Product Description

Based on the best-selling Stephen King novel, Carrie "catches the mind, shakes it and refuses to let it go" (Time)! Starring Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie (in OscarÂ(r)-nominated* performances), John Travolta and Amy Irving, this ultimate revenge fantasy is "absolutely spellbinding" (Roger Ebert), "outrageously witty" (Los Angeles Times) and one of the all-time great horror classics! At the center of the terror is Carrie (Spacek), a tortured high-school misfit with no confidence, no friends...and no idea about the extent of her secret powers of telekinesis. But when her psychotic mother and sadistic classmates finally go too far, the once-shy teen becomes an unrestrained, vengeance-seeking powerhouse who, with the help of her 'special gift,' causes all hell to break loose in a famed cinematic frenzy of blood, fire and brimstone! *1976: Spacek, Actress; Laurie, Supporting Actress

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #15502 in DVD
• Brand: SPACEK,SISSY
• Released on: 2001-08-28
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: Spanish, French
• Dubbed in: Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .25 pounds
• Running time: 98 minutes

Amazon.com essential video
This terrifying adaptation of Stephen King's bestselling horror novel was directed by shock maestro Brian De Palma for maximum, no-holds-barred effect. Sissy Spacek stars as Carrie White, the beleaguered daughter of a religious kook (Piper Laurie) and a social outcast tormented by her cruel, insensitive classmates. When her rage turns into telekinetic powers, however, school's out in every sense of the word. De Palma's horrific climax in a school gym lingers forever in the memory, though the film is also built upon Spacek's remarkable performance and Piper Laurie's outlandishly creepy one. John Travolta has a small part as a thug, De Palma's future wife, Nancy Allen, is his girlfriend, and Amy Irving makes her screen debut as one of the girls giving Carrie a hard time. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews

Truly horrifying and scary... makes you think.
Seeing this movie on cable is nothing compared to actually seeing it uncut and rated R. Unlike the ludicrously-conceived sequel, which hit theaters in 1999, this movie does not have a strong emphasis on blood or gore, and there is an evident emotional factor as well. The viewers can actually sympathize with Carrie White as she goes through her adolescent period, endures the hardhips of being the center of ridicule and banter, and her feelings of happiness when Tommy asks her to the prom. Sissy Spacek plays her character to a T, making the emotions believable and realistic. Piper Laurie, who plays her mother, is the pinacle of the tight-fisted parent who allows for nothing degrading to enter into her child's life or mind. Brian de Palma has truly done a marvelous job in recreating the Stephen King classic, and while some factors of the movie and the book differ at different times, there is still a remaining quality of justice done to the novel. This movie will also make some people think twice before making fun of anyone again. To all who see this, I hope you enjoy it.

I Can See Your Dirty Pillows!!!
Stephen King's first novel that was adapted into film version is quite true to the author's words. While Stephen King was less than pleased with the film version of his malevolent masterpiece, "The Shining", King was quite happy with Brian De Palma's direction and his vision with "Carrie".
Sissy Spacek in her debut role as the freakish, shy and telekinetic Carrie White. Sissy beat out Melanie Griffith and Carrie Fisher for the title role that launched her career.

The beautiful Piper Laurie is cast as the ravenous religious fanatic, stark-raving, bible beating, madwoman and Carrie's mother, Margaret White who chastises Carrie relentlessly and has a penchant for locking her daughter in the closet with a really creepy, crucified Jesus statue and candles so that Carrie may repent of her evil, sinful and womanly ways.

Amy Irving as the well-to-do town doctor's daughter Sue Snell and Amy's real-life mom, Priscilla Pointer as the "cocktails at five socialite", Mrs. Snell.

William Katt plays Tommy Ross who asks Carrie to The Bates High School Senior Prom, the butch, Betty Buckley as the ultimate in P.E. teachers from Hell, Miss Collins, Nancy Allen , Brian De Palma's wife as the horribly cruel and self-absorbed, Chris Hargensen, John Travolta as the boy from the wrong side of the tracks, Billy Nolan and P.J. Soles, the "whore" from Halloween as Chris' best friend and partner in crime, Norma Watson.

Even a young Edie, (Grace from Ferris Buehler's Day Off and the car rental lady from Planes, Trains, and Automobiles) has a bit part.

