Carrie(1976)

R
1h 38m
- Horror

Release Date: Nov 3, 1976 | Limited

Carrie White, a shy, friendless teenage girl who is sheltered by her domineering, religious mother, unleashes her telekinetic powers after being humiliated by her classmates at her senior prom.

Releases

Original Release | Nov 3, 1976

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(U.S. Only)

Director & Top Cast

Brian De Palma
Director

Sissy Spacek
Carrie White

Piper Laurie
Margaret White

Amy Irving
Sue Snell

William Katt
Tommy Ross

John Travolta
Billy Nolan

Nancy Allen

Chris Hargenson

Betty Buckley

Miss Collins

P.J. Soles

Norma

Priscilla Pointer

Mrs. Snell

Sydney Lassick

Mr. Fromm

Stefan Gierasch

Mr. Morton

Michael Talbott

Freddy

Doug Cox

The Beak

Harry Gold

George

Noelle North

Frieda

Cindy Daly

Cora

Deirdre Berthrong

Rhonda

Technical Specifications

Sound Mix: Mono

Aspect Ratio: 1.85 : 1

Other Details

Country of Origin: United States

Language: English

Summaries

Plot Summary

The film begins in the locker room full of teenage girls, including Carrie White (Sissy Spacek). Carrie gets her first period, and after becoming distressed, cries out for help. Instead of helping, the other girls ridicule and harass her, throwing out tampons, sanitary towels and toilet paper to her. Teacher Miss Collins (Betty Buckley) rushes in to stop the commotion. White, who appears to be bottling extreme rage, snaps a light bulb. After questioning Carrie, Miss Collins realizes that Carrie is unaware of the concept of menstruation. Because of this, Miss Collins asks the school principal to excuse Carrie from gym class for a week because of the trauma. Upon her way home, Carrie uses her recently discovered telekinesis to stop a boy from teasing her. While at home, Carrie is tormented by her delusional mother (Piper Laurie), who locks Carrie in a closet and forces her to pray--she believes that Carrie received her period due to sinning.Miss Collins, still livid about the incident, berates the other girls and forces them through a detention, deliberately physically exhausting them. The leader of the clique, Chris Hargensen (Nancy Allen), refuses to participate, and as punishment, is banned from the upcoming prom. Furious, she blames Carrie for her misfortune. Meanwhile, another one of the girls, Sue Snell (Amy Irving), feels guilty about her part in teasing Carrie, so she asks her boyfriend, Tommy Ross (William Katt), to take Carrie to the prom. Tommy begrudgingly agrees. After Tommy asks her to the prom, Carrie refuses, thinking that yet another trick is being played on her. After a comforting pep talk with Miss Collins, and after Tommy's further insistence, Carrie finally agrees to go to the prom with Tommy.While everyone else is getting ready for the prom, Chris schemes with her boyfriend Billy Nolan (John Travolta) and best friend Norma (P.J. Soles) to get revenge on Carrie. They go to a farm and slaughter some pigs, drain their blood into a bucket, and place the bucket on one of the rafters in the school gym. Carrie asks her mother's permission to go to the prom. Her mother becomes unhinged at the suggestion, commenting that Tommy is only after her for sex and that this will lead her down a road to perpetual sin. This leads to a violent argument between Carrie and her mother; who uses her telekinesis to slam windows and doors in her home. After another fight between Carrie and her mother the night of the prom, Carrie uses her powers to push her mother into a bed and tells her that she must stop worrying.Carrie and Tommy arrive at the prom, and Carrie begins to feel accepted by Tommy's peers. Miss Collins relates to Carrie the story of her own prom, telling her she should cherish the memory forever. Carrie and Tommy dance together; Tommy has since fallen for Carrie and kisses her.As per Chris' instructions, Norma and some of Billy's friends fix the ballots so that Carrie and Tommy are elected prom king and queen. They make their way to the stage, and Carrie finally feels what it's like to be accepted.Meanwhile, Sue sneaks into the prom and sees Chris and Billy under the stage. She realizes their plan: Chris is going to yank a cord and dump the pig's blood all over Carrie as she is declared prom queen. Sue rushes toward the stage frantically but is intercepted by Miss Collins, who thinks that Sue is out to make trouble for Carrie after seeing that Carrie and Tommy are together. Miss Collins throws her out of the gym, thinking that she was to spoil Carrie's moment. At that exact moment, Chris yanks the cord, drenching Carrie in pig's blood.The students gasp and look on in horror. Tommy is furious, but the bucket falls and knocks him unconscious. Carrie snaps and imagines that all of the students and faculty are actually laughing at her, which her mother had warned her would happen. Carrie uses her telekinesis to destroy the gym and kill her peers and teachers, including Miss Collins. As Carrie walks home, a firetruck is seen passing her. Chris and Billy, who safely witnessed Carrie cause the death of the entire student body, attempt to run Carrie over with Billy's car. Carrie uses her telekinesis to destroy the car.When Carrie returns home, she draws a bath. After she cleaned herself, her mother appears and tells her she was the result of a strange marital rape. Then, convinced that her daughter is an evil witch, she takes out a chopping knife and stabs Carrie in the back. Carrie falls down the stairs and stumbles away from her mother. When her mother corners her in the kitchen, Carrie uses her power to crucify her mother with kitchen knives & tools. After the death, Carrie becomes wrought with guilt and using the lit candles, sets her house ablaze. The home eventually collapses and Carrie dies amongst the debris.Sometime later, Sue, having survived the prom night catastrophe, is suffering from depression over the death of her peers. She experiences a nightmare in which she visits the location of Carrie's house. As she reaches down to put flowers on the burnt lot, Carrie's blood-stained hand reaches up from the rubble and grabs her. Sue then wakes up screaming in the arms of her mother.

