Reviewer: Paff Review Date: August 19, 2001 Released by: MGM Release date: 8/28/2001 MSRP: $14.95 Region 1, NTSC Widescreen 1.85:1 | 16x9: Yes

"They're all gonna laugh at you." Stephen King probably thought they are all gonna laugh at him, too. That's why his unfinished novel Carrie was relegated to the trash can. How could a middle-aged male write a story about a teen-aged girl's rather horrible experience with puberty? Luckily, his wife Tabitha rescued the pages from the garbage and convinced her husband to finish the novel. It was a novel that would launch the career of the prolific best-selling author, and the film version, 2 years later, would do the same for a small group of talented cast and crew. Carrie has been released on home video quite a few times, on VHS, laserdisc, and DVD. MGM has given us another DVD on the 25th anniversary of its theatrical release, and this might finally be the definitive cut.

The Story

OK, for any Unfrozen Caveman Horror Fans who are unfamiliar with Carrie, it's a fantastic story of teen angst, rebellion, revenge, and even feminism. Carrie White (Sissy Spacek) is enduring a teenage life that's a living hell. She's unpopular, unattractive, uncoordinated, un-everything. If life wasn't bad enough, it's about to get worse. Showering after gym class, she begins her first menstrual period, at a much older age than normal. She's unaware of what's happening to her body, and begins to panic. Her classmates are no help; they respond with taunts and epithets, along with a shower of feminine hygiene products. Her one ally, gym teacher Miss Collins (Betty Buckley) is the only one to come to her rescue.

Miss Collins harshly punishes the girls for their cruelty. Sue Snell (Amy Irving) decides to atone for her crime by persuading her boyfriend Tommy Ross (William Katt) to take the shy and withdrawn Carrie to the prom. Chris Hargensen (Nancy Allen) somehow blames Carrie for the whole mess, and plans further humiliation for Carrie, with her boyfriend Billy Nolan (A pre-stardom John Travolta) along for the ride.

Carrie's problems don't end at the school walls. Her mother is a religious fanatic, and actually sees Carrie's puberty as a punishment from God for some unspecified sin. Margaret White (Piper Laurie) isn't pleased with the idea of Carrie joining the dating world.

And there's a supernatural element to this whole she-bang. After the locker room incident, Carrie notices that she can move objects simply by force of her mind. At first it seems like an involuntary tic, but as she realizes what telekinesis is, she develops and refines her power. But with as much rage as this teenaged girl has, it's going to go out of her control before long.

Carrie and Tommy have a great time at the prom, and are even voted King and Queen, at least until Chris' prank goes off as planned. Carrie's been pushed to the edge once too many times, and now she's going to push back. What follows is revenge of biblical proportions, and Carrie's mom will likely have a final say in the matter as well.

(NOTE: I generally avoid excessive spoilers in my reviews, but Carrie is part of the horror vernacular. Further discussion assumes the reader is familiar with the story. If you're one of the few who's never seen this film, you may find major spoilers from this point on.)

Stephen King is one of the most widely read authors of all-time, and the film world is covered with adaptations of his work. Unfortunately, his work hasn't translated to screen with as high regard as his novels. In fact, the only films based on Stephen King works that received critical acclaim are non-horror in nature: The Shawshank Redemption, Stand By Me, and The Green Mile. And with few exceptions (Misery, The Shining, The Dead Zone, among others), even horror fans have failed to embrace the film adaptations of the popular New England author. Yet Carrie is universally applauded by both critics and fans, and arguably remains the best King adaptation ever done, even 25 years later.

So what makes Carrie so damn good? Well, it's a combination of things, from the simplicity of the novel and the excellent screenplay, to the tight direction and fantastic performances. I could go on almost forever about this movie, but I'll try to keep it as brief as possible.

Lawrence Cohen adapted King's novel flawlessly. I'd even go as far to say it actually improves on the text. (And King himself prefers the film's ending to his own). Obviously, when writing a screenplay based on a book, some details will have to be ignored. Cohen eliminates the right things, while keeping the facets of the story that make it so good. In the novel, Carrie goes on a much more apocalyptic rampage, which was cut from the script for budgetary reasons. But by limiting the scope of her destruction, it enables the viewer to focus more on the important concepts, like the relationship between Carrie and her mother.