The real star here, however, is Brian De Palma's direction and the cinematography in "Carrie". The opening shower scene rivals "Psycho", the Senior Prom dance scene makes the viewer dizzy no matter how small a screen you watch it on, the split-screen King and Queen and ensuing bloodfest is masterfully directed and shot along with the dream sequence that was filmed backwards in the end. However, my favorite scene is where Margaret White is crucified a la "creepy Jesus statue" style, by her own daughter!

A Top 10 Horror Film In My Book!

Happy Watching and Unpleasant Dreams!

A Psychological Masterpiece
Carrie should not be judged as a horror movie and nothing else, in my opinion it is a psychological tragedy in which the director confounds the viewer by forcing us to bleed our hearts out for a shy helpless girl and then goes and turns her into a merciless killer. The movie itself generates a creepy aura of wrongness with every scene, the different plot elements combine fantastically. Carrie's first period being such a terrifying ordeal for her is the metaphor for the film, innocence is savaged and mocked throughout. The film is an emotional rollercoaster, we empathise with Carrie's loneliness and confusion as a victim of bullying, even when she goes home she is psychologically attacked by her depraved religious fundamentalist mother who is hell bent on making sure Carrie should not enjoy a normal life. When a well-meaning student arranges for Carrie to join a popular high school cliche and attend the Prom, the negative forces in her life (bullies/mother) each separately conspire to bring about her ruin, psychologically they depend on the existence of a shy socially handicapped Carrie and cannot stand the thought of her escaping their need.

The acting performances in this film are incredible, two performances in particular stand out, Sissy Spacek completely revels in the role of Carrie - she manages to convey extreme shyness and vulnerability without ever becoming static or dull, she is animated and withdrawn at the same time as her eyes dart suspiciously around her while at the same time managing to look like a baby deer caught in a metal snare. When Carrie eventually unleashes years of pent up rage and bitterness, everyone gets splashed, righteous and unrighteous alike, Spacek adopts a frozen grimace of madness, her eyes bulge as the tables are turned on all those who thought her fair game for abuse, she gives it all back with interest and her fury ensnares some innocents. The second performance of real worth is that of Carrie's mother, played by Piper Laurie. Laurie deserved an academy award for her stunning portrait of the witchlike religious fundamentalist who's mental disturbance is psychologically damaging her daughter, indeed we are left in little doubt that Margaret White is a prime factor in Carrie's emotional problems. Laurie adopts a weird reedy voice for the role as she rattles off lines of scripture in a chopping fashion, tossing around directives to her daughter like a KGB chief on speed. Laurie's performance is also physically impressive, she is constantly moving about, waving her arms about and generally giving a very convincing interpretation of psychosis. We even feel sympathy for her as she describes her sad past one night to her daughter. A third performance of note is that of Tommy Ross, played by William Katt, i thought he injected a much needed note of humanity into the film, his portrait of the ostensibly tough and shallow jock was also laced with kindness, smypathy and tenderness when having been placed in the position of having to pretend he likes Carrie he finds himself actually starting to love her.

This is a somewhat difficult film to watch more than once, though just as interesting and compelling the ending is so sad and tragic and the pigs blood scene so savage that knowing what comes next is torturous, particularly as the worst scene comes just after the point where it seems Carrie has triumphed over adversity and carved a normal life out of chaos. The saddest lesson from this movie is catching a glimpse of the charming, delightful and gentle woman Carrie might have been (at the prom) and then seeing this vision so mercilessly butchered immediately afterwards. I saw once that there was some criticism off the insect ile like multi-vision perspective of Carrie near the end when simultaneously she sees the many faces of the crowd laughing at her in individual 'panes' and the ghostly cracked voice of her mother in her head intones "they're all gonna laugh at you", i think this was really clever and ingenious - the strangeness of it marks Carries transformation to madness perfectly while the multiple panes of vision convey her extreme sensitivity, she is acutely aware of every single individual mocking her (even her sympathethic teacher - an interesting question is wether the teacher really did join the others in ridiculing her), so ultimately from her perspective - they all must die, a stunning way to convey paranoia. The only let down is in the final confrontation between Carrie and her mother in the house, but then it would be very difficult to trump the scene which just preceded it. The final part with the hand - makes me jump every time, even though you know it's coming it seems to catch you unawares as though you just cannot pinpoint when exactly Carrie's bloodied hand is going to emerge from the debris.