Storyline

It's nearing the end of the school year. High school senior Carrie White is a social outcast, largely due to being unwise to the ways of the world based on her upbringing. Her mother, Margaret White, is a religious fanatic, her extreme views primarily targeted against sex, which she believes is a sin. She even believes natural associated processes such as menstruation are a sin, about which she has refused to mention to Carrie. Mrs. White's beliefs were taken to that extreme largely because of her own failed marriage and her husband Ralph long ago having run off with another woman. The only adult authority figure who tries to help Carrie with her life is her phys ed teacher, Miss Collins, who is nonetheless warned not to get too close to go against how Mrs. White chooses to raise Carrie, Mrs. White whose beliefs are well known in the community. An impromptu event that happens among Carrie's phys ed classmates against her leads to her classmates being punished. One of those students, self absorbed Chris Hargensen, vows revenge against Carrie for that punishment, the method of the revenge associated to the phys ed class incident. Another student however, the popular Sue Snell, begins to feel sorry for Carrie. In wanting to help her get out of her shell, Sue asks her boyfriend, the equally popular Tommy Ross, to take Carrie to the senior prom instead of her. This move does not sit well with Mrs. White, who in her extreme view believes Carrie will fall prey to sin. All these competing issues lead to Carrie deciding on an impulse to use a newfound skill to free herself from the figurative chains that have long been placed around her, with tragic consequences. — Huggo Carrie White, a shy and unpopular 17 year old, is invited to the high school senior prom by Tommy Ross (asked from gf Sue Snell). At first, she believes her life is on the up with help from Tommy, but when the happiest moment of her life is ruined by bullies who play a cruel and humiliating prank on her, Carrie unleashes a horrific revenge! — Iantjambo Carrie- a thriller movie classic- Carrie White,protected from evils of the world, sheltered by her religious obsessed mother. Practically kept from learning ways of the world as it is including the factors of maturing into womanhood, Carrie hadn't been educated in events that take place when reaching puberty do she was teased in gym class when she first began menstruating. Other girls ridiculed her so bad they were punished. One of the girls began feeling sorry for Carrie and asked her boyfriend, handsome popular guy, to take her to the prom instead of her. One of the penalties to One of the girls for teasing Carrie in gym class was for her not to attend the Senior prom. So she decides to play a prank on Carrie which leads to a huge fatal disaster after Carrie discovering her telekinesis powers. — dmcclure-21607 Carrie White is a shy young girl who doesn't make friends easily. After her classmates teased her about her horrified reaction to her unexpected first period, one of them takes pity on her and gets Tommy Ross, her boyfriend and class hunk to invite Carrie to the senior prom. Meanwhile, another girl who has been banned from the prom for her continued aggressive behavior is not as forgiving and plans a prank to embarrass Carrie in front of the whole school. What she doesn't realise is that Carrie is... gifted with deadly powers, and you really don't want to make her angry. — Mark Thompson <mrt@oasis.icl.co.uk> 2 more See all