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Carrie (1976)

20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Blu-ray Disc Released: 10/7/2008

All Ratings out of
Movie: 1/2
Video:
Audio:
Extras:

Review by Mike Long, Posted on 10/8/2008

Many words have been used to describe Brian De Palma over the years. Words such as talented, overrated, offensive, gifted, underrated, and so on, have told the tale of a career, which has seen its ups and downs. And while his contemporaries, George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, and Martin Scorcese have gone on to fame and fortune, De Palma has remained a controversial figure in Hollywood. But, it now appears that the digital revolution may bring Mr. De Palma the credit he deserves, as many of his older works have appeared on DVD and now, we are seeing them on Blu-ray Disc as well, as evidenced by the release of the classic Carrie.

Based on the first novel by horror-master Stephen King, Carrie tells the story of the ultimate high-school nightmare. Sissy Spacek stars in an Oscar-nominated turn as Carrie White, a thin, pale, shy, awkward girl who no one in school seems to like. The film opens with a chilling scene in which Carrie is taunted and berated by her classmates in the locker room. Following this ghastly scene, Sue (Amy Irving), Chris (Nancy Allen), and Norma (P.J. Soles) are all placed on detention by gym-coach Miss Collins (Betty Buckley). This leads Chris and Norma to swear that they’ll get revenge on Carrie. Meanwhile, Carrie returns home to her mother, Margaret (Oscar-nominee Piper Laurie), a religious fanatic who thinks that Carrie’s blossoming womanhood is a sign of sin and punishes Carrie. All of this stress leads to the emergence of Carrie’s telekinetic powers, which she doesn’t understand and can’t really control. As if Carrie’s life wasn’t chaotic enough, Sue sets a benevolent plan into motion so that Carrie can attend the prom, which Chris, aided by her boyfriend Billy (John Travolta) begins a scheme to humiliate Carrie in front of the whole school. These events culminate in a prom that no one will ever forget!

Carrie is one of those rare films, which combines an intriguing story with a visionary director. Screenwriter Lawrence D. Cohen (not be confused with Larry Cohen of "It’s Alive!" fame) has stripped King’s source novel down to its bare elements, doing away with the "documentary" style of the book. Carrie is a character who’s easy to latch onto, because we’ve all known someone like her. The same goes with the petty jealousy and snobbery that occurs with the character of Chris. Yes, on one level the characters in "Carrie" are one-dimensional, but this only serves to draw the viewer into the film, so that the fantastic story of a girl with supernatural powers can get under way. De Palma, who would come to be known for being over-the-top, lets the story unfold at a natural pace and then unleashes its savage fury in the final reel. Also, Cohen and De Palma made the wise choice of changing the ending of the film, which worked fine in the book, but would have been far too subtle on film. Most of the performances in Carrie are good, with the obvious Spacek and Laurie standing out above the others.

As unique (for its time) and compelling as the story of Carrie was, it’s Brian De Palma creative visuals and confident directing style which really sets it apart. Any film opening with a scene as shocking as the beginning of