Sunday, November 1, 2009

I don't feel I have to warn you of spoilers, since the movie came out in 1976

I watched the movie "Carrie" for the first time tonight...whoa. That movie is honked up. But actually pretty well done.

First of all, the weird religious Mom who thinks sex is evil, calls Carrie's breasts "dirty pillows," berates her for having her period, and thinks the devil is in Carrie because the mom enjoyed sex...whoa. Whoa. And then, at the end when all the candles are lit everywhere and Carrie ends up crucifying her mother with knives along the doorway...I don't even know what to make of all of that. Talk to your kids about sex in a normal way, I guess is one of the morals of Carrie.

I also thought it was interesting how quickly the horror part happens. It's a long build up and then bam! Pig's blood, everyone is dead, she and Mom fight, house collapses in the span of maybe twenty minutes. It's an interesting style and makes the movie different from most modern scary movies, which are all about gore all the way through.

It definitely has it's scary moments-when her mom is hiding behind the closet door; when her mom tries to kill her; when she kills her mom, crucifixion style; when she reaches out of the ground and grabs Sue's arm.

But I think the strongest reaction I had wasn't fear, what makes the movie horrifying is the horror I felt at how mean the girls are to Carrie. Literally, when she goes up on stage to accept her award as prom queen, I was curled up on the couch saying, "oh no, no, no." The cute boy is being nice to her, her classmates are applauding. But knowing that John Travolta and his girlfriend (who keep slapping each other around, which is also pretty odd), are about to douse her in pig's blood was the hardest part of the movie to watch. It's just so awful.

Okay, and then the ending-why does the house crumble into the ground? Apparently "be sure to check for termites" is the other moral of Carrie.

8 comments:

  1. That's actually the scariest part of the movie...if you work in pest control. No really though, two things: how much of a jerk is Travolta in that movie? And, did the part at the end with the hand bursting out of the grave scare you? I have watched a lot of interviews where people discuss that as one of the quintessential scare moments [but perhaps only in theaters].

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  2. Hahaha. This made me laugh three separate times. You should start writing movie reviews on a regular basis, but only for 70s movies. "Talk to your kids about sex in a normal way, I guess is one of the morals of Carrie."

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  3. Johnny, the hand busting out of the grave did make me jump. I can imagine it really startling me in the theater.

    Erin, next time I watch a 70's movie, I will review it. Any suggestions?

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  4. I'd like for you to extract the morals from IT. I believe the main one is clowns suck, at any age.

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  5. Jess you are hilarious!!! Such an entertaining writer! I second your write up of "It". Never saw "Carrie" (now I really don't want to!) But loved "It" growing up. Freaky movie!

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  6. Imagine coming-of-age when the King novel first came out, and reading it...the agony and torture of that girl. Makes "Mean Girls" look like wannabes.
    May I use "honked up" in my vernacular from now on? That's awesome!

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