film was all that well cast

Other than Spack, Dewhurst and Travolta (and arguably Buckley and Allen) the rest of the cast was serviceable at best

^^he changed his mind!!! I had nothing to do with it!!! I was in my playpen at the time.

r38 is eliminated from this discussion for confusing Colleen Dewhurst with Piper Laurie.

Travolta is a bit hammy and over the top in it and Irving is strangely comatose at times.

The others Katt, Buckley, Norma, the adults: the creepy English teacher and forgetful principal, Nancy Allen, Edie McClurg, even William Katt's friends and the girl who is nice to Carrie when she first enters the prom are all really good.

Was Amy Irving dating Spielberg when Raiders of the Lost Ark was made? it says they married in 85 but they must have been together longer. He was her date to the Yentl Oscars.

She must have been so mad not to be cast as Marion if she was. They picked Karen Allen who always seemed a lot like Irving. Throw in Brooke Adams and there was a whole bunch of very similar types who were popular back then.

Jesus Cristo de Santo d’Jesus r40. Give me another chance! My posts have been interesting. I was thinking of cronenbergs THE DEAD ZONE. I fucked up

R37, I'd still love to see future Professional Smartass Carrie Fisher's audition for "Carrie"!

Because the one thing Carrie White can't have is a sense of humor. A person who could laugh at her troubles, or the absurdity of life in general, doesn't go all Carrie White.

Amy and Spielberg met on the set of carrie and started Fucking shortly after. De Palma invited Spielberg to the carrie set to check out all young hot ass on set and Amy was the only one who said yes to steve

Lol r44

R42 I think SS met capshaw duribg Indy 2. Neither Capshaw or Irving are good actresses as SS is obviously aware . Karen Allen and Brooke Adams are very similar and both much better actresses than Irving

Nevemind r42 you weren’t talking about capshaw . I’m ate up

Capshaw isn't really a good actress but she was oddly appropriate for the damsel in distress role in Temple of Doom (I know a lot of people - Spielberg included - hate that one, but it was a childhood favorite).

piper laurie::::brilliant as mommy

alltime scariest momma huh

THE MAKING OF CARRIE (1976)

look that up on you tube. very fun

sissy

before and after nose job

miss bangs

her look has awys been so.....cartoony.

I loved Piper as Margaret White.

R28, I don’t think the prom scene has ever been “parodied.” Some filmmakers have paid homage to it, like Sofia Coppola in The Virgin Suicides, and it was heavily referenced in Hole’s Miss World video but parodied? I’m not so sure.

R54, it was parodied in an episode of Tiny Toon Adventures.

R37, Betsy Slade was a young actress featured in a 1974 film called Our Time, that also started DL fav Pamela Sue Martin and Parker Stevenson. The film was set in the mid ‘50s at a girls school and revolves around their sexual awakening, etc. Slade poignantly played an ultra-pathetic girl - skinny, homely looking, etc. - named Muffy who’s encounter with a boy while on a double date with Martin, leads to her eventual demise; while on a double date with Martin (who was a bit of a Sue Snell) she is pressured into having sex with her date in the back seat of a car, thinking this is what all the other girls are doing. In reality, they are not. This encounter leads to Muffy being pregnant, seeking out a back alley abortion (with Martin’s help) and eventually dying. Slade was very good as this sad, pathetic girl, very sympathetic but would’ve had only one note to play as Carrie White.

[quote]Correct me if I’m wrong but I don’t think Hitch ever used split screen though I feel like he was thisclose to. Of course De Palma famously used the technique in SISTERS before Carrie. De Palma may have used the technique as a crutch in fact

Hitch never used split screen, but I'm completely not convinced De Palma used it as a crutch. In fact, it's one of the things that makes him an outstanding director.

Recently I was watching Carlito's Way on some cable channel, and I was impressed at how De Palma seemed to shoot certain scenes as if they were split screen, even though in fact they weren't. What he did was have one thing going on one side of the screen while something else was happening on the other - but they were both in the same frame.

I searched to find an example to show you what I mean, and while I couldn't find one from Carlito, I did find one from the police department scene from Dressed to Kill. On the right side of the frame is the son listening to the conversation going on in a closed room on the left side of the frame. Both are in the same shot, but the effect is similar to split screen but not as obvious.

Highly recommend Noah Baumbach’s and Jake Paltrow’s documentary, DePalma. He talks about all of his films.

Yes, R32! For sure. I always think the great thing about Spacek is that she set a high bar in two different genres that set a standard of performance that has never really been equaled, in the horror genre with Carrie and in the musical biopic with Coal Miner’s Daughter.

Piper Laurie has said that at first she thought [italic]Carrie[/italic] was a comedy.

That would explain her performance.

Eatin’ a sleeve of saltines in my underwear watchin’ Carlito’s Way

Anybody see the bleh sequel featuring Carrie's younger paternal half-sister?

McClurg was way too fucking old looking to play a student. She looked like one of the teachers. Awful casting.

[Quote] Anybody see the bleh sequel featuring Carrie's younger paternal half-sister?

Nope.

R41 & R42 I recently re-watched The Fury and was unimpressed by Amy Irving (and the movie in general, nowhere near as terrifying as I remembered it). She is both comatose and irritating at the same time. I remember when I watched Micki and Maude thinking how stupid Dudley Moore was to fuck things up with the fabulous, funny and sexy Ann Reinking for boring-ass Amy Irving.

R62 Are you having cheddar slices with those? I swear sometimes there is NOTHING better than plain old saltines and cheddar. Wash it all down with some oj. Yum.

I went to the mall in my town where Carrie was playing and after a few attempts was able to get the one sheet out from the theater's display stand. I put it up in my bedroom until my mom made me take it down.

[quote] Anybody see the bleh sequel featuring Carrie's younger paternal half-sister?

Though they weren't nearly as good as the original I do like The Rage Carrie 2 and the 2002 TV Movie. The 2013 remake not so much, as Julianne Moore was terrible as Margaret White.

Thanks for the response and excellent comment r57

I think Altman used that technique you’re describing as well (maybe in THAT COLD DAY)

I will take back the crutch comment because De Palma used the technique effectively

Edie was twenty-five when she did "Carrie." One of the critics at the time complained that most of the high school students in the film already looked like they had graduated from college.

[quote] One of the critics at the time complained that most of the high school students in the film already looked like they had graduated from college.

but they do look slightly younger than the cast of Grease.

r57 and r70 - that's a technique using what's called a split diopter. It's a glass attachment that's make the camera lens technically half "near sighted". it basically bisects the focus to create that effect you're discussing. DePalm was visionary with it. And used it as a device to plant easter eggs or subtle action in some of his later movies. For instance, in Dressed To Kill, when Kate Miller finally approaches the stranger outside the museum and falls into his arms in the cab, just in the foreground you can see the glove she just threw away being taken by Bobbi.

Another freaky subtle effect in the Prom devastation scene is where that simpering teacher played by Sydney Lassick defies physics and somersaults backwards from the electrified microphone, then is pinned up against the screen on the stage - the whole thing going up in flames as he gasps for air. It literally is only 3 seconds but my god does it add to the overall impact.

Go to 6:27 at the youtube clip to see what Im talking about.

Did Katt’s character survive the prom?

R66 = Ann Reinking

No, R74.

R73, I just wish he hadn't used the split screen in that scene. I think I read somwhere that even De Palma later admitted that was a mistake. And he did perfect the split screen technique in his later films, particularly in Femme Fatale. Sissy Spacek's expression when she fully registers that blood has been dumped on her is sad and disturbing.

It's one of the few horror films to get Oscar noms. It had to have done something right. Sissy Spacek is brilliant in the title role and so heartbreaking. You just want to hug her. If I recall, the character in the novel probably brings a lot of it on herself. She seemed a bit uppity and angry. I want to say there was some backstory where she told all the kids they were going to hell for not being like her and her mother when they were in elementary school or something. One could see why all the kids would hate her. Spacek and the filmmakers make her out to be much more of a victim, which works beautifully.

Laurie did originally think she was in a satire and I think that adds to the feeling like Margaret is in her own world. In the other versions I've seen, Margaret is depicted as almost as depressed and world weary as her daughter and there's no danger. By infusing Margaret with this demented, religious joy, Laurie really brought that character to life and made her unforgettably terrifying. I still see people laughing at some of her more bizarre scenes, but I think it's more of a nervous "Jesus, this woman is insane" kinda laugh.

R78, completely right about Laurie. And it was great Sissy Spacek was cast in the movie since she is an odd beauty. De Palma really has a gift with actors, especially considering a lot of the time, he is not even given very good ones. He is not the kind of director who sneers at actors. And you're right about the novel too. In it, she Carrie is just so self-loathing and repulsive.

I love this movie but i don't find the prom scene terrifying at all: i wanna scream YOU GO GURL at Carrie! sweet revenge!

It's weird that De Palma has never been considered an actor's director because his films are so exquisitely visual. He usually manages to get great performances out of his actors. It might have been William Katt who said that De Palma staged a week or two of rehearsals with the actors before the cameras rolled and that they were free to ask him any questions and play around with stuff, but once the cameras started rolling, all questions were off and it was all about the visuals and the camera. Sounds like a great way to do it.

Look at the terrific performance he gets out of Angie Dickinson in Dressed to Kill. Wonderful stuff and a lot of it is just her reacting to everything around her. In the script, De Palma put in voice overs for her character that he knew he'd never use so it would give Dickinson exactly what her character was thinking at every turn. How brilliant!

I love this movie, and watch it every year. Fantastic performances and the casting was top notch, wasn't it? I can't say enough good things about Betty B, Piper, and Sissy as leading ladies. BRAVO!

R75 Nope!

I should've killed myself when he put it in me. After the first time, before we were married, Ralph promised never again. He promised, and I believed him. But sin never dies. Sin never dies. At first, it was all right. We lived sinlessly. We slept in the same bed, but we never did it. And then, that night, I saw him looking down at me that way. We got down on our knees to pray for strength. I smelled the whiskey on his breath. Then he took me. He took me, with the stink of filthy roadhouse whiskey on his breath, and I liked it. I liked it! With all that dirty touching of his hands all over me. I should've given you to God when you were born, but I was weak and backsliding, and now the devil has come home. We’ll pray.

...about Edie McClure: I always imagined she was the "decoy" friend of the cool-girl group, and probably had a rich Father or Step-Dad and younger (overly permissive) Mother or Stepmom so the group of girls used her stately home and likely HUGE bedroom as the "do whatever we want" or "sneak out" hang-out spot and went on shopping sprees/lunches with Edie reluctantly picking up the tab and playing Mother Hen to the others.

Like "JAN" in Grease or even a bitchy (chubby-dork) version of "Frenchie" in Grease... but without the street smarts. Or-? If her she had easy access to Rx drugs, an older college brother with hot (frat boy friends) or quality booze -or even if she was sexually experienced and knew the right doctors for birth control or abortions--that could carry a certain amount of clout and popularity with the other girls who were in relationships or slept around. My sister had a friend who was like that. NOT PRETTY -or SWEET, but rich (for our smallish-town), knew how to fall in line, and looks-wise had an over-fussed up "cuteness" with trendy makeup and hair (which was always).

Unlike Sue Snell, the Edie character knew how to properly play a sidekick role to Chris. Edie never challenged Chris and was complicit in all Chris's dumb stunts -no matter how cruel or tedious and she enjoyed the perks that went along with "inner-circle" knowledge and rank... with a "Better them than me!" attitude -right up until it killed her.

Also, Chris (as played in the movie) wasn't interested in real friendship or having "friends" - she just wanted a fan club, and Edie was likely a good "fan/friend" to Chris -who likely thought Edie was pathetic and made fun of her every chance she got behind Edie's back. I got a bit of a lesbian longing from Edie too - and if party-girl slutty Chris picked up on that? Edie would be someone she could manipulate and bend to her will using her sexuality as a weapon - like what she'd do to Travolta's character, only Edie wasn't the violent brute he was -and Chris wouldn't ever actually sleep with Edie... but I'll bet she wasn't above letting Edie think she might.

now I have to watch this film again. All I remember was the bloody prom and my brother used to get excited about the opening scene of untamed 70s bushes on high school girls in the locker?

What the fuck was de palmas fascination with Nancy Allen? Such a terrible actress. Were they ever married?

Btw, Sissy was 25 in this movie too but looked younger

R69 I think Judy Greer was another actress who was terribly miscast as the gym teacher in the 2013 theatrical remake because she just seemed rather dull.

I was actually more impressed with Rena Sofer as the gym teacher in the 2002 tv remake, because she seemed to have the same kind of toughness as Betty Buckley did in the original movie.

I honestly don't get the appeal of Judy Greer, but yet she seems to show up in every single movie that comes out. She's even playing Jamie Lee Curtis's daughter in the new Halloween movie. Ugh!

Yes, r88.

Yes, R88, Brian DePalma was married to Nancy Allen from 79 to 83.

R89 I know what you mean about Judy Greer. If you haven't seen it yet, you should watch the episode of Arrested Development where Will Arnett tries to fuck her. Hair up, hair down, glasses on, glasses off...none of it works for him.

This movie unleashed the meme that started school shootings.

Whatever Judy's appeal is to directors is a huge mystery to me, R92. Honestly, I would have loved to have seen Danielle Harris play Jamie Lee Curtis's daughter in the new Halloween movie, since they both got their start in a Halloween film, and they both did four other Halloween films. Plus, it would have been a treat to see those two work together for the first time.

Edie McClurg, one of the all time biggest cunts in show business. Yeah, I worked with her and don't remember a single kind moment along the way. Just a shrew.

She seems like 10 lbs of insecurity in a 5 lb bag, r95.

5 lbs? Quite a bit more, dear

I actually thought Nancy Allen was a charming actress. I'd never want to see her play Medea or anything, but her cute girl next door routine worked well in De Palma's films. And she's one of the least offensive aspects of Poltergeist III.

I think she's really excellent as the hooker, Liz, in Dressed to Kill - tough, but vulnerable. I also think she's heartbreaking in Blow Out, but I can see how that's a performance that could divide people. She can probably come across as dumb and annoying to some.

I watched the censored TV version as a kid and it freaked me out.

My mom, seeing a teaching moment--and having a perverse sense of humor--summed it up as the credits rolled, "See, that's what happens when you make fun of people."

R98, Pauline Kael described her as a "comedian" in Dressed to Kill and she's completely right. She had the funniest moments in the film. I'm specifically thinking of the scene in the movie where she's talking about what they do to a man's penis when he gets a sex change operation and the older woman at the other table gives her the dirtiest look you can imagine.

Eve was Weak!

Nancy always got a bum rap as the Director's Wife. I always thought she was perfect for a lot of things. And sexy as hell. Funny, I was JUST writing that Kael liked her too when R100 beat me to it. Great minds and all that..

"Blow Out" is great work too.

Edie McClurg looked more like the Carrie in the book.

Paul Kael just wanted to sissor. Nancy couldn’t read lines for shit. Keanu bad. Rebecca fucken Pidgeon bad

CASE CLOSED

CAPISCE?