Director Brian DePalma is well known for his homages to Alfred Hitchcock, and you get some in this film for sure, with varying degrees of success. On the lower end are the split screen effects (which DePalma now regrets), and the use of the screeching violins from Bernard Hermann's Psycho score. Yet DePalma also shows he can manipulate the audience with suspense almost as well as Hitchcock. The scene where Carrie is elected queen of the prom, and her subsequent walk to the stage, where her humiliation is poised and ready, is downright excruciating to watch. No matter how many times I see Carrie, I always hope that Sue Snell will finally be able to convince Miss Collins about the bucket of blood over the stage, yet obviously that will never happen. That DePalma can get me to the edge of my seat every single time I watch this movie speaks volumes about his talent.

Stephen King usually writes his novels around a tragic figure. This is very rarely portrayed very well on screen. Most filmmakers simply don't have the screen time to study the characters the way they were written, and they often come across as one-dimensional and unsympathetic. Stanley Kubrick's version of The Shining is a great film, but Jack Nicholson's portrayal of Jack Torrance is almost maniacal from the opening frames (one reason King disliked Kubrick's film so much). But we really see Carrie White as a tragic figure. At the prom she is popular and happy, and Tommy even invites her out after the prom. His favor to Sue might end up lasting more than one night. Something is finally going right for Carrie. This makes what happens at the prom even more nerve-racking. And further, Carrie still has a fateful confrontation with her mother waiting at home. Even if Carrie's prom went off without a hitch, she still must deal with her mother's pre-conceptions about her power.

Of course, a discussion of Carrie has to include a mention of Sissy Spacek's performance. The Ugly Duckling/Beautiful Swan transformation has been done on screen countless times. Yet it always seems forced to me. In My Fair Lady, we can see Audrey Hepburn's beauty even in the dowdy Eliza Doolittle, just as placing glasses on Rachael Leigh Cook in She's All That doesn't suddenly make her unattractive.

The Carrie hiding behind her hair and staring at the ground is almost deserving of the taunts she receives on a daily basis. She IS laughable and awkward. Yet when she shows up at the prom, the transformation is incredible. Carrie White is now a gorgeous woman. None of this is a comment on the physical appearance of Sissy Spacek. It's how she carries herself that makes everything so believable. Beauty is not just in one's looks, but in how one behaves. When Carrie is shy and scared, she's totally unattractive, but when she finally develops self-confidence, she's graceful and beautiful. It's no wonder that Tommy actually finds himself falling in love with her. We all do.

The Academy of Motion Pictures apparently saw the nuances and skill of this performance as well; Sissy Spacek was nominated in the Best Actress category. While she didn't win, her talent was undeniable, as she'd take home the gold statue four years later for Coal Miner's Daughter.

Also nominated, in the Best Supporting Actress category, was Piper Laurie, who ended a fifteen-year retirement for this film. Her brief performance as Margaret White was simply outstanding. She had to force Brian De Palma to include her long speech where she describes Carrie's conception and we should all be glad she did. It's a subtle, but truly horrific sequence, where a mother tells her daughter that her very existence is only a punishment from Satan. And Piper Laurie makes it frighteningly believable. One has to wonder if Carrie could actually tolerate her classmates' abuse, if only her own mother would sympathize with her. But Margaret White makes sure that Carrie knows that all her problems are her own fault.

While Carrie is a simple tale on the outside, it's much more complex and layered the more one studies it. In King's novel, Carrie's telekinesis shows up a few times in her childhood, and a flashback sequence was almost included in the film. I'm glad that idea was scrapped. Instead, Carrie's power coincides with her first period, often considered the defining line between a childhood and officially becoming a woman. I'm sure most men (and women too) would say that women have a "power" over men. Carrie's mental power is a not-so-subtle hint of her budding sexual power. King was clearly uncomfortable writing about this, as it's very difficult for a man to understand what it's like to be a girl going through puberty. And while I obviously have no idea what that experience is like either, everyone has seen first-hand the almost overnight transformation of a female from a mousy little girl to a sexual human being. By making the woman's power a metaphorical one, King wasn't on ground as unfamiliar as he may have thought. He may not know what it's like to possess that power, but I'm sure he's been on the receiving end more than a few times.

