Carrie – Review

Volleyball game point: 15-14! The girls’ gym class plays a close point, until the ball flies right past Carrie White (Spacek), and her squad loses. All of her teammates talk smack about her lack of skills and tell her to eat shit. Lovely.

Then, it’s time to strut around the locker room naked and laugh while Carrie somberly showers in the corner. Can she wash off the disdain? Not when the director makes a creepy slow-mo scene out of this. Unfortunately, while washing, she gets her period, too. This grosses out the other girls when she begs for help and more heinous teasing occurs.

The abuses send Carrie into a mental spiral, and then somehow a light bulb explodes, seemingly on its own. High school is a rough time for some, but compounded with extreme bullying it is a whole other level of horror.

As the school authorities fail to help at all, and know Carrie’s mother Margaret (Laurie) has strong “beliefs,” so mostly they just send her home to deal with her shit on her own. Carrie is even teased by younger kids as she walks home, continuing her hellish treatment.

Sounds like a wonderful time for mental health, and Carrie must be having a swell time. Well, maybe these bullies and assholes have picked on the wrong girl. What happens when pranks go too far?

Carrie is a solid Stephen King adaptation by a director which I do enjoy, but find to be of variable quality. This one is a good enough effort from the cast and crew to bring a crazy book to life, which has multiple levels of horror. Some people find this film to be a total classic, but I never got to that level despite finding a fine time with it.

It is a bit dated with its 70s filming, yet it remains relevant and watchable for a modern audience, as most of the themes and subject matter still applies well, and the supernatural elements are always in season. I am not sure how it compares to the book, but a strange ending to this film makes me want to read it.

I didn’t like the 2013 version all that much, so I’d stick with the original, though there is a 2002 one also which I did not see. I also have not viewed 1999’s The Rage: Carrie 2.

Additionally, a TV series adaptation just debuted for eager viewers on October 7, 2026 also. I am not sure if it is a limited event or an ongoing attempt, but after a couple of episodes I am having an okay time with it, too.