Vera Hruba Ralston bad, r104?

All of the central characters had what Pauline Kael described in her review as "a whopper crop of hair" except for Carrie.

For you elders, was prom clothing really that bad?. It’s not a period piece so I imagine the clothes at a real prom was even worse

WEHT Katie Irving?

Loved the squelchy synth music during gym detention exercises. It felt like an afterschool special. Even at a screening in a theatre. Was fun.

R102, indeed! Carlito's Way is a great film, but I think Nancy Allen would have been a better choice to play the love interest. The chick who did end up playing the love interest was very sympathetic but she wasn't convincing when she stripped and tried to come off as sexy. Nancy Allen would have been.

My mom wouldn’t let me watch the movie even though I was 4 when it came out. Bitch.

Carrie is one of those movies where every single thing about it is just right. I've seen i countless times, and it's not Sissy and Piper and Betty and Amy and William. It's Carrie and Mrs White and Miss Collins and Sue and Tommy. I get drawn in every time.

Piper Laurie's husband at the time was Joe Morgenstern and he was the film critic of The Village Voice.

He knew DePalma's work from "The Phantom of the Paradise" and told Laurie DePalma makes horror films that are sort of funny. So she arrived thinking that was what she was doing. At her first rehearsal with Spacek she was shocked at how seriously Spacek was taking the role. She called her husband and said I don't think this is a comedy. She decided to dial it back a little and be somewhat serious but keep some of the over the top stuff----and that's how one of the all time great film performances was born.

R113, her husband was right though--De Palma's horror movies all have their funny moments.

No mention of the great PJ Soles as Norma and her baseball cap wearing ass?

After Carrie killed her, Michael Myers took her out two years later in Halloween.

Piper Laurie, one of the all time most tragic Oscar losses in film history. That iconic performance (and Jodie's in "Taxi Driver') lost to dull as dirt Beatrice Straight.

Straight's win is kind of a head-scratcher. Dunaway I understand, she's very good in the film, but why was Straight's slip of a performance deemed worthy of a nomination, let alone a win?

I think Straight just rode the Network wave to a win. (and she is quite good in her brief scene.)

Carrie was too much horror film and Taxi Driver too violent and dark. The Academy was still pretty conservative back in 1976.

Piper was robbed. It was a staggering performance.

I once met Betty Buckley and asked her about the laughing at the prom scene. She said she didn't want to do it at first but DePalma assured her there would be a special effect that would make it clear Miss Collins wasn't really laughing. (but not everybody got that and she said she gets asked that all the time.) I remember debating this on the sadly now gone IMDB message boards. Lots of kids see the movie and ask why Miss Collins joined in during the laughing.

R120, I don't understand how anyone could NOT pick up on the fact that it's all in Carrie's head. In the book, though, everyone does laugh at Carrie.

but has de palma done anything good since them films bak in them days?

Well a lot of teens and kids discover the movie and don't get all the details.

Nancy Allen was extremely sexy and fuckable..I could tell even as a very young gay.

Plus Nancy Allen would do the full frontal nudity. Not all the auditionees would.

Count me in a another fan of Nancy Allen. She's also great in Robocop and one of my favourite music films, I Wanna Hold Your Hand.

R122, I would argue that Dressed To Kill, Blow Out, Body Double, Carlito's Way and Femme Fatale are all classics (I have yet to see Casualties of War). Nothing De Palma has done after Femme Fatale is worth watching.

I wish the Roseanne re-boot would update the classic episode when Roseanne got hooked on BINGO. Edie was the star of that episode.

And a total cunt in the episode too. The closest to what she is like in real life of all her characters.

Another posted once of being in line with her and telling her he liked her work. She literally just glared back and turned away. I totally believe it after working with the creep. She was just awful. I was soooo happy watching her getting burned alive in "Natural Born Killers" though.

A "Sue Snell 'Perm' . . . "?

Then this must be a "John Peters' 'Perm'."

Sissy Spacek made me weep for her, again and again. I just watched another clip of her, and I lost it, all over again, and it's been over 30 years since I saw the movie.

I distinctly remember going to some Disney movie or child orientated film at a local theater and they actually showed the Carrie trailer before it. I was like 5. (I think later on they made sure the trailers matched the rating of the film.)

Anyway that terrorized us kids. I was afraid of that bloody Sissy Spacek image for years. (until I actually was old enough to see it and found her sympathetic.)

Ironically, the ugly large eyeglass on Edie in the film are now a 'must have' accessory for fashion conscious women.

I remember as a kid wondering the same thing about how Edie got into the cool crowd. Had she lived I think the character would have become the Ginny in billing of that small town.

I can remember Siskel and Ebert picked Carrie as one of the 10 movies that forever changed the movies. (due to the final jolt at the end of the hand coming out of the grave.)

That then became normal and every movie had to have that one last jolt.

I've read theater owners discuss how they would literally be such a jolt of screams and gasps at that ending that you'd literally feel the walls of the theater shake.

I was born to late. No movie had that affect on me.

[quote] I've read theater owners discuss how they would literally be such a jolt of screams and gasps at that ending that you'd literally feel the walls of the theater shake.

I saw it its first week with two friends who'd already seen it the day before. They kept going on and on about the ending but wouldn't tell me what it was. As we waited in line in the lobby we heard the whole theatre shriek. My friends said, "okay it just ended, we'll be going in soon"

[quote]Lots of kids see the movie and ask why Miss Collins joined in during the laughing.

Lots of people voted for Cheeto too. They’re dummies. De Palma is auteur at the top of his game in CARRIE and rightly trusted his instincts

Carrie is playing at laemmle NoHo on April 29 if anyone wants to see on big screen

PJ Soles FTW. Is a great film

As a teen I shot many a load watching the John Travolta blowjob scene.

[R84], ooky spooky. I'm going to paste it and memorize it. In case I meet somebody I find uninteresting. I'll recite the whole thing to them. ;'}

Margaret White was what did it for me. She was just like my mom.

R140, And I was always amazed at how well Chris could say "Oh Billy! I hate Carrie White!" while she had his dick in her mouth.

I had a friend that really thought Miss Collins was laughing. I couldn't believe it. After everything that we've seen about the character how could anyone believe she would be laughing? They also show the principal hysterically laughing which he would never be doing as well as Tommy's friends who we just saw pissed off. I always thought the movie did a great job of showing that it was mostly in Carrie's mind.

she wasn't sucking it, she was looking at it.

R144, some people have no idea HOW to watch movies (thanks to the BS garbage Hollywood spews out and the decline of good film criticism). It's interesting to note that in the book, everyone really does laugh at her. The book is much more depressing than the movie.

do they all have fro's in the book?

Sissy should have kept her original nose. It wasn't bad at all. They took way to much of it off.

R120 In the DVD commentary it's mentioned that Betty Buckley dubbed in the voice of the little boy who taunted Carrie - "Creepy Carrie! Creepy Carrie!"

Here's a very clear example in Carrie of why Miss Collins (and everyone else - except for PJ Soles) isn't laughing at Carrie at the prom:

When Nancy Allen & John Travolta, who had been under the stage, exit from under there, the [bold]only[/bold] sound you hear is the two of them (including the sound of Travolta hitting his head on the cymbals).

In other words, the room is perfectly quiet.

[quote]I'm specifically thinking of the scene in the movie where she's talking about what they do to a man's penis when he gets a sex change operation and the older woman at the other table gives her the dirtiest look you can imagine.

To change the subject, that scene in Dressed to Kill is another example of what I was referring to in my post at R57 re De Palma playing around with the concept of split screen without actually using it. In that scene, Nancy Allen & Keith Gordon are having a conversation about sex change on one side of the screen, while on the other side of the screen is the table of older women behind them, notably the eavesdropping woman slowly getting nauseous from overhearing the conversation.

Sadly, R127 is right, De Palma has most definitely not made a good film since Femme Fatale. But the second half of Passion does have its moments.

Some other people are laughing. When Carrie starts closing the doors, you can see some of the students laughing. It's not shown through the prism like the other scenes that give you Carrie's distorted view.

[Quote] Honestly, I would have loved to have seen Danielle Harris play Jamie Lee Curtis's daughter in the new Halloween movie, since they both got their start in a Halloween film, and they both did four other Halloween films. Plus, it would have been a treat to see those two work together for the first time.

I don't mind Judy but i do agree it would have been nice to see Danielle play the daughter instead.

[quote]Did Katt’s character survive the prom?

As in the book, he died when the bucket hit.

[quote]I just wish he hadn't used the split screen in that scene. I think I read somewhere that even De Palma later admitted that was a mistake.

DelPama was lauded for his split screens. Unless you have a link I don't believe it.

[quote]I saw it its first week with two friends who'd already seen it the day before. They kept going on and on about the ending but wouldn't tell me what it was. As we waited in line in the lobby we heard the whole theatre shriek. My friends said, "okay it just ended, we'll be going in soon"

There are things you experience in life that just stay with you. Watching 800 people all scream and literally rise up out of their seats in unison and then filling the theater with embarrassed laughter will always be one of them.

De Palma critiques his use of split screen in the prom massacre on the Carrie DVD interviews (which they ported over for all the Blu-Ray releases, as those documentaries are excellent). He said he felt it was a mistake to use split screen in a big action sequence. Maybe he's right. Who knows what it would have felt like without the split screen. Maybe it was good to give us a distancing device during that scene. He apparently only shot certain bits in full screen and the rest was shot with split screen in mind, so they couldn't change it because there would be camera equipment and grips in the corners of the shots.

The split screen was much more effectively used in SISTERS

Sisters scene

More

There are only 2 mistakes in Carrie. The split screen is one and the blood when the bucket is dumped on Carrie. She should have been drenched. She looks drenched in some shots, but initially the corn syrup just looks weird.

The BUCKET killed Tommy? Really? I though if he died it was bc of the fire

I think the blood placement on Carrie is good. Iconic in fact

I thought the split screen was extremely effective.

I love it's theme song. Didn't it win an Oscar. I used to sing it a lot replacing 'lady' with 'faggot':

Could it be That the faggot is me In the photograph...

The making of the film.

Apologies if this has been posted already.

They should have cast Piper opposite Sissy in the film adaptation of ‘Night Mother’!

Actually she would have been all wrong...but would have loved seeing them team up again.

I do think De Palma uses split screen better in Sisters and Dressed to Kill. Split screen is usually best when it's used to present a whole lot of information at a time. It makes that one scene in Sisters unbearable suspenseful seeing Jennifer Salt and the cops come up the stairs as we see the two baddies trying to dispose of the corpse. It's nail bitingly suspenseful.

It also speeds things along in Dressed to Kill when you see Nancy Allen going about her evening and Michael Caine going about his. Saves a lot of time.

It doesn't work quite as well in Carrie, but I love all the split diopters. They also save time, because you don't have to get a whole lot of coverage. You can show two things going on, completely in focus, at the same time. I recently saw a lot of that in the last Chucky movie of all places.

Bancroft was all "right", r163?

That shot of the dancers in that creepy sequence in "Sisters" still freaks me out. For all his flaws, DePalma was a true original.

(I know, bring on the Hitchcock quips in 3, 2,...)

I thought Melanie should have been up for Best Supporting for "Body Double". Especially her scene where she lists all the things she won't do in her porno work -- the perfect use of her little girl voice. "No S&M or any variations of that particular bent..."

That was a damn heavy looking bucket which fell from a decent height. It’s extremely likely that Tommy was killed by the impact of it hitting his noggin.

[quote]She seems like 10 lbs of insecurity in a 5 lb bag, [R95].

We in the industry call that a Blivett.

Not just insecurity. There was a weird "mean dyke" vibe from her all the time too. Even when there was no tension in rehearsal, she was still always pissy. I was thrilled when she signed on, even more thrilled when she quit and was replaced by a much nicer actress.

Later I found out the theatre was a major Ground Zero for Milt Katsalos (sp?) and Scientology so who knows... maybe she was part of that too. But I can't confirm since nobody EVER mentioned that religion to me the entire run.

R74, Tommy's dead before he hits the floor. That bucket, still partially filled with blood, kills him. In the book, it's more graphic. Most of the blood is still frozen and the bucket comes down and the bottom lip of the bucket comes right into contact with Tommy's skull and cracks it. That image has never left me.

Wasn't Carrie fat in the book? Ala Annie in "Misery"?

[quote]Wasn't Carrie fat in the book? A

Sissy was bloated for a couple days. Does that count?

Meaning she weighed 100 pounds and not 98.

Tommy doesn't die instantly in the movie from the bucket like he does in the book.

Buckley is seen giving him first aid (she's a gym teacher, they taught first aid back then too) and then she and a bunch of kids try to carry him out right before Buckley is pulled away from the group and killed by Carrie.

If he were already dead Miss Collins would have been able to tell that and she and the other kids would have left him on the floor.

P.S. I love how Buckley grabs that one girl who is getting hysterical and shushes her as she tends to Tommy.

the one little mistake that bothers me is how the blood spill sort of misses Spacek and only hits the back of her head. I don't think she would become drenched in it like she did.

I wonder if they only shot the blood spill once? They would have had to clean and redress Spacek and redo her hair for every take.

I know once they did apply the blood all over her Spacek slept with it on so the makeup people didn't have continuity problems the next day.

I was an usher at a movie theater that showed it. We were instructed to open the doors when the credits started rolling. It was easy to know when the credits were going to roll in Carrie because the audience always screamed when the hand reached up from the grave.

nothin palma did after BODY DOUBLE was worth a plub nickel

I once saw the actor who played the mean teacher who gets electrocuted by the wet microphone trying desperately to get into the Oscar party after the ceremonies (he had been in "Cuckoos Nest" too but this was years later -- but only seven or so). They wouldn't let him in. Fame is fleeting. He was begging too and so embarrassed.

Hard to believe folks STILL think Buckley is laughing at Carrie even after we see her trying to help Tommy and his hurt head. But guess they do. The ending is done so well because it isn't telegraphed either. It happens at an odd time with the music too. ()The sad music that sets us up so well).

ewww he cast Rebecca romaine lettuce in Femme Fatale....fatal!

Is it true they filmed an ending with Sue Snell showing up at Carrie's house to ask her why she did it? I think in the remakes or TV version they did that. I thought I read Amy Irving filmed scenes like that but Depalma cut them.

I don't see how that would fit into the plot. Did Carrie kill her too?

You bitches are gonna MAKE me put this on tonight, you know that, don't you. I know right where it is on my "Oscar shelf" too.

R180, at the end of the book, Sue Snell has her period.

here is a 40th anniversary interview with some of the cast (Piper but no Sissy)

shockingly the first question is did they really laugh?

I just watched the 2013 remake with Julianne Moore. Hoo-boy was that lousy.

I can't believe how dumb the two at r183 are.

Betty Lynn needs to smack them upside the head.

If only DePalma had somehow managed to work in an equally nude locker room scene for the guys.