For a story with such an overt feminine tone, the characters are rightly represented in an almost entirely female cast. Carrie's dad is long gone. The few male characters are two ineffective faculty members, the fickle Tommy Ross, and Billy Nolan, who's quite subservient to Chris Hargensen. So we have females in all the important roles, including the villains. And Chris Hargensen is a female villain unlike any other ever seen before. She is simply nasty. Not only is she nasty, it's almost for no apparent reason. It was her decision to ridicule Carrie White, it was her decision not to participate in Miss Collins' detention, yet she somehow sees Carrie as the blame for all her troubles. So she concocts a plan that is astronomically devious. This is why the cast is mostly female. I could never imagine males having so much disdain for another so as to hatch such a cruel revenge plan. Males tend to be simple, immediate, and reactive, and revenge is usually limited to a quick blow with a fist, and not an elaborate humiliation scheme. Again, more proof that King really knew what he was doing.

Carrie is living proof that horror films can be more than just a way of inducing chills (though Carrie definitely has its share of creepy scenes). It works on a surface level of a tale of revenge on cruel classmates, and can also be seen as representative of female sexuality and identity. Carrie was released 25 years ago, and is widely considered one of the best horror films ever made. I take it a step further; it is THE best horror film ever made.

Image Quality

As such an avid fan of this film, I've seen it in probably every home video incarnation possible. Carrie was a low budget production, and this hampers the quality of the video presentation. There have been several laserdisc transfers, including a full-frame version from Criterion, and a remastered widescreen print from MGM. This widescreen laserdisc print is apparently the same one used on the 1998 MGM DVD. In fact, I once did a side-by-side comparison of the LD vs. DVD, and the picture was almost identical. Since this picture was quite grainy and undefined, I greatly looked forward to this special edition, since I might finally get a pristine viewing of this movie.

Sadly, this is not the case, despite the addition of anamorphic enhancement. It's slightly more colorful and vibrant than the earlier transfer is, but it's not a huge difference. Some of the glaring errors, especially in the first reel, are still just as apparent. Several times in the locker room sequence we see a vertical line marring the print. The shadows in this scene are not black either, in fact they don't even approach black. There are two possible conclusions one may come to: This is the old transfer, only anamorphically enhanced, or this is just the best possible print of Carrie. I don't know if it can get cleaned up much more than this, but if it does, I'll probably buy a copy of that one too. Sigh…

Sound

Carrie was originally recorded in simple mono. Film purists may contend that that is the only way to properly listen to the film. While I believe films should be presented as close as possible to the way they were originally shown, I have to admit I'll listen to a 5.1 track over a mono track in almost every case. And I like this 5.1 track. Most of the dialogue and effects are still confined to the center speaker. The mains and surrounds are mostly used to add some depth to Pino Donaggio's wonderful score. The surrounds get used mostly for the screeching violins heard when Carrie uses her power, and then again when she hears the voices in her head after being drenched by the blood.

This Dolby Digital 5.1 track is one I'm quite familiar with. It was an option on the old MGM laserdisc, as well as the only soundtrack on the previous DVD. I actually found the laserdisc 5.1 track a little more active than that earlier DVD, maybe because the DVD has to have the capability to down-convert to 2.0 for listeners without Dolby Digital sound systems. The LD had a separate non-Dolby Digital track, so I believe the 5.1 was "purer", and thus it sounded better. This Special Edition audio track is much closer to the laserdisc in sound, and this is a good thing. It's very full and exceptionally clean. If you're a film purist, you can still listen to the mono track, which was included this time, but the 5.1 track really does add to the enjoyment of this fine film.

Supplemental Material

OK, it's a special edition. ""Where's the commentary?" Some reviewers have already asked this, and I was damn disappointed to find that there wouldn't be one. Especially since one exists, on the Criterion Laserdisc. It's by film historian Laurent Bouzereau and screenwriter Lawrence Cohen, but it would still be nice to have on this DVD, right? Instead all we get are two documentaries. Well, you heard it here first, folks: These documentaries are better than running commentary! Yes, you heard me right. These documentaries are better than running commentary.