Imagine William Katt’s big blonde bush and they guys playing grab ass and snapping towels at all the bare asses.

So Edie shaves 8 or 9 years off her age. She was older than the teacher, Abby Bradford.

Katt showed ass at least a year or so later in "First Love" with Susan Dey. I had the hots for him but it was a short ride for his career. Though they are remaking "Greatest American Hero", damn.

I don't think he was nude in that r188. I remember watching it on HBO as a teen and being annoyed that Susan Dey was constantly naked and he gave us nothing.

Julianne must agree with r184 because I don't think she did any press for the film (at least any I can find online anywhere.)

I like the host in that link at r183. Who is he? TCM needs to call him.

I think this was after “Carrie”.

Completely fake. That’s not even his chest.

Edie's character wasn't a babe, but she was part of the "in" crowd that always picks someone to scapegoat, like poor little Carrie.

I liked the movie. Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie were wonderful and the prom scene with Carrie and Tommy twirling around was unforgettable. And I thought Nancy Allen was very effective and the mean girl Chris.

But I thought the scene where Carrie imagines all the prom goers laughing at her was pretty dumb. In the book they DID laugh at her, out of shock and hysteria. She did NOT imagine it. I have no idea why Brian De Palma made that change. It didn't really make any sense.

Really, Rose?

^that’s for R193

The remake totally sucked, it was too self aware to the point it wasn't scary at all and front loaded with too much content versus context. The revenge sequence lacked subtlety and it reminded me it's the things you DON'T see that often make things much scarier.

Chloe Grace Moretz is set to butcher another scary 70s classic soon, in the role of Pat Hingle in the Suspiria remake originally played by Eva Axén.

That pic of Katt looks legit to me.

There have been THREE film versions of "Carrie"; the Brian De Palma film, an execrable two part tv movie and a shitty film remake. And the ghastly Broadway show, one of the legendary theater flops of all time.

Disagree strongly with the above comments about Amy Irving. Okay, so her performance is not showy in the way that gets nominations. But I don't think Sue needs to be the center of attention. Also her unearthly beauty, especially in those closeups in the prom scene, are a part of what makes that scene so perfect. I was not old enough to have seen Carrie in 1976 but I remember very well Irving being in every other movie for a while up through Yentl, so perhaps I am nostalgic.

Sue is easily the weirdest character in the story. Even King never really believed she was without blame and always questioned if her motives were pure or not. I do love that the film ends with one of the few people who tried to do something nice for Carrie haunted for the rest of her life by her choice. It's a rather dark ending when you think about it. No good deed goes unpunished.

I remember relating to the ending very much as a teen. Just the way Sue Snell's mother minimizes the whole thing...."the doctor says she's young enough that in time she'll forget the whole thing......no I wouldn't let her go to the funerals.....with Tommy and all the others gone it is best we just go away for awhile".................then bam Irving wakes up screaming and petrified and it is obviouse she will be haunted by this foreever. I mean her whole school died and they just think a vacation will cheer her up?

This does sound a lot like the way parents and medical people thought back in the 70s. Teen angst was just silly and something you outgrew. Carrie kind of gave voice to how most people are deeply affected by their high school experiences and that shapes who they are.

It paved the way for movies like The Breakfast Club and Ordinary People where teen problems were shown to be real.

I often fantasize bout anges the fab moorehead playin carries MOMMA.

Bitch! Don't you ever tell me to stick the remaining 10 minutes of detention up my ---!

Seriously, why was "ass" censored in the theatrical cut of the movie?

Two things funny about the above clip:

1) They could never get away with that scene today.

2) In real life 2018, the Buckley character would get a jail sentence for assaulting Nancy Allen.

Carrie is one of my all-time favorite movies. I've seen it countless times, (although it's admittedly been a few years since the last time), but I one time I could tell it in detail from beginning to end. But I believe there was one major flaw that always bothered me. And I could never figure out if, indeed, it was a flaw, or intentional. But IF intentional, what was the intention?

The first time I saw the movie, I was convinced Sue Snell was in on the plan with Chris, and her nightmare at the end was the result of her guilt for having partaken in it. But then every review I read stated that Sue was a sympathetic character and was genuinely trying to help Carrie. So the second time I saw it, I paid more attention to Irving's performance. The turning point was the "plug it up" scene. Snell is playfully jeering at Carrie like everybody else, but by the end of the scene, her face has changed to revulsion and you can tell she has suddenly become deeply ashamed at her own participation. When the gym teacher rounds up the girls and starts lecturing them, Nancy Allen is acting very selfish and entitled, but Irving is resigned as has a kind of "I deserve this" look. And then she quickly loses patience with her bf Nancy Allen when Allen tried to get her to join her in protest. So yeah, she definitely was sympathetic and sincere in her attempt to help Carrie out. But the scenes of Amy Irving coming up with her idea and trying to convince her bf, William Katt, to ask Carrie to the prom, are intercut with Nancy Allen putting together her evil plan for revenge. How could the Nancy Allen character come up with her plan if she didn't know Carrie would agree to let Tommy take her to the prom? The only way would be if she was in cohoots with the Amy Irving character. But Sue had earlier made it clear she wanted nothing more to do with Chris. So the way the scenes are edited, (Amy Irving lovingly begging William Katt to consent while studying in front of the tv, Nancy Allen going down on Travolta in the car to convince him to help her with her plan), makes Sue's motives very unclear.

Did anybody else catch that?

Thinking too much r206. Film by its nature need shortcuts

I think it's more believable that most were not laughing. It also makes it all more tragic. Of course if it happened now they all would have stopped to take out their cell phones.

I always believed Amy Irving was good as Sue Snell and portrayed her as a sympathetic character. I also believe her jewfro was au naturale.

Indeed watched it again last night and there is no denying that every actor in it does a great job. Including Edie McClurg, as much as I dislike her in real life. Every cutaway to her, she does something interesting. And, to answer OPs original question, I'm sure she was with the in crowd because she was funny.

I bet Edie loved that opening sequence because she (wrapped in a towel) gets a nice long exchange with fully naked Nancy Allen. A lot of people would love to be in that position. By the way, I once talked to Nancy Allen too on a restaurant deck, motivated by a mutual friend on a show I was working on. She looked great (this was '85 or so) and was a little frosty but nice enough. Easy to forgive because I had accosted her in public, although not for an autograph or the like. We indeed tried to hire her for the show and her agent said no way in hell.

They tried to update things in the 2013 remake, but they didn't do much with it. Chris really gets in trouble for filming the "plug it up" scene and uploading it online. They also tried to update the story in the 2002 version where Carrie uses an internet search instead of looking for books on her powers. It gives us the brilliantly hilarious exchange between Carrie and Margaret where Carrie says "I read about it on the internet" and Margaret turns with her best Faye Dunaway as Joan Crawford glare and spits out "the interneeeeetttt?????" Hysterically funny to me for some reason.

"And, to answer OPs original question, I'm sure she was with the in crowd because she was funny."

There are little bits that play at this - with them at the beauty salon under the hairdryers, and PJ Soles yelling at her "Helen! HELLLLEN!!" and then knocking on the dome of the dryer and Helen screams cartoonishly "WHAT?!"

Or when they are all laughing at Carrie after the blood dump, there is a split second shot of Edie laughing so hard she almost falls backwards.

That's another De Palma hallmark. Inserting these fleeting moments of comedy amidst the darkness. Like the screamers in Blow Out (though that ultimately gave the movie its darkest twist of irony). Or even in Dressed to Kill when Nancy Allen makes it to the subway after being chased by the thugs and runs right into the cop. She tells him about the guys chasing her but when the cop looks all he can see is a frumpy bag woman boarding the train.

God, I 've seen these movies too many times.

I think there is no question that Sue is good. The whole sequence leading up to the bucket of blood is about Sue's apprehension of what is going on and then trying to stop it (her running over to the stars, resisting Miss Collins attempts to throw her out, etc.)

Carrie would be like sue if she had a normal mother

Sissy is very pretty as Carrie. As de Palma knew, this make her story more tragic to the audience (rightly or wrongly)

Same reason Kubrick didn’t cast someone traditionally pretty as Wendy Torrance. He didn’t want the audience to sympathize with her

"I think there is no question that Sue is good."

R206 here.* I agree. But that's where the flaw comes in. How could Nancy Allen's Chris possibly have formed her plan? There's no way she could have known Tommy asked Carrie to the prom, and that Carrie accepted, which Carrie did at the last minute when Betty Buckley assured her it'd be okay.

*R206 again. Just want to apologize for my original post being so rambling and full of typos. It was late and I was falling asleep while typing.

The hairdresser scene is great, especially with P.J. and her red cap on top of her hairdryer. Loved the casting special on the DVD where P.J. admits she wore that red cap in the audition and Brian told her to be sure and bring it along for the shoot. And how she got more screen time and mileage when she used her cap to hit Carrie after she fucks up the volleyball game.

I also loved Amy (who is fun in the special, to my surprise) talking about how that volleyball game was a nightmare because nobody could get it over the net. They had to find one or two who could actually play and concentrate on them. Pretty funny.

And, yes, Edie almost toppling while laughing at Carrie is a great McClurg touch. The movie is full of them, including her tears at potentially losing the prom tickets.

I hope “It Hurts To Be Strong” will be included when Riverdale does its take on Carrie: The Musical. I gather after the Broadway flop it was replaced by another song. Too bad. It’s a strong pop ballad and a good character song for Sue.

Sorry, here’s a link to the song. There’s a bunch of dialogue before it, though:

[quote]I just watched the 2013 remake with Julianne Moore. Hoo-boy was that lousy.

Carrie flies out of the gym in the remake. CARRIE WHITE DOESN'T FLY! Asshole film maker.

R220 Ew Jesus! I forgot about that. Yeah, that movie was rot. Some movies REALLY just don't need remakes.

I’d like to have seen an all-black remake with Margaret as a Baptist Church holy roller.

[quote]I was actually more impressed with Rena Sofer as the gym teacher in the 2002 tv remake, because she seemed to have the same kind of toughness as Betty Buckley did in the original movie.

I agree Rena Sofer was one of the best parts of the 2002 TV movie. I also liked Emilie de Ravin and Angela Bettis. Bettis was terrific in that indie horror movie May where she plays another Carrie type outcast.

I worked with that asshole female director of the remake. She actually told half the actors she cast that they were too "thick" and she wanted everybody to lose weight. We all rebelled, said fuck you via our agents and didn't lose an ounce. I was happy when her career fizzled; you want skinny actors, cast skinny actors.

The tv movie was so ridiculous. Sue Snell was made an African American with Amy Irving hair. The actor who played Tommy looked about 30 years old. Carrie as played by Angela Bettis had the look of a deranged psychotic; it was no wonder she was an outcast. And at the end Carrie LIVES, spirited away by Sue Snell so she won't be arrested for murdering hundreds of people. I heard somewhere that having Carrie survive at the end was because a Carrie tv series was in the works. If the mini series had boffo ratings idiot network executives would indeed have pushed for a tv series, but thank God It bombed. It was easy to understand why; it was terrible.

[quote]Whatever Judy's appeal is to directors is a huge mystery to me, [R92]. Honestly, I would have loved to have seen Danielle Harris play Jamie Lee Curtis's daughter in the new Halloween movie, since they both got their start in a Halloween film, and they both did four other Halloween films. Plus, it would have been a treat to see those two work together for the first time.

I wonder how pissed Danielle Harris was about that. I met her at film convention a few years back. She is very nice and you can tell she really embraces the horror genre.

Of course she does, R226, she played Goth Darlene Conner's neighbor.

Nancy Allen and William Katt also are in the movie "Circuit" (!?) and are the best thing about it. There's a much more interesting film in there about the two of them.

the Chloe whatsher name remake is terrible: the prom scene is more violent (you see students crushed to death by running people) but Carrie acts like she's half Godzilla half korean horror banshee. And yes, she fucking FLIES!!!!

[quote]Bettis was terrific in that indie horror movie May where she plays another Carrie type outcast

She sucked in the Carrie remake though. Half the time she looked constipated and she was constantly trembling. When the blood gets dumped on her I didn’t [italic]care[/italic]. At no point do I empathize with Bettis’ Carrie.

The crappy remakes really emphasize how extraordinary Sissy Spacek’s performance was.

Question for anyone who read the book: In one of the remakes, (can't remember which), it's either alluded to or all out mentioned that Sue Snell was pregnant and for that reason she didn't want to go to her prom. She hadn't told anybody, including Tommy, but was afraid she'd start to show and it would be obvious once they were at the event. This was part of the reason she came up with the idea to ask Tommy to bring Carrie instead, although she was genuinely sympathetic. (It does make Sue's motives more plausible).

Can anyone answer?

R231 No, Sue wasn't pregnant in the book.

agree r232 no pregnancy in the book

I doubt Sue actually had sex with Tommy. Remember her mother proclaims "my Sue is a good girl" at the beginning to Margaret when she comes collecting money and selling her bible magazines and "says we are living in God-less times."

r215 I believe in the scene you are talking about Chris is just convincing Travolta to help her get Carrie White. She doesn't have a specific plan in mine yet. That only comes later when she is on the tall latter talking to Norma about it all.

oops excuse my misspellings above!!

I used to wonder why Chris goes after Carrie and not Miss Collins at the prom BUT now I've learned how abusers often blame their victims. (see OJ)

In the book they do make a case for how Chris is abused at home by her father and has a history of picking on weaker kids at school.

Almost. Chris and Norma are on the ground, the school's Wasp insignia beneath them (a Jack Fisk touch). Sue and her nameless friend, who is nice to Carrie at the prom, are both on the ladder -- which looks scary as shit to film, something I never noticed until last night. (Who shares a ladder?)

Plus Chris gets slapped around quite a bit in the movie too, shades of said abuse. She does say that Buckley slapped her 30 times hard, over and over, but Travolta refused to make contact even once. Kind of sweet. (Those DVD extras really are great).

Oh right. Yes Irving is on the ladder and Chris and PJ are talking beneath it.

Hey, r210 - are you the HRT?

The 1999 sequel is bad but I’ll admit it’s a guilty pleasure of mine and I have to watch it every time it’s on cable. Emily Bergl plays Carrie’s half sister and co-star Jason London was still hot then.

R233, the "my Sue is a good girl!" Line does come up in that scene but it must be earlier. When Margaret White says, "These are godless times..." Mrs Snell holds up her cocktail and says, "I'll drink to that! "

plus Amy Irving was back as Sue Snell r241. She has some good moments but they kill her death is so sloppy and pointless. Wouldn't it have been better to have her be the sole survivor again?

In the book Sue Snell is staying home, instead of going to the prom. She's a little concerned that her period is late, but not much. When she hears commotion outside she gets in a car and goes out to investigate; meanwhile Carrie is walking home from the prom, covered in blood and destroying property along the way. After going home and getting stabbed by her crazy mother (a butcher knife in her shoulder up to the hilt) she kills Momma by stopping her heart. Then, as her house burns down, she goes off to a road house, a place of sin, to destroy it as a gift to her late lamented Momma. When she gets there Billy and Chris are leaving (they'd been fucking in there beforehand) and Carrie slams their car into the side of the road house, killing them both. Then she collapses. After having a minor car accident, Sue is outside watching the mayhem and somehow hears Carrie's psychic energy nearby; she follows it and finds Carrie dying on the asphalt. They share a psychic connection, and Sue's thoughts reveal to Carrie that she never meant to harm Carrie by having Tommy take her to the prom. Carrie pulls back mentally ("why didn't you just leave me alone?") and is in torment that she killed her mother, who she loved even though she was so cruelly treated by her ("i killed my Momma I want her o it hurts my chest hurts my shoulder o o o I want my Momma") Suet tries to pull away but is still held by their psychic connection and she feels Carrie die: "for a moment Sue felt as if she were watching a candle flame disappear down a long black tunnel at tremendous speed. Then the light was gone and the last conscious thought had been "Momma I'm sorry where." Sue runs away from it, "running from Tommy, from the fires and explosions, from Carrie, but mostly from the final horror, that last lighted thought carried swiftly down into the black tunnel of eternity, followed by the blank idiot hum of prosaic electricity." She stumbles into a field and:

The after image began to fade reluctantly, leaving a blessed cool darkness in her mind that knew nothing. She slowed, halted and became aware that something had begun to happen. She stood in the middle of the great and misty field, waiting for realization.

Her rapid breathing slowed, slowed, caught suddenly as if on a thorn....

And suddenly vented itself in one howling, cheated scream.

As she felt the slow course of dark menstrual blood down her thighs.

There are standard movie questions like "What's your all-time favorite movie?" or "what movie could you most see over and over again?".

But a great question could be, "What movie would you love to see again for the first time?". For me that movie would be Carrie. A few posters mentioned the experience of seeing it in a packed theater when it first opened and the mass hysteria near the end when the hand popped out, followed by the entire audience laughing at their own embarrassment. I can easily say it was my all-time favorite movie experience.

R73, love your tech insight. Reminds me of IMDB good old days of message board insights. The ending of the film was similar to Deliverence. Why did Betty Buckley not stop the bucket?it's been a long time since I watched the movie. It's too intense for me.

R246 Buckley's character made the wrong assumption that Sue was going to do something and she didn't allow Sue to explain about the bucket and locked her in the closet. I often feel that the gym teacher's brutal death was punishment for wrongly assuming that Sue was an ultra mean girl.

no she threw her out of the gym

The 2013 keeps the pregnancy subplot with Sue and, at the end, Sue goes to Carrie's house and Carrie somehow knows her baby is a girl and tells her so before throwing her out of the home.

The 2013 remake has some interesting moments (the bit with Mrs. Snell and Margaret is kinda disturbing as Margaret is stabbing herself in the leg the entire time with a seam ripper), but Kimberly Pierce misunderstands the material completely. She keeps calling it a "superhero origin story." No, it's not, Kim! Carrie isn't cool. She's a tragic character. One really must listen to the film with her commentary, because it's hysterically funny and it sounds like she's being held at gunpoint and reading from a prepared piece of paper the entire time. You can take a shot every time she says "superhero origin story" or something along the lines of "these kids are making out and they'll be punished for it soon, because...y'know...it's a horror movie." This woman is a fucking idiot.

Carrie isn't a superhero. She can't read minds, she doesn't fly, she can't change matter...she makes things movie with her mind. End of story. I also found the casting of Chloe Moretz to be misguided. They didn't ugly her up enough and she came across as too strong willed with Margaret. I never felt like she was really scared of her mother. One of the most beautiful parts of the story is when she finally stands up to her after accepting Tommy's invitation.

I adore Julianne Moore, but she was sleepwalking through her role. No one's been able to match Piper's insanity and it seems like no one even wants to try, so they go in the complete opposite direction and make Margaret quiet and cold. I've seen this approach many times (in the musical productions as well) and it doesn't work. I think actors are so scared of going over the top these days.

I think they are afraid to make Margaret an abusive mother. Pearce and the director of the off Broadway revival of the musical kept saying stuff like Margaret is a victim too. Um, no. She is a cruel hurtful woman. There is some political correctness going on that says women can't be cold and vicious killers too I guess. (although Betty Buckley made her mother cruel in the Broadway musical from the clips of seen of it online.)

De Palma repeats the scary dream ending from “Carrie” in “Dressed to Kill”.

Odd how Moore wimped out on Margaret. I think the only good part of that Psycho remake with Anne Heche is Julianne's take on the sister. She's doing the same lines as Vera Miles, same shots yet she makes it a whole different character.

Moore often used to same to transcend bad material. The Hand that Rocked the Cradle made her a star and she even manages to be quite good in that Madonna movie (Body of Work? or something?)

but in Carrie she doesn't seem to be too engaged in the film

[quote] I don’t think the prom scene has ever been “parodied.” Some filmmakers have paid homage to it, like Sofia Coppola in The Virgin Suicides, and it was heavily referenced in Hole’s Miss World video but parodied? I’m not so sure.

The climax of the indy gay comedy Gay Best Friend is a total parody of the bucket scene from Carrie - except it's filled with glitter and does no real harm.

Sue Snell was in on it, all of it: it was she, who had talked Tommy into inviting Carrie to the prom.

Kimberly Pierce's 2013 remake was pure heresy!

R251 Dressed to Kill could have been viewed as a masterpiece, even better than Carrie, had Carrie never been released. But DePalma copied too much of his own techniques and material. I really hated that he repeated the ending. I also was far less appreciative of Angie Dickenson's performance when I learned both her orgasms and screams were dubbed in later by Rutanya Alda.

But my appreciation for Rutanya skyrocketed!!

R214 "Sissy is very pretty as Carrie. As de Palma knew, this make her story more tragic to the audience (rightly or wrongly)"

It also adds dimension to the normally cliched make-over scene. The whole school is shocked when Carrie shows up and she's a real babe. Every plain girl's high school fantasy.

Here's another look at it for those of you who say it's perfect film...

Chris Hargensen (played by Nancy Allen) is the bitchiest high school "mean girl" in movie history.

I thought Nancy Allen was perfect in Carrie and liked her in both Dressed to Kill and Blow Out, however I agree with a poster above about her line readings, which could be stilted and wonky which was more noticable when she was the film's lead. There were definitely some awkward deliveries in Blow Out and Dressed...still her cute persona in both films won me over.

God, what a great thread! Just watched the Blu-ray for the first time and holy shit does it look fantastic - just stunning. Excellent print/upgrade. A perfect film, plus it FLIES by... there is not one wasted moment of the 100 minutes.

And, Jesus Christ (pun intended), that last scene with Margaret is just breathtaking. Maybe my favorite movie monologue ever. Piper just slays. Amazing.

And Nancy Allen and Travolta are hot af!

I must get the blu-ray of Carrie. Sounds great, r261.

That final speech from Margaret almost didn't happen. DePalma thought it was too much yack too late in the movie. Piper fought for it, begged him to shoot it, so he did. And that is how some lucky magic happens. "I liked it... I LIKED it!"

[quote]Here's another look at it for those of you who say it's perfect film...

Complete horseshit. Useless post.

Fatties were always part of the in crowd in movies. Even the Pink Ladies had Jan.

One of the big laughs of the movie is when they're doing sit-ups and we we hear Edie exclaim "Ugh".

Mama Cass was cool. Ricki Lake is cool. Kathy Bates is cool. Gertrude Stein was cool.

So Edie McClurg can play someone cool. And this movie was before she was famous/ typecast.

R266, but Edie wasn't cool. She was just in the group.

And then there's "Thelma".

Cross posting. Pauline Kael's review of Carrie.

I also noticed that they cut chunks out of the Margaret monologue for the 2013 remake to the point where they might as well have just taken it out completely. They even added something in there about "I should have given you to God when you were born, but I said "God, let me keep me little girl." And I loved you so much." The fuck? Why, oh, why are they trying to soften up Margaret. It doesn't make her more complex or complicated. It makes her unthreatening.

R270 Piper Laurie's performance was stunning, and has only grown in stature since the release of the movie. Yes, it has camp elements, but is basically untouchable. All the actresses cast in remakes are superb actresses, but I think they knew better than to try and duplicate Laurie's performance. The only choice was to attempt to take it in a different direction.

I think Marcia Gay Harden could have been a great Margaret. She played a similar creepy holy roller type in Stephen King's The Mist and struck some similar chords as Piper Laurie in that. She didn't seem too afraid to be viewed as camp.

Wasn't Piper quoted that she mistakenly thought the film was a black comedy?

Yes, Piper heard that De Palma has a comedic touch with everything he does (not untrue) and assumed that this was a satire on religious fanatics.

I'd actually heard Louise Fletcher was approached for Margaret, but she got her chance to play a similar character in the adaptation of Flowers in the Attic a decade later and, truth be told, she's probably the best part of the movie.

Looking back at 1976, it really was a tremendous year for movies. Some of the greatest and iconic were released in that one year: Network, All the President's Men, Taxi Driver, and Carrie. Best Picture was Rocky. Obviously in retrospect Rocky pales in comparison, but like most Best Picture winners in their year, Rocky was the movie of the moment and offered an optimism that was in sharp contrast to the mass cynicism that was enveloping the country. Network and Taxi Driver were ahead of the time. A lot of people didn't quite know how to take them. So looking back, I can see how Rocky won Best Picture.

However, to win for Best Direction as well was just wrong! It was competent, but standard and conventional. Scorsese and Lumet did absolutely stunning work, and DePalma should have been nominated standing right beside them. He advanced the art form. Carrie was also robbed of nominations for score, editing, cinematography, sound and sound editing. Even one of those Katie Irving songs merited nomination over at least one or two of the other "Best" songs chosen that year in the song category.

40 years later, we are still discussing the technical achievements. Stunning!!!

I don't think it's nostalgia talking because I wasn't even alive when these films were first released but the 70's and 80's were probably the best decades to be a filmmaker and moviegoer. They were terribly exciting and anything seemed possible. I feel like people took more risks in those days and they treated the audience like adults. Look at the children's movies from the 70's and 80's. Even those treated their audiences like adults.

Don't forget the Wilsons (twins). So many cool kids, where were the other geeks?

Piper says she wasn't crazy about the role but then her husband gave her the comedy nudge and it all came together. She was cast without an audition. And the actress with the longest span between her last Oscar nomination and her next (15 years). Hard to believe she was out of the business. Hard to picture anyone else in that role except Shirley and she wouldn't even do the mom in "The Exorcist", right?

[quote]I don’t think the prom scene has ever been “parodied.” Some filmmakers have paid homage to it, like Sofia Coppola in The Virgin Suicides, and it was heavily referenced in Hole’s Miss World video but parodied? I’m not so sure.

Superstar, the movie about the SNL character Mary Katherine Gallagher did a parody where a mean girl dumps paint on Gallagher after an audition for a talent show.

It is true. Piper Laurie's Margaret White does have a sense of her own ridiculousness. She's fuelled by her own self-loathing.

"Sue Snell was in on it, all of it: it was she, who had talked Tommy into inviting Carrie to the prom."

Sue Snell was not "in on" the dreadful bucket of pig blood prank. Feeling extremely guilty about taking part in the tampon and sanitary napkin throwing she hits on the idea of having Tommy take Carrie to the prom as a kind of apology. And indeed the prom is a wonderful thing, a magical night for Carrie (she and Tommy are even voted King and Queen of the Prom) , until the blood gets dropped on her head. That was one of the biggest tragedies in the novel; poor abused Carrie is having the most wonderful night of her life and is reborn in a way...and then comes her total ruination.

{I don’t think the prom scene has ever been “parodied.”}

Any That 70s Show watchers on here? (I loved it first 3 seasons, then it fell apart).

Anyway, there was an episode were Steven (Danny Masterson) agrees to take Jackie (Mila Kunis) to the prom. As he's leaving the house, we can hear his mother yell, "They're all gonna laugh at you!". I fell out of my chair laughing.

They’re all gonna fuck on you!

R264 Hello De Palma.

What's up doc?

I'm sure I am preaching to the choir but surely most of you have read the book on DePalma making "Bonfire of the Vanities", right? "The Devil's Candy". Great book on its own terms, even better if you like DePalma -- who still comes off fairly well even in this disaster. He is dating Beth Friggin' Broderick at the time -- not quite Nancy Allen, huh. But the anecdotes are amazing and I am surprised he gave Julia Soloman (?) so much access. And nobody tried to "buy back" or block the book either later.

And I love the quote up front in the book: "What God wishes to destroy He first calls promising." (I hope I am quoting right).

You guys are being too hard on the Edie McClurg character's weight. I'm re-watching the movie because of this thread, and she's like ten or fifteen pounds overweight, tops. Check out the detention scene where Buckley makes them do calisthenics.

She may have been fat for the 70s (all the girls are skinny af in that scene), but she's definitely not modern-day fat.

And for the poster who keeps chiming in about how McClurg is a cunt in real life: Honestly, who gives a fuck? She's an actress who's been great in almost everything she's done. She's of a type, but she's wonderful at that type. I don't care what she's like in real life.

What this movie has over all the remakes is that sense of creeping dread. The after school detention scene really sets the tone that something bad is going to happen and the tension is building. And you just wait for the bad kids (for me, PJ Soles especially) to get their comeuppance but everything is so horrifying by then, it's not all that satisfying.

For those who were around at the time - I know the hardcover sold decent but the paperback sold well. How popular was the book by the time of the movie? Was it one of those books you saw around or did the movie set it off? I assume the movie also caused "Salem's Lot," published the same year, to do well also. King was never an author to rest on his laurels, he was writing and publishing short stories continuously for years but man, with his first novel, he got very, very lucky.

Opee, thank you for this thread!

I've just purchased the Blu-ray! Saving this for 2018 winter-storm season! It'll be worth the wait: when the storms arrive, knocking out electricity, we'll be snuggled in bed to hold each other while viewing this scary classic (ala whole-house generator.)

Other purchase today for same scary winter holiday: "The Exorcist - Director's Cut accompanied by the Original Theatrical Release, Blu-ray.

I know King actually threw away "Carrie" because of frustration with getting it published.

His wife luckily took it out of the trash and saved it.

[bold]BEYOND THE DOOR[/bold]

Carrie?! Oh, puh-leeze.....

R286 modern day fat. Yes, that's a good way to describe it. Sorry, if off topic. But I see large women in their twenties, wearing tight leggings, waddling along.

The ability to describe things in a nutshell is why I love datalonge.

R288, they both were complimentary to each other. The scene where Travolta is getting a hummer, was sort of rare for an R rated movie.

[quote]I don’t think the prom scene has ever been “parodied.”

The bucket scene was also parodied in Another Gay Movie, except the bucket is filled with cum.

[quote]Network and Taxi Driver were ahead of the time. A lot of people didn't quite know how to take them. So looking back, I can see how Rocky won Best Picture.