The two main documentaries are called "Acting Carrie" and "Visualizing Carrie", and are 43 minutes and 40 minutes respectively. "Acting Carrie" starts out typically, with the cast (Sissy Spacek, Piper Laurie, Betty Buckley, Amy Irving, Nancy Allen, William Katt, and P.J. Soles, or more simply, everyone except John Travolta) discussing how they were selected for their roles. Informative, nothing special.

But after the first ten minutes is where it takes off. Brian DePalma and the cast give in-depth discussion about all the key scenes. There are three reasons why this is actually preferable to a running audio commentary. First, it's only important scenes that are discussed, so there's no slow parts to try to come up with something to comment on. Sure, the scene where Carrie selects her lipstick is important, but do we really need commentary on it? This documentary allows the cast to only deal with significant and unique scenes.






Secondly, the documentary format allows the scene in question to be played and replayed as necessary, and in slow motion as well. For example, the scene where Miss Collins slaps Chris Hargensen took several takes, and we hear both Nancy Allen and Betty Buckley reveal what was required to film this scene. All the while, we see the slap several times. I found this much more enjoyable than in a running commentary where the scene goes by in a few seconds, and the principles don't have the proper time to dissect it.

Finally, the "docu-commentary" allows a full discussion of scenes that took place very close together, such as Norma's and Miss Collins' death scenes. These scenes are less than a minute apart on screen, but first we get the full run-down on P.J. Soles' perforated ear drums, then Betty Buckley is allowed all the time she wants to discuss her demise on the basketball backboard.

"Visualizing Carrie" follows the same format as the cast documentary, but this time it's a technical discussion, with screenwriter Lawrence Cohen, director Brian De Palma, production designer Jack Fisk (Sissy Spacek's real-life husband), and other crew members. This is just as good as the cast documentary. We actually get to see stills of some of the deleted scenes like a flashback to Carrie as a young girl, as well as views of deleted scenes in the script. I know, I know, are these scenes on film anywhere so we could have them as an added feature? They don't go into detail on this, but my guess is that they were cut during production, not in final editing, so even if the footage exists, it's probably in a very unrefined form. I also really enjoyed what the crew termed the "Figure 8 Shot", as well as the dual-focus camera that DePalma used in several scenes.

The last featurette is a 6-minute interview with Lawrence Cohen and Betty Buckley on "Carrie the Musical", a short-lived Broadway show. No, we don't actually get any clips of the production, or even any stills, so it's worth watching once, but is nowhere near as useful as the two 40 minute documentaries. All three of these features were produced and directed by Laurent Bouzereau, who deserves major kudos from Carrie fans for his work on this DVD. I've probably seen Carrie over 30 times, and I watched it again for this review. After seeing these documentaries, I actually was considering watching this movie again, just to observe some of the facets the cast and crew pointed out.

Finally, there's the standard stuff: Theatrical Trailer, Production Stills, and a text segment entitled "Stephen King and the Evolution of Carrie". Informative, but nothing fans of both the author and the film didn't already know. This special edition also includes the same 8-page booklet that came with the previous release.

Final Thoughts

Quite obviously, Carrie is one of my all-time favorite films, and maybe no special edition could do it proper justice in my mind. But this DVD really does come awfully close. I was slightly disappointed that the transfer wasn't as immaculate as I had hoped, but it's damn good nonetheless. The sound and picture is definitely an improvement over the previous incarnation. It might not be enough for the casual fan to want to upgrade his copy, but the serious Carrie-lover will definitely want to add this one to his collection. But even if the picture and sound were exactly the same, the documentaries included are definitely worth the price of the disc. Laurent Bouzereau, in my mind, has invented a new style of supplement, the "docu-commentary." In these days where every director wants to do an audio commentary, even if he or she is not an exciting and interesting speaker, it's good that we may have an alternative. Other DVD producers would do well to incorporate a feature like this on future releases.

Rating

Movie - A+
Image Quality - B-
Sound - A-
Supplements - A+

Technical Info.

• Color
• Rated R
• 1 Disc
• Chapter Stops
• English Dolby Mono
• Dolby Digital 5.1
• French Mono
• Spanish Mono
• French subtitles
• Spanish subtitles

Supplements

• "Acting Carrie" Documentary
• "Visualizing Carrie" Documentary
• "Carrie the Musical" featurette
• Animated Photo Gallery
• "Stephen King And The Evolution of Carrie" Biography
• Original Theatrical Trailer

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