"Rocky" won because it was a lovely love story that becomes a really good action picture. Great performances including Burgess Meredith. Checks all the boxes. Network is a boring mess and if Peter Finch hadn't been so brilliant, it would be all but forgotten today. Now "Bound For Glory" one of the Best Picture nominees is totally forgotten and "Carrie" really should have gotten that slot.

It's curious how a 42 year movie is rawer, edgier, more visceral and shocking than the awful 2013 version. The teen characters and their characterizations (especially the girls) are tougher, more vicious and driven by merciless, primitive hate.

Full frontal nudity, teachers smoking and slapping kids, boys hitting girls, girls hitting boys, bjs in the front seat...you can keep that PG-13, perfectly lighted, PC mess. Give me 70s style realness ANY day.

Never parodied? You mean that blond guy bulging in red briefs was my imagination?

[quote]I know the hardcover sold decent but the paperback sold well. How popular was the book by the time of the movie?

IIRC the paperback was a huge hit and everyone in high school was reading it. (My sister was in HS at the time.) At one point (and I don't remember if this was before or after the movie came out) I remember one edition of the paperback noting that 5 million copies were sold.

I saw the paperback "Carrie" in some store. I had read "Salem's Lot" before and liked it a lot and when I saw the author was the same guy who did "Salem's Lot" I opened "Carrie" and scanned a few pages. And I was immediately hooked; I just HAD to buy it. Too bad Stephen King is such a hack now, grinding out garbage. Long ago, he wrote such amazing horror fiction

Does anybody know - was Katie Irving any relation to Amy? I did a quick search but couldn't find any info.

Yes she is her sister.

Amy really had pull in the casting. She got her mother cast and her boyfriend too. (William Katt, although he may have just gone to the famed mass Star Wars/Carrie audition with her and got the role on his own)

She couldn't get herself Carrie though. She still seems a little bitter about that in one of the interviews online. (She didn't get Princess Leia either)

R303 Maybe she didn't get Carrie or Princess Leia, but she did land the wealthiest director in Hollywood history and is sitting on quite a nice divorce settlement! I'd say she hit the fucking jackpot!!

I think she'd beg to differ r304. She wanted fame and great roles. For some reason she always seems to overestimate her talent. She got money and blackballed in high school.

R303 Okay, this is weird. I just looked Katie Irving up on IMDB, and this was in her bio:

"Katie Irving is the daughter of George S. Irving and Maria Karnilova. She is no relation to 'Carrie' actors Amy Irving or Priscilla Pointer, though they do have a sister/daughter named Katie."

oops finished to soon.

blackballed in a high school like way from Spielberg's colleagues.

R305 Sounds about right from what I've read about her. Then she's the definition of ungrateful bitch.

even in that Acting Carrie clip. She complains about how DePalma wanted Betty Buckley to really go after the girls in the detention scene because he was afraid they wouldn't be able to cry on cue.

Irving so pompously says she was a trained actress if you want me to cry just ask me. Well if you are so competent why do you look asleep in a lot of the film?

Even better, Irving had shared private info with Buckley as they traveled to set together (down in Hermosa Beach maybe?) And then Betty used it against her, stood behind the camera and spewed all these secrets out to get Amy to cry. Pretty funny, really.

I saw Irving on Bway in Amadeus. I wasn't expecting much but I thought she was quite good. I do think she's a decent actress.

That's OSCAR NOMINATED actress, no less. No small thing.

Was her mother the sister who couldn't sing?

r312 We just did that to get back at Streisand and kiss up to Spielberg.

I remember the cartoon Tiny Toons did a Carrie parody.

R289 better watch now. May not be around by this winter

I loved Priscilla Pointer on "Dallas."

I have the soundtrack on CD!

[quote]I loved Priscilla Pointer on "Dallas."

I'll drink to that!

“Wipe that smirk off your face, Norma!”

Edie was a Victoria's Secret model compared to the whales you see in high schools today!!

I'm going to Prom with Billy Nolan!

why? he's ugly!

R7 with hair like that you really have to wonder what's going on down below.

I still cry at the prom scene when Carrie and Tommy are dancing. That song "I Never Dreamed Someone Like You Could Want Someone Like Me" and knowing what she's been through and what's coming destroy me every time. EVERY TIME.

R325 so do I :(

Amy Irving was a surprisingly good Desiree in A Little Night Music about a decade ago. Her "Send in the Clowns" was excellent.

"After the blood come the boys. Like sniffing dogs, grinning and slobbering and trying to find out what that smell is...what the smell is. That smell!"

That line makes me think of DL and the posters who insist they can smell when a co-worker has her period.

CARRIE will be on IFC on Monday, March 26 at 10:30 am.

This thread though, I could fuck it, soooo good

Are you saying it's impossible r329? Or just highly unlikely.

my plastic surgeon uses a pic of sissy as example of a bad nose job.

I don't think Spacek had a nose job. I remember a family member of mine always used to say how bad her nose was but then she saw some biography type show about Spacek that showed pictures of her as a kid and she had the same nose then.

above comment #51 shows her before n after nose job

that's not Sissy in the before photo at r51

[quote]my plastic surgeon uses a pic of sissy as example of a bad nose job.

She has those wide nostrils. Very difficult to get natural looking nose job if you go too aggressive on someone with wide nostrils.

R336, that absolutely is.

No it isn't. It doesn't look a thing like her and she grew up in Texas. The girl in that photo is clearly some suburban girl.

Produce a legitimate source to prove me wrong.

I could be wrong, but I believe there are suburbs in Texas.

Not where Sissy grew up. The were very poor and lived in a rural area.

To me, Carrie is a perfect film. Sissy and Piper are amazing. Completely believable as mother and daughter and they really show the isolation these characters face and feel.

The prom sequence is one of my all-time favourite movie scenes. The cinematography, editing, music, acting. Everything is on point. "They're all gonna laugh at you" juxtaposed with Sissy's horrified response, the blurring of reality and Carrie's perception, the disorientation, confusion, humiliation turned to anger. It's spellbinding.

From 1974 to 1984, De Palma could do no wrong in my book. Phantom of the Paradise, Carrie, The Fury, Dressed to Kill, Blow Out, Scarface, Body Double. All brilliant films.

Sissy in Texas Monthly magazine.

R342 No love for Sisters?

her daughter has the same nose

Well, Spacek's performance was very good, but it wasn't great enough...

[quote]Piper was robbed. It was a staggering performance.

I love you r347

The pic at r51 IS Sissy Spacek.

UsWeekly has her high school Homecoming Queen picture.

Texas Monthly article about Sissy Spacek growing up in Quitman, TX.

R350 What the fuck happened to her, she looks totally different?

Sissy looks like Becky when she got her hair cut short on "Roseanne"

That original pic might be a bad angle but here she is in her first movie "Prime Cut" at 22 and and her nose is the same as today.

The prom scenes get progressively longer and more satisfying in the remakes as Carrie takes out her tormentors one by one. The unintentionally funny TV version with the scoreboard collapsing and electrocuting everyone on the dance floor is a particularly nice touch.

That's one thing I like about the remakes. Some of the revenge is a bit more satisfying and drawn out, but I found that I didn't care as much (especially in the 2013 version) since the bullies had far less personality than in the original. In the 2013 version, there are particularly harrowing deaths for the two twins who are trampled to death by stilettos and that film's version of the P.J. Soles character who catches on fire and runs around and around trying to put herself out. Unfortunately, it doesn't have the bite that it should.

That's what I hate about the remakes-in the original the destruction was almost all blind rage whereas, in the remakes, she just comes across as a vengeance killer. And don't even get me started on when she flies-and I don't care if it was in the book.

the tv version had her go into a trance state whenever the telekinesis shows up.

Apparently that was how they wanted to make it a series. Carrie and Sue would travel around the country trying to clear her name and use her powers for good.

I kind of liked that the 2002 TV movie included the part from the book where Carrie also destroys the town.

The biggest crimes of the TV version is the horrible ending, silly CGI, and Patricia Clarkson underplaying everything to the point of not making any impression whatsoever. Other than that, it's not all that bad. I HATED the way it was shot, though. It looked like a HandyCam. What was with that? I assume they had some sort of budget given that it was an NBC movie.

I think the TV movie was pretty low budget. It was shot in Canada which usually means they are scrimping on money.

He made Carrie after Phantom of The Paradise so I wonder why he didn't cast Jessica Harper as Sue? Harper did a fantastic job as Phoenix and she could have been great as Sue.

R361 As it was, most of the "teens" cast were too old. And Harper bests Amy Irving by 5 years. Also, I think it was kind of important visually that the three major ingenues be of different types, (Allen blond, Irving brunette, Spacek ginger). And both Nancy Allen and Amy Irving had to beautiful. Harper's very attractive, but not enough.

Also, I mostly hated all the remakes, but didn't think the tv movie from 2003 was as awful. And even though the actress cast as Sue was light-skinned black, I thought she was stunningly beautifuly and uncannily resembled Amy Irving. Especially her eyes.

Forgot about Harper. She was one of that whole collection of Karen Allen, Brooke Adams, Meg Foster, Amy Irving who all popped up in the seventies and seemed interchangeable.

Foster and Irving were really nothing like Karen Allen and Brooke Adams. But I always thought that if you stood them in this order:

Genevieve Bujold/Karen Allen/Brooke Adams/Sigourney Weaver/Margot Kidder

...they all blended into each other.

Meg Foster looked like Kirstie Alley's older sister, and then Amy Brennaman and Julianna Maguilies fought to take over Amy Irving's career.

For those of you who've mentioned being somewhat unimpressed with Amy Irving, I have to say I was somewhat in agreement with you. Until I met her. On two separate occasions, (I worked in the business in NYC in the mid-80s). Both times she was, I think transplendent is the word. Ethereal. It really seemed like there was this glow around her. Really breathtakingly beautiful. Nobody should act entitled the way it's been discussed she had. But I could easily understand her getting away with it.

Sissy Spacek was her high school's Homecoming Queen in 1968 (photo from Us Weekly magazine).

I agree, r259. Nancy Allen was terrific as Chris Hargensen. Nancy made me HATE Chris, and I was glad when she was killed by Carrie.

[quote]The biggest crimes of the TV version is the horrible ending, silly CGI, and Patricia Clarkson underplaying everything to the point of not making any impression whatsoever. Other than that, it's not all that bad. I HATED the way it was shot, though. It looked like a HandyCam. What was with that? I assume they had some sort of budget given that it was an NBC movie.

It was shot on video and transferred to film. It was a piolt for a TV where Carre and Sue traveled the country.

[quote]He made Carrie after Phantom of The Paradise so I wonder why he didn't cast Jessica Harper as Sue? Harper did a fantastic job as Phoenix and she could have been great as Sue.

She was probably working on "Insets" or "Woody Allen's "Love And Deat" at the time.

Carrie & Sue should have gone to the Trump Inaugural.

Oh gawd, r368.......INSERTS

It was just a typo R R370. You must be so lonely.

I wasn't commenting on your typo, r371, I was commenting on that...that....movie (for lack of a better word). Had I been commenting on your typo, I would have used "Oh dear" instead of "Oh gawd".

This is a terrific thread, however every time I scroll upon it and see OP's pic, all I can think is 'They think he's a righteous dude'.

R366 That picture was posted on this thread like 5 times.

New here, R374? If you expect any of the self absorbed posters on this site to read past the 4th reply to a thread you're in for a world of disappointment.

There's a red-headed girl in the gym detention scenes that I used to think was DL fave Susan Richardson (as a kid I probably made an Eight Is Enough connection with Betty Buckley.) I'm 99% sure it's not her but you never get a very long, clear look at her face. She's blurry on the far left of OP's pic but you can see her better in the punishment sequence. She's to Nancy Allen's left in most of the calisthenics lineup scenes and to PJ Soles' left when Buckley slaps Allen. Check at 2:26 and 2:39.

R376 Not Susan Richardson. If it was, Susan "herself" would be monitoring this thread constantly pointing it out to us. In fact, I now expect an appearance within the next 24 hours.

America's Sweetheart, are you there????

Love that Amy Irving never changed her hairstyle in all the years that she actively worked.

[quote]R31 I might have known they would be blue.

Sin never dies.

[quote]R43 Jesus Cristo de Santo d’Jesus [R40]. Give me another chance! My posts have been interesting. I was thinking of cronenbergs THE DEAD ZONE. I fucked up

I am sorry, but on a matter this crucial, there really must be a zero percent tolerance policy.

Your repentance is duly noted. It is somewhat undermined, however, by your lack of a capital C in "Cronenberg's" and the complete absence of a possessive apostrophe.

It's tragic, really...

Well, I guess ol' Suse got banned from the bookmobile again...never change, Suse!

Does anyone remember a ripoff of Carrie where the bullied girl attacked her tormenters with giant snakes she could summon?

PJ Soles claimed that when she was blasted by the fire hose, the water went right into her ear and damaged her hearing from that point on.

R382 Does anyone remember a ripoff of Carrie where the bullied girl attacked her tormenters with giant snakes she could summon?

This was called JENNIFER (1978) and starred Lisa Pelikan, who debuted the year before as a young Vanessa Redgrave in JULIA.

The production was so low budget she caught cold in her unheated dressing room, lost her voice, and had to re-dub all her dialogue when the film was in post-production.

And a TV rip off where the tormented girl forced the showers to get burning hot on the other girls including Morgan Brittany and her big ass nose. What was that one?

R386 THE INITIATION OF SARAH (1978)...starring Kay Lenz and the delicate Shelley Winters.

[quote] R52 her look has always been so.....cartoony.

It's hardly ever mentioned, but Spacek was briefly a model in NYC, early on while studying acting. She did a print ad for Chanel No. 5....which I've never been able to find, unfortunately.

She has an amazing face for an actress because she can be made to look plain or beautiful.

Although he gets heavily derided now on DL, (and deservedly), John Travolta was apparently a real pal and great guy back then. Not only did he stay close with Nancy Allen, but when he got the lead in ABC's "Boy in the Plastic Bubble", he put a good word in for PJ Soles, so she got a small part. I've seen her mention it a couple times in interviews.

Sissy Spacek DID have a nose job, and a particularly bad one. Pictures of her show that plainly.

Stephen King's Carrie was based on two girl he knew in school, both of them mercilessly tormented by their classmates. One of the poor girls had to wear the same clothes to school, day after day, season after season. After the Christmas holidays she came to school wearing a new outfit, no doubt hoping the abuse would perhaps. She may even have hoped to get a compliment on her new clothes. But King said she was tormented even MORE, because she dared to break out of her station as an outcast and scapegoat by wearing new clothes. Both the girls King used as prototypes for Carrie died young; one died of a seizure, the other killed herself. It's hard to get over constant rejection and humiliation during your formative years. I don't think anybody can ever entirely get over an experience like that.

R391 Great post! Longtime fan of Carrie and somewhat of Stephen King, but never knew that. Thank you.

No, R376, that is not me in the film CARRIE. I auditioned and almost got Chris, but ABC wouldn’t let me out of my contract for EIGHT. I was also almost cast so Suzy Snell, but Steven Spielberg squashed my dreams once more. Much like how he promised me the role of Meryl Streep’s daughter in THE POST, but some other actress got it. Hollywood is cruel. And R376, my sobriquet is “TV’s Sweetheart”. “America’s Sweetheart” would be the legendary Miss Sally Struthers.

.^^ with 8 hours left to count.

It's interesting that both Patricia Clarkson and Julianne Moore, who are terrific actresses, couldn't compete with Laurie's interpretation of Margaret White or even offer a unique or memorable interpretation of their own.

[quote]R66 I recently re-watched The Fury and was unimpressed by Amy Irving.

I like Irving. I think her best performance (surprisingly) is as the troubled mom in TRAFFIC...a very routine part.

How could anyone forget The Rage: Carrie 2???

Also, was it made clear in the book that people figured out that it was Carrie who killed everyone? Or was it a "mystery" how it all happened?

R395 Have you seen some of Piper's interviews about how she created the character? She's a little nuts herself. i'm sure that helped.

r398 her offbeat quality got her the part.

DePalma met her thinking she'd be this proper serious lady. She was funny and unique and he had to have her for the role.

[quote]R77 Sissy Spacek's expression when she fully registers that blood has been dumped on her is sad and disturbing.

I can't imagine why.

Sissy Spacek is an unusual beauty. She had the ability to look gorgeous or straight up creepy. Her pale ginger skin and light eyelashes combined with that unfortunate whittled down nose job really upped her creepy looking factor in Carrie.

[quote]Also, was it made clear in the book that people figured out that it was Carrie who killed everyone? Or was it a "mystery" how it all happened?

Yes, it was clear in the book that the town knew that Carrie was the cause of the destruction. One character looked at Carrie while the latter was rampaging in the streets and thought, "She's doing this". Afterwards, a lore was created around the event, and if memory serves (it has been years since I read it), the townspeople would use phrases like, "They pulled a Carrie", or something similar.

I was not a fan of the book, which I read years after seeing the movie. It is one of the few times that I preferred a movie adaptation to the book.

My favorite part of the book was the epilogue, which was nothing like what was depicted in the movie. Oh, and I liked Margaret reminiscing about her mother (or grandmother?) having similar powers as Carrie.

If Meryl had come to Hollywood, she would have played Carrie.

[quote]R100 I'm specifically thinking of the scene in the movie where Nancy Allen's talking about what they do to a man's penis when he gets a sex change operation and the older woman at the other table gives her the dirtiest look you can imagine.

That actress is Mary Davenport, who had a featured role in De Palma's SISTERS, playing Jennifer Salt's mother. (Davenport was also Salt's mother in real life.)

Keith Gordon was a cute nerd in Dressed to Kill. Sort of sexy too.

People seem to forget Nancy Allen married Brian DePalma after working with him in Carrie. They were married for a few years, then divorced I believe under gounds of "extreme cruelty". None of the principals even hint at the marriage in any of the many interviews I've seen over the years.

Anybody know any details?

[quote]R179 ewww he cast Rebecca romaine lettuce in Femme Fatale....fatal!

She contributes to his most beautiful shot, ever.

[quote]R233 no pregnancy in the book...I doubt Sue actually had sex with Tommy. Remember her mother proclaims "my Sue is a good girl"

She doesn't get pregnant, but Sue does lose her virginity to Tommy in the book...I think in his car.

[quote]263 Piper fought for it, begged him to shoot it, so he did..."I liked it... I LIKED it!"

04:50 mark

[quote]R327 Amy Irving was a surprisingly good Desiree in [italic]A Little Night Music[/italic] about a decade ago.

Mmmmmmm!

I've only seen pictures [bold]: ( [/bold]I know Isaac Mizrahi directed and did the clothes.

The name of the high school is Bates High School, a reference to Norman Bates from "Psycho" (1960).

This is Betsy Slade, the young actress from the 1974 movie OUR TIME that Brian De Palma at first envisioned in the role of Carrie White.

Sissy Spacek's screen test was stronger than Slade's, though, eventually making her the final choice.

Re: Carrie White wannabe Betsy Slade, there's lots of shots of her from OUR TIME in this fan video.

Also in the cast are Pamela Sue Martin and Parker Stevenson.

Amy Irving was also in the original production of "Amadeus" on Broadway.

"Also, was it made clear in the book that people figured out that it was Carrie who killed everyone? Or was it a "mystery" how it all happened?"

Everybody knew it was Carrie. She was seen around town causing the mayhem and destruction and her psychic energy was so strong that people could actually sense her presence without actually having seen her. In the book the matter of what happened was investigated officially (Sue Snell and others are called upon to testify about what they saw and heard the night of prom) but in the end it is decided that Carrie White was a fluke, an aberration, and the likelihood of such a thing happening again is pretty nigh impossible. In the meantime a baby girl in a Tennessee rural area has the strange ability to to make her playthings move and float in the air...

In one of King's books, he has a character mention that girl who destroyed the town a Chamberlain a few years back. Might have been "Cujo." So, apparently, the entire state of Maine is aware.

R416 That's a favorite device of King. It's like a reward for reading his other books, the referencing of people/events/places in his other stories.

I enjoyed King's book (and it's easily one of his shortest books, so it's an easy read), but the De Palma film took everything and turned it into a grand, cinematic opera. It's really rather remarkable. It was just the right director at the right time with the right cast. It's so odd how the other adaptations haven't been terribly good and they're all either faithful to the novel or to De Palma's version. I think it was lightning in a bottle.

" She was one of that whole collection of Karen Allen, Brooke Adams, Meg Foster, Amy Irving who all popped up in the seventies and seemed interchangeable."

But Jessica Harper could sing!

I'll say. Low and sultry too.

She also could rock a little black dress.......

AND she could act. (Okay, done hijacking. Back to Carrie and her friends).

R414, Amy Irving did appear in “Amadeus” on Broadway, but she replaced the original Constanze, Ms. Jane Seymour.

I think Jessica Harper's best role was as Steve Martin's wife in Pennies From Heaven. She was devastating.

Pennies is an example of a movie that was mostly misunderstood and very underrated at the time of its release. Looking at it now I think it's close to a masterpiece and deserving of it's own thread.

Back to Carrie...............

[quote]R272 I think Marcia Gay Harden could have been a great Margaret.

Betty Buckley appears impressive as Margaret in the clips available from the stage musical. This is part of her song while waiting for Carrie to come home from the prom. Of course her knife-edged vocals are beyond reproach.

She's a very good actress.

This is a somehow "fuller" interpretation of the (complete) song, done by Buckley years later in concert. The vocals are more strictly attended because there isn't stage acting and movement involved, and she's right up next to the microphone.

I never dreamed someone like you could love someone like me.

If there's any baby gays here who don't know that CARRIE was later made into a (bomb) musical, HERE:

[quote]I enjoyed King's book (and it's easily one of his shortest books, so it's an easy read),

I enjoyed it too. I later bought the audiobook version that Sissy narrated and King also narrated the introduction where he discussed the two girls that he based the Carrie character on.

R366. Talk about irony

I actually like the musical. There are some great songs, but a lot of the stuff with the kids is shitty. I feel like, when they revived it off-Broadway a few years ago, they made a lot of that stuff better, but there are still some book flaws. It's so damn close to really being interesting. The Carrie/Margaret material is phenomenal, especially as played by Betty Buckley. What a powerful voice!

thanks r428. That was very interesting. They are both so articulate.

Cohen was supposed to write a book about the various incarnations of Carrie. I had it pre-ordered on Amazon for the longest time but for some reason it never came out.

[quote]Also, was it made clear in the book that people figured out that it was Carrie who killed everyone? Or was it a "mystery" how it all happened?

Didn't Carrie take the whole town out in the novel?

R433 I don't believe so. She didn't hate, or even know, everyone in the town. She was mad about a particular incident.

And I think we all agree, [italic]justifiably so!

Here is the full London production prior to Broadway with Barbara Cook as Margaret ( Betty was amazing). The music is great but it was too 80's with the Debbie Allens's over the top choreography and horrible costumes.

Carrie doesn't destroy the town intentionally at the point she's heading back home her powers have become like a storm raging around her hitting everything nearby.

It’s one of the best horror films ever made. The acting from all the cast was superb, that’s why Carrie is now a classic.

[quote]As in the book, he died when the bucket hit.

I found it disturbing that some of the kids laughed when he got hit by the bucket.

I've always loved the musical. It's flawed but I enjoy it. Of the versions I've seen, I think the recent L.A. production did the Destruction the best. Carrie sending Chris flying over the audience was really cool in person.

R438 You were supposed to. That was the point. But did you find it plausible some of the kids were laughing? I did.

And it's just as relevant today. I could easily see those kids grow up and become Trump supporters.

It brings me great joy to see that the LA version restored the "he will burn you" verse of The Destruction. The bit with Chris flying off into the rafters was awesome. Really clever and satisfying. I still think some of the deaths in the song feel too choreographed like it's a ballet or something.

LA was much better than the NY Off Broadway revival. LA had the blood fall on her. NYC had a rear projection and then a red light and even replaced the Carrie actress with a double for most of the destruction.

There's a lot of stories about the beginnings of "Carrie", but I do remember reading King got the idea when he was a college student. He was at the laundromat late at night and there was a woman in there who kept incorrectly quoting the Bible. He said he wondered about whether that woman had children and what were they like.

Carrie didn't take out the whole town but I think she did kill most of her class mates. Good riddance.

I think the idea of "Carrie" got started with Stephen King's memories of the two poor outcast girls he knew in school. He did some kind of work for the mother of the one of the weird girls, was moving furniture for her or something like that; he recalled that there was an almost life size sculpture of Jesus Christ on the cross in the household. I think that probably helped give him the idea of making Carrie's mother a lunatic religious maniac. I mean, who else would keep a life size crucified Jesus Christ in their home besides a religious nut?

Both the remakes left a lot to be desired but I really liked Rena Soffer as the well-meaning gym teacher and the fact that Chris and Billy had to suffer for at least a couple of seconds longer in the remake, for all the hell she caused Carrie I thought Chris and Billy's deaths should have been meaner and more drawn out.

I wonder if anyone has thought of producing a male version of Carrie. The closest I remember is "Evilspeak" with Clint Howard, but I think doing a full remake of Carrie with reversed gender roles would be great. Maybe have a gay male in the Carrie (or 'Larry") role..

[quote]Both the remakes left a lot to be desired but I really liked Rena Soffer as the well-meaning gym teacher and the fact that Chris and Billy had to suffer for at least a couple of seconds longer in the remake, for all the hell she caused Carrie I thought Chris and Billy's deaths should have been meaner and more drawn out.

I agree with you on those parts. Soffer was much better in the 2002 remake vs. bland Judy Greer in the 2013 remake. I kind of liked that the 2002 remake followed the book by not killing off the gym teacher. In the book, she was fucked up mentally and IIRC, left the teaching field.

I guess Evilspeak sorta was a male version of Carrie, but I've never been able to get into it. I always found is super boring. I think a male Carrie is a great idea.

Take a lesson, Datalounge. This is how you do Resting Bitch Face.

R288, don't know if anyone's answered this but I don't think Carrie was much a bestseller in hardcover. The film version was released in mid-November 1976 (and it's interesting that the one sheet pretty much gave the whole story away - so the suspense that some poster's have spoke of is really a sense of dread that DePalma teases out, masterfully - it's like the poster was inviting the audience to bear witness to an event of which they already knew the outcome); and the first publication of The Shining in hardcover was January 1977 - that I believe is when King went from being a genre writer of horror to a mainstream fiction (some might say, literary) writer, due to the popularity of DePalma's film and the publication of arguably his best work. Once The Stand was published about 18 months later in 1978, King became a full-on publishing phenomenon whereby his books would shoot to the top of the bestsellers list upon publication. This also triggered a catch up, if you will, amongst fans in which his current and previous works (Carrie in 1974, Salem's Lot in 1975) dominated both the hardcover and especially the paperback bestsellers lists all at once. CBS aired a miniseries of Salem's Lot in 1979 and, of course, Kubrick released The Shining in June 1980 so King enjoyed a long pop-cultural moment for many years. Keep in mind, The Amityville Horror was first published in the fall of 1977 so you get a sense of how obsessed Americans were in the late '70s with horror, hauntings and UFOs, as a means of dealing with national anxiety, post-Watergate and a country in the throes of economic crisis, an energy crisis and foreign policy messes like the raid on Entebbe and the Iranian hostage crisis, even the mass suicide of The People's Temple in Guyana in November 1978.

The original paperback cover of Carrie, or at least one of them, was a black cover with an embossed drawing of a young girl with one red tear in her eye. There was also a movie tie-in with the one sheet poster on the cover, I believe. I had that one and while I was reading it, I brought it to school and my 5th grade teacher called me out and told me never to bring that to school again as it was inappropriate and did my parents know I was reading that, etc. I just turned it over on my desk.

R401, I remember this Newsweek cover from the time which was pretty unusual.

I was the embodiment of a male Carrie + Billy, the Prom King, combined.

Carrie The Musical really is just awful, it's so ludicrous. The teens are right of Grease, completely unconvincing without any character, and the musical seesaws back and forth between sub-Save By The Bell sketches and usually some diva lowering herself to sing Margaret White. Carrie herself is often just lost in the mess of it, belting out pseudo pop rock numbers - it's all really hard on the ears. The LA production looks to have done their best with the destruction scene but even so, it looks completely silly and only draws attention to the stagecraft of trying to recreate the scene from the film. The school and prom scenes are always so underpopulated, it looks like Carrie attends a one room schoolhouse. I honestly don't know why people bother doing it, it's so terrible. It's just an oddity. Nothing about the source material, either the book or the film, calls out to be musicalised. The only way it could possibly work is if it were a two-character chamber piece of Margaret and Carrie in one set, focused entirely on their dynamic, and just cut out everything else which would happen off stage - Carrie leaves for the prom, Carrie returns from the prom, etc. Not sure there's even a point to that.

It's weird how the 2013 remake, which was in the works for so long, just disappeared after it's underwhelming release. I have Sky Movies in the UK and cinematic releases usually appear about 9 months after release, often sooner, but it's never been available on there. I've never seen it aired on any other film channels, while the original is on all the time. Not sure I care to see it anyway but it seems like it was buried.

R450 Aw, I actually think she got more beautiful as she aged, usually as the features start to harden on people they look worse but I think it made her look more relatable.

Also guys - apologies for the "parody" remark way up thread. I don't watch Tiny Toons and Scott Baio movies, although "parody" implies that the source is actually being made fun of, the way Alec Baldwin parodies Trump. While the prom scene may have been referenced, it hasn't actually been parodied unless someone can produce a MAD Magazine version of it. The Scott Baio film is making fun of teenage boys utilising the scenario of Carrie but isn't really parodying DePalma (there's no split screens from what I watched) or Spacek's performance. But anyway....

Much was made of the 2012 scaled-down off-Broadway production of "Carrie the Musical," for which both the score and the book were revised. The consensus was that it was better than the original Broadway production. But "better" doesn't equal "good." It was still a terrible show, mainly because the creators never figured out what they wanted it to be.

And because it's not inherently musical or stage worthy.

I still see the Carrie remake pop up from time to time on the SyFy channel here in the states. Besides that, it does seem like everyone's forgotten it happened. That's why I never really care about when a movie is remade. If it's great, it'll stand up as a great companion piece to the original (like The Fly, The Blob, The Thing, Dawn of the Dead, The Hills Have Eyes, etc.). If it sucks (most of them), people forget about them after a year and it's like they never happened. I mean, I still have to remind myself I saw remakes of The Stepfather, The Fog, and Prom Night. Most days, they don't cross my mind, whereas, the originals almost always spring up from time to time. Heartless and passionless money grabs don't hold up over time.

[Quote] I still have to remind myself I saw remakes of The Stepfather, The Fog, and Prom Night.

The Stepfather remake comes on the tv a lot here. And i own both Prom Nights on dvd.

IFC airs a lot of horror movie remakes late at night. For awhile, the Black Christmas remake was on quite bit. FX, SyFy, and few others show The Stepfather, Prom Night, and other remakes all the time.

I disagree that the poster gives away the plot. You're looking at it from the point of view of someone who knows what happens. The picture on the left shows Carrie in a prom dress. The one on the right looks like she is bathed in red light.

No R463, it was always very clearly blood. Plus there was the promo photo where she was clearly splattered rather than covered. Everybody knew what it happened to Carrie at the prom.

I guess they figured the jig would be up fast (the word SPOILER didn't exist then, not that it does much good now either save for "Crying Game" years ago) so it didn't matter. Everyone was coming to see WHAT she did to the kids at the prom -- and the whole movie builds up to it anyway.

Agreed. It was all about her reaction.

I can't believe there is a DL user who has never seen Carrie, or at the very least, doesn't know of the big moment. It's the rosebud of this generation.

Stephen King started writing Carrie as a short story. In the years before that, he and his family struggled financially and he made extra money selling short stories to magazines. As someone up thread said he got frustrated and threw the first few pages in the trash and wife convinced him to continue writing the story and he turned it into a novel.

A woman hits her daughter and locks her in a closet. They eventually both try to kill each other, the daughter out of self defense. Bullies hit and push a girl. A teen boy slaps his girlfriend around and a teacher slaps students. A teen girl uses her telekinetic powers to destroy a high school gym, killing everyone in sight. Death scenes include electrocution, a fiery car wreck, and being "crucified" and impaled by knives and other sharp kitchen utensils.

"The original paperback cover of Carrie, or at least one of them, was a black cover with an embossed drawing of a young girl with one red tear in her eye."

The original paperback cover was the one at R434. None of the covers of the book, hardback or paperback, really did it justice.

The Carrie musical was so bad it boggles the mind. In that fiasco instead of the pig blood falling down on her somebody (Chris? Billy? I don't remember) runs up to her and dumps a bucket of what looked like raspberry jam on her heard. I'm surprised the audience that saw that didn't fall out of their seats laughing. But I heard that the audience that saw the premiere of the Carrie musical just sat there in shock, like the audience that watched "Springtime for Hitler" in "The Producers."

Great thread. Help me understand something:

Why does Sue show up at prom?

Does she simply want to witness her goal (helping Carrie feel accepted and happy) achieved?

In the film it seems very clear that Sue is for Carrie, not against her. Does the book explain Sue’s motivation for going to prom?

R471 It's been years since I read the book, but from what I remember Sue doesn't go to the prom. She was at home and her parents heard about something going on at the school and she later leaves her house and sees Carrie around town causing destruction.

I think with the 1976 movie, screenwriter Lawrence Cohen might wanted to show the audience Sue wasn't a bad person and that she had gone to the prom to make sure Carrie was having fun and that Tommy was keeping his promise.

The 2002 TV movie followed the book and had Sue stumble onto Carrie destroying the town.

Okay, bitches - I've finally received the "Carrie" Blu-ray (original film), which I'd ordered with "The Exorcist" Blu-ray (original film). Now I'm too afraid to open the shipping box, which doing so could result in my releasing a "Pandora's Box" of evil!

"Why does Sue show up at prom?"

In the book Sue stays at home. She does not go to the prom. I suppose Brian De Palma had her go to the prom to witness how wonderful the prom is for Carrie in order to assuage her guilt for taking part in the tampon throwing. I guess that's why. Anyway, it was kind of dumb. De Palma made a lot of changes from the book, some of them worked out better than others. He has Carrie hallucinate the whole crowd laughing at her instead of them really laughing like they were in the book, which makes Carrie seem like a crazy heartless killer instead of a tormented girl who has been pushed over the edge. She kills Miss Desjardin, who had done nothing but try to help her; in the book all she does is give Miss Desjardin a bloody nose. It makes Carrie look quite unsympathetic. But the way Margaret White dies in the movie is more effective than how she dies in the book. In the novel Carrie simply stops her heart instead of impaling her to the wall with kitchen implements. And Carrie doesn't die by bringing her own house down on her head; she died from shock and blood loss after being stabbed by her Momma. I thought the way Carrie died in the book was so much more affecting; Sue finds her lying on the asphalt in her bloody, torn prom gown, her feet bare and bleeding from steping on glass, a butcher knife sticking out of her shoulder. She and Sue communicate telepathically and then Carrie dies; Sue, still connected to Carrie's wavelength, feels her die. It's heartbreaking.

R474, Sue shows up at the prom because it makes her involvement in Carrie's humiliation a bit more ambiguous.

[quote]The original paperback cover of Carrie, or at least one of them, was a black cover with an embossed drawing of a young girl with one red tear in her eye.

I think you're mixing up Carrie with the paperback version of Salem's Lot. Black embossed cover with a red drop of blood coming from a woman's mouth.

I think they're thinking of the Broadway artwork, r476.

[quote]And because it's not inherently musical or stage worthy.

There's just something ludicrous about the whole concept of putting it on stage. You hear the concept and immediately think, "No."

R473, here. In my trepidation of opening my newly arrived "Pandora's Box of Evil" . . . Does 'Distilled' or 'Purified' water count for 'Holy Water' in emergencies?

(Since my more recent post, I've moved said aforementioned box to the garage. I wore gloves whilst doing so.)

I think you should have someone with you. Don't risk it alone!!

I disagree, r474. Having Sue show up at the prom is the proof for the audience that she really was trying to help Carrie, not hurt her. In the film, it's ambiguous up to that point whether she was part of the plot or not. (Okay, not everybody sees it that way but enough people do that I'd say DePalma intended some ambiguity around which girls were involved.) It also adds brilliantly to the tension of the scene because she's figuring out what the audience already knows and is our last hope that someone might be able to stop Chris and Billy in time.

there was also a paperback version released using the artwork from the Broadway musical seen at r477

R481, the fact that people are still discussing Tommy and Sue's involvement is proof that DePalma was correct in getting her to the prom.

It makes sense Sue would sneak into the prom for a moment: This was her pet project, and she wanted to see the fruits of her labor.

(Sorry that sounds sort of childbirth-y.)

[quote] (Okay, not everybody sees it that way but enough people do that I'd say DePalma intended some ambiguity around which girls were involved.)

I disagree. The way Irving plays the scene in Miss Collins office when she is interrogating Sue and Tommy about why they are doing this doesn't leave much room for ambiguity. Irving is pretty firm saying that they are doing it to help Carrie and get her to join in with things.

Plus Irving is the only one who seems really upset in the scene where Miss Collins asks them if they think ever think about Carrie White's feelings. (and then tells them that they will have detention....with her. BTW I love how Buckley plays that scene. She dangles how she wanted them suspended and their prom tickets revoked...then says but the office has decided on detention. Just one little thing, it will be my detention.

There is no ambiguity. Sue is very clearly the Good Girl to contrast with Chris, the Bad Girl.

Us, needlessly contemplating Sue's role in things:

One of the best scenes in the movie is the opening in the girl's locker room. It's in soft focus and the musical score is beautiful; the girls are nubile but there's also an innocence about them as they josh and play and get dressed after showering. It really is very sweet depiction of youth and femininity.

I remember friends in grade school believing that Carrie’s powers were satanic in nature and that you could hear the devil’s footsteps in the house as Carrie is dying. I couldn’t convince them otherwise! This was probably around the time they aired The Exorcist on television...

SAY it, woman!

I remember reading somewhere that one of the original aborted endings for the film was to have Carrie walk on the beach and the beach would literally devour her and she'd sink into the ground. Glad they didn't go with that.

Okay. I posted this before. The first time I saw Carrie, I was convinced Sue was working with Chris in planning the evil scheme. It's because of how Depalma edited together two scenes: Chris seducing Billy in the car spliced with Sue pleading with Tommy to take Carrie instead to the prom instea of her. How could one girl know of the other's plan if they hadn't thought it up together? (I think this is a blatant flaw in the movie, unless done deliberately to look ambiguous).

But on the second viewing, I was convinced Sue was sympathetic all along. Here's the opening shower / plug it up scene. At about 3:35, pay attention to Amy Irving's reaction. She is suddenly mortified upon truly realizing what she's just done. She can't get out of there fast enough as she's feeling so ashamed. And later in the gym detention scenes, Sue makes it clear to Chris she wants nothing to do with her or any plan. "Chris, just leave it alone!"

r474 I totally disagree that Carrie comes off unsympathetic in the prom disaster. The fact that she thinks everyone is laughing at her is what makes the scene so brilliant. It's one of those rare scenes that is able to effectively capture a character's psychological state. Carrie has been bullied so long that when she is publicly humiliated, she only sees red and fights back like a wounded child. I actually thinks this makes Carrie more sympathetic. Killing Miss Collin is horrible but understandable because Carrie feels utterly alone on that stage. She feels like she really has no one in her corner. I think this film is one of the best depictions of bullying and its everlasting trauma.

r473, Come to your closet and pray. Ask to be forgiven.

To add to R493, if you watch closely, at first everybody is just shocked at the blood drench. It's when the bucket falls and hit's Billy in the head that P.J, Soles points and starts laughing. She's in on the plan so she's trying to get everybody else to join in. A couple kids do, but most stay horrified. It's her laughter and the couple others that Carrie sees that throws her into the trance. So a few are legitimately laughing, but the rest are not.

[quote]494 Come to your closet and pray. Ask to be forgiven.

Oh, plug it UP, Mrs. White!

First edition cover:

I never understood that cover, r497. Why is she wearing a kimono?

I don't know, r498. It is a pretty kimono, and she's wearing make-up on her face. I had no idea Carrie White was such a fashion plate!

I can practically see her dirtypillows.

Best Actress in a Leading Role:

Faye Dunaway Network..... Liv Ullmann Face to Face....Marie-Christine Barrault Cousin cousine....Talia Shire Rocky and Sissy Spacek Carrie

Now come on, in all honestly in 42 years who is remembered most? Talia is remembered fondly but it's clearly Stallone's picture, but the others are all but forgotten. The only thing anyone remembers about "Network" is Peter Finche's raging.

Best Actress in a Supporting Role

Beatrice Straight Network.....Jodie Foster Taxi Driver.....Jane Alexander All the President's Men....Lee Grant Voyage of the Damned & Piper Laurie Carrie.

I was always scared of that scary looking Jesus figure in the prayer closet.

[quote]I disagree that the poster gives away the plot. You're looking at it from the point of view of someone who knows what happens. The picture on the left shows Carrie in a prom dress. The one on the right looks like she is bathed in red light.

I thought it was a girl that turned evil, didn’t know she was drenched in blood...until I saw the trailer. Still, a great poster, but I hate the new poster they use for the iTunes digital download.

I like the original movie poster best.

R503, that's more Saint Sebastian done up to resemble Jesus but either way, terrifying.

Yeah, I always assumed the statue was St. Sebastian, since iconagraphically he would have the arrows sticking out of him, not Christ...but why would a evangelical/pentacostal protestant have a Saint statue, or a crucifix for that matter? Those are big no-nos in the protestant world.

In "Danse Macabre" (I believe), King himself notes that DePalma seems to have made Margaret White Catholic.

And of course how can people miss the very deliberate (done in slow mo, no less) shot of Sue discovering the rope clicking next to her hand and then. a bit later, following it with her eyes up to the pail? Of course she isn't part of the plan (not on purpose anyway since she did get Carrie there in the first place and, once news got out of such, the faked ballots thing put into place).

R501, Faye should have been nominated and won for either Bonnie and Clyde, Chinatown or Mommie Dearest. It's just another case of the oscars award someone who deserved to win years ago for a different role. How did Robert De Niro not win for Taxi Driver???? How did Taxi Driver not win Best Picture??? The academy awards are a joke. The Cannes Film Festival will always be superior.

That old Academy saying, "It's enough just to be nominated". I really think it's true in this case. Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie's nomination where kind of shocking, especially for the movie genre. Spacek was steadily building a career, Laurie had long been forgotten. It was a small budget movie with a brilliant campaign that blew everybody away. Released in October before the major Awards movies were to come out. That's filler-time. It was the true definition of what became known as a "sleeper hit".

Network, in its' own way, is as iconic as Carrie. To some, even more so. As is Faye's performance. After Bonnie and Clyde and Chinatown, she was due, and she won for the right movie. As did Sissy when she took the Award for Coal Miner's Daughter, (not to snub DL icon MTM in Ordinary People). They were both deserving.

Carrie, Network, Taxi Driver, All the President's Men. It was a pretty amazing year!

Agree R492.

I think Amy Irving is excellent in Carrie, especially in the shower scene. Her changing facial expression when she becomes aware of the pain she is causing Carrie...

Yes R470 and R476, I was confused. I recalled the paperback cover of Salem's Lot. Apologies all around.

R509, which is interesting because of all the things Catholics do, going door to door and proselytizing is not one of them.

[quote]r512 After Bonnie and Clyde and Chinatown, Faye was due, and she won for the right movie.

Well, KIng did say "really weird Catholic." But all Margaret's iconography in the home vs. the usual ascetic traits of Protestantism and her making the sign of the cross, etc. are much more Catholic than her full on evangelical zeal in the book. King has a special place in his heart for evangelical ladies getting their due.

I was going to rent this on Amazon prime video but I saw it's going to be on hulu in April. The second one too.

King is right. She was a really weird, I would say insane, Catholic.

R439's clip is hilarious!

"And step and twirl and DIE, and electrocute, sashay and DIE!"

I saw a regional production of Carrie the Musical that was similar; a lot of bombast and some crude technical effects for the finale.

Despite its cult following and revivals, it's why I abandoned attending musical theatre long ago, with a few exceptions.

R512, but Carrie was released in mid-November and Spacek won The National Society of Critics Award for Best Actress and was a runner-up for the New York Film Critics Circle Award. Piper Laurie received a Golden Globe nomination. So they were in the mix.

R501, Talia Shire would be an Oscar winning actress right now if she'd campaigned in Supporting Actress. She won several of the critics awards for Best Supporting Actress including New York Film Critics, National Society of Film Critics and National Board of Review. Everyone really thought she gave the film some class.

As it stands now, I get Talia Shire mixed up with Didi Conn.

So does she.

I can only assume David Shire did as well.

"I totally disagree that Carrie comes off unsympathetic in the prom disaster. The fact that she thinks everyone is laughing at her is what makes the scene so brilliant. It's one of those rare scenes that is able to effectively capture a character's psychological state. Carrie has been bullied so long that when she is publicly humiliated, she only sees red and fights back like a wounded child. I actually thinks this makes Carrie more sympathetic,"

Oh, come on. She comes across as a crazy killer in the movie. It made sense what she did in the novel; she's on the stage covered in blood, and the whole school is laughing at her (a lot of them were laughing out of pure shock, but it didn't matter). It's understandable that she would want to punish them. When Miss Desjardin runs up to help her she uses her power to punch her in the face and she gets a bloody nose but that's all. In the novel Carrie was truly sympathetic; in the film was she more of a crazy person killing without provocation.

R512 Network, in its' own way, is as iconic as Carrie. To some, even more so.

r526 "Without provocation"? Huh? She's just had pig's blood dumped on her in front of an entire audience, many of whom have bullied her for years and there are some people laughing at her. De Palma sets it up perfectly to make us understand why Carrie reacted the way she did.

Carrie and (Taxi Driver too) got pretty far at the Oscars considering this was 1976 and the academy was still pretty conservative (except the somehow let Midnight Cowboy sneak in but then again the also awarded John Wayne the same year.)

This was the era of Bob Hope and his kind. That a little horror film with a low budget, pig's blood and set in a high school got as far as it did was a pretty big thing.

For latecomers to this thread tonight, It must be my favorite movie night on DL. Others posted threads this evening on Dressed to Kill, The Omen, The Last Picture Show, and Outrageous Fortune. I loved them all!!!

"Carrie" was Edie McClurg's first movie. The character originally had no lines, and was just supposed to be a funny girl wearing glasses. McClurg improvised her entire performance in the movie.

This clip also has a couple of scenes from her memorable episode of "The Golden Girls".

R531, did McClurg's performance have any lines in the finished product? I don't remember her saying anything.

R532 I know she has a line with P J Soles when they are under the driers at the hair salon

I saw the LA production of the musical a couple years ago and they really fixed a lot. The audience was ushered into a high school gym setting and you sat in bleachers as if attending a school rally. There were little touches like "Carrie White eats shit" graffiti and when the show began, the bleachers with the audience moved during different parts of the show to reconfigure the performing area. We were brought in so tightly for the shower tampon scene that it was really hard to watch because you were basically right in the action.

The bucket dump did happen and when Carrie kills Sue, Sue had been rigged in a harness that shot her backwards very violently up and over a portion of the audience in bleachers where she appeared to slam into the back wall. Both times I saw this production, it stopped the show as the audience first gasped and then cheered.

It was a very satisfying update for fans of the original movie. Lots of great effects.

So wait-Carrie kills SUE in the musical? Why the fuck does she do that?

Whoops. I meant Chris. Sorry!

In the play, does a hand come up out of the ground at the end?

Oh, also, wasn't it awfully uncomfortable sitting in bleacher seats throughout an entire play and difficult to get to the seats in the middle. I don't imagine too many older or disabled people came to the theater version of Carrie.

I'm an able bodied guy so I had no problems with the bleachers and don't remember being uncomfortable. I'm sure there were options for elderly or handicapped.

[quote]King is right. She was a really weird, I would say insane, Catholic.

Of course she was insane. Jesus f’ing Christ. I don’t think Brian De Palma was claiming Margaret White was just following Vatican II.

R539, you must be very young or exceptionally fit to think that only “elderly and handicapped” people would be uncomfortable sitting on bleachers for a full show. Besides, I’m not paying to sit on bleachers; I don’t expect recliners, but basic lumbar support is a bare minimum. And you said these bleachers move? So people are perched on plank seating with no arm rests or backing, just sittin’ pretty, side-by-side, no support other than gravity and their own presumably strong cores, and they’re being moved around that way? How is that not dangerous?

The LA production was far better than any other version I've seen. They seemed to get the show and they must have been rabid fans. I got the feeling that the director of the off-Broadway version was clueless and tried to turn it into some cheesy after school special. There was one video of a high school production which has the best ending I've ever seen. Everyone gathers for that cheesy finale song with Margaret and Carrie dead at the front of the stage. Sue comes up to them with the chorus behind her and before the last chord of the song, Carrie leaps up and grabs Sue. Sue screams. Blackout!

I thought that was the perfect way to end the show.

Found it! Love this ending!

It on right now on IFC! I'm recording it to watch this afternoon. Looking forward to watching it again after reading this thread!

This is the edition I read in junior high. My school library had it and of course everyone wanted to read it for the "dirty" parts.

[quote] I’m not paying to sit on bleachers; I don’t expect recliners, but basic lumbar support is a bare minimum. And you said these bleachers move? So people are perched on plank seating with no arm rests or backing, just sittin’ pretty, side-by-side, no support other than gravity and their own presumably strong cores, and they’re being moved around that way? How is that not dangerous?

Relax 541 the show closed, you're safe. BREATHE.

[quote]Oh, also, wasn't it awfully uncomfortable sitting in bleacher seats throughout an entire play and difficult to get to the seats in the middle. I don't imagine too many older or disabled people came to the theater version of Carrie.

It did get uncomfortable by the end but my butt gets tired in any seat after 2+ hours.

There was one older guy in my audience who was in a wheelchair or hoveround. They just had him seated to the side of the bleachers but still on the riser part that moved everything around. It wasn’t drastic movements, mostly just rolling closer to the action now and then. They did shake and rock us a bit during the prom destruction. Anyway old wheelchair guy looked like a complete perv who had been to every show to leer at the girls during the shower scene.

I do remember in Seattle, the photo card outside had a picture of the hand and the marquee said "the ending will grab you".

For a flop of a musical, people sure love reviving it more than many. One day, somebody will come up with a good mix of book and music and cast.

I also feel the death of Miss Collins is harsh.

[quote]I think Amy Irving is excellent in Carrie, especially in the shower scene. Her changing facial expression when she becomes aware of the pain she is causing Carrie...

I just watched it last weekend. Amy looked the most guilty, and she played it very well.

Amy looked like she was tearing up, like she was about to cry in the scene.

[quote]For a flop of a musical, people sure love reviving it more than many. One day, somebody will come up with a good mix of book and music and cast.

Its good for highs schools because they are all the age and you can fill the prom scene.

Through out the years my friend and I have met the entire cast and he has a box of Tampax signed by Nancy Allen and P.J. Soles. One of them inscribed "Plug it up!" They both laughed and said sure when asked to sign it.

I still don't understand how Chris knew Billy was taking Carrie to prom. Eventually people find out, but she was getting the pig's blood before Carrie even agreed to go.

Oy, the tuxedo rental scene.

r555, in the book Chris is expelled from school after she bails on the punishment detention and her plan is more about generally fucking up the prom since she isn't allowed to attend. I think there's even a line where she says she doesn't care who is up on stage she just wants to ruin the prom for everyone else. Also in the book they rig two buckets of blood meant to drench both the queen AND king so it was more an equal opportunity prank. I don't recall the fake ballot aspect being in the book either. I think there's a line about Chris calling in favors to get people to vote for them but Tommy and Carrie only win by a single vote.

I love the last moment in the clip at r543. Clever. The LA production had Margaret levitate into the air as Carrie stopped her heart and Margaret ended up in the crucified position in front of a cross that hung from the scaffolding. Both rose up in the darkness and disappeared as Margaret dies.

I saw the LA Production in 2015 and I LOVED it, minus the bleachers. Cushions would've been nice.

They made over the whole theater as the high school.

Carrie playing on the big screen in LA next month

I would love to see it on the big screen. I’ve only ever seen it on a television.

When the special edition Blu-ray came out from Scream Factory, they had a screening/prom in DTLA with some of the cast. Nancy Allen looks amazing for 66.

I was at that screening, r562! So much fun! I got to meet Nancy Allen and P.J. Soles. When they did that light cue at the prom scene we all just went nuts! I didn't dress up but a lot of people had really creative costumes. Great night!

I'm 'Jealous much!'

Nancy Allen looks fantastic. Not a botoxed, stretched plastic surgery victim. She aged naturally but still has those beautiful eyes. Nice to see she has so many fans. I always thought she got dismissed as an actress but love her in Carrie, Dressed to Kill, Blow Out, Poltergeist III and I Wanna Hold Your Hand. And she seems appreciative of her fans.

No love for Nancy in 'Robocop'?

[quote]Oy, the tuxedo rental scene.

While I do not know if you meant that positively or negatively, I posted on a previous CARRIE thread that that scene is the one that always takes me out of the movie.

Was the "trying on clothes" montage already a cinematic cliché, or did John Hughes later steal it 20 times?

I forgot to mention that both ladies were lovely when I met them. Soles is exactly the same as in her 70s/80s movies - goofy, flirty, fun. Allen is gorgeous and seemed so amazed by the response from fans. She got involved with Scream Factory so she could promote her own cancer charity organization alongside their Bluray release. I think she was worried fans would be uninterested or put off by that but I think they raised a lot of money through the raffle they held.

Sissy Spacek used to terrify me as a child. I didn't even see the movie but I'd seen commercials and stuff. Even in other movies she scared me.

r569 wow, that's nice to hear about Nancy. Good on her for using her horror days as a way to raise money for charity.

Nancy Allen must be a really good friend. She started that Cancer organization after her friend Wendie Jo Sperber (whom she met on another great movie "I Wanna Hold Your Hand") died.

I was there too, 563! I didn't dress up but I did get to chat briefly with Nancy and I've met PJ on the horror circuit.

I still get emails about Nancy's charity. She auctions off lunches with her and things like that.

[quote]When they did that light cue at the prom scene we all just went nuts!

What happened?

When the lights turn red at the prom scene, they did a similar trick in the theater. It's in my video at 562.

Cool beans!!

[quote] I once met Betty Buckley and asked her about the laughing at the prom scene.

Well, it IS quite amusing!

The pig's blood and everything!

r575 Thanks for posting that. BTW just put an r in front of your post number so we can easily refer back.

Q&A with the cast after the screening

Q&A with the cast after the screening

I hope I look half as good as Nancy at 66.

[quote]r535 So wait-Carrie kills SUE in the musical? Why the fuck does she do that?

[bold]RIP Sue

Great making-of documentary:

As a 12 year-old I snuck into Carrie in 1976 by buying tickets to a PG movie next store at the twin theater (Baby Blue Marine with Jan Michael Vincent). Something about seeing this in a dark theater at a time when I was young and not as numbed to R rated gore and violence was just so cool and memorable. And it remains such a creepy movie in a lot of ways. On a side note, something about sneaking into an R movie at that age was just so forbidden and thrilling and made it part of the experience.

I've met P.J. Soles and she's a fucking hoot. I don't know why even smaller indie directors aren't casting her in their films. She's still got it. It's refreshing to see that the cast of Carrie has actually aged naturally for the most part.

Hell, even Piper Laurie looks fabulous for her age.

[quote] I saw the LA Production in 2015 and I LOVED it, minus the bleachers. Cushions would've been nice.

Oh jeez Ixnay on the cushionsnay.

The tuxedo scene is funny and gets big laughs in the theater, Just a bit of levity.

DePalma said in the documentary I linked above that you need comedy scenes to make the horror/tension moments work, otherwise people will get stressed and laugh at the horror scenes.

[quote]Oy, the tuxedo rental scene

I know, because it goes fast forward to fast. They missed up in that scene, and didn’t correct it.

My cousin had the book, and at 12 years old, just seeing the spine of the book in that font, CARRIE, gave me anxiety. The movie scared the shit out of me.

Seeing it 30 years later, I think it's a brilliant film. Tragic and unforgettable. Great performances all the way around, and I think no one could've played Carrie better than Sissy Spacek.

Acting aside (which was amazing) she could've won the part by aesthetic alone. The look on her face when drenched in blood was fucking terrifying.

I'll start a part 2 thread since this one is almost full.

DL icon Lorna Luft mentions Nancy Allen in her book, “Me and My Shadows”. They became friends in the late-60s when Lorna attended a Professional Children’s School in New York. If memory serves, she wrote that Nancy was the envy of all the girls at school, because not only was she a working teen model, she was also dating the school heartthrob — one of Soupy Sales’s sons.

Watched Sissy in "Crimes of the Heart" last night for the first time in years and it's easy to forget how great (and at ease) she is in that one too. Probably her third best performance after "Carrie" and "Coal Miner's..." For all her limitations (that accent, for one), Spacek actually had some range along the way.

It's also some of DL fave Jessica Lange's best work too, though she didn't get much attention for it.

Other DL fave Diane Keaton still looks a bit lost at times but even her work looks better now that time has gone by.

As goofy as it is, I always enjoyed a movie Spacek made called Trading Mom where she plays 4 completely different women and disguises herself fairly well, too. I think one is a French Catherine Deneuve type, a circus performer, a butch lesbian outdoorsy woman, and finally, the regular ol' sweet mom. She changes her accent several times during it, too. Seems like she must have had a blast. She's wonderful in it even if the film is pretty much mid-90's family film fluff.

Crimes of the Heart. I love love love everything about it.

Spacek is great in it, and as I recall she received the most accolades. But her finest work was Carrie.

I cannot pick a favorite in Crimes, but I do focus most on Keaton and Lange. Can’t take my eyes off them.

And Tess Harper wow. Cluck, cluck...

This is why I love the DL. It's spurred me in the last couple of days to re-watch CARRIE and OUTRAGEOUS FORTUNE, and now I'm going to have to watch CRIMES OF THE HEART, for the first time in over 20 years!

The unpleasant face in OP's link is the face of gender queer and SJW today with purple hair and/or a mouth full of jargon.

Sissy in “3 Women” > Sissy in “Crimes”.

I've never seen Crimes of the Heart! (Need to see it now because of this thread).

[quote]As goofy as it is, I always enjoyed a movie Spacek made called Trading Mom where she plays 4 completely different women and disguises herself fairly well, too. I think one is a French Catherine Deneuve type, a circus performer, a butch lesbian outdoorsy woman, and finally, the regular ol' sweet mom. She changes her accent several times during it, too. Seems like she must have had a blast. She's wonderful in it even if the film is pretty much mid-90's family film fluff.

Man, I didn't think anyone else knew that movie! I stumbled across that one in a video store in the late 90s and I still feel like I found a movie from an alternate universe. It's cute but looks soooo cheap, even by early 90s straight-to-video standards. According to IMDB it was filmed in Virginia but it has the look of those Charles Band/Full Moon horror cheapies shot in Romania. And considering it stars two Oscar winners it's amazing how obscure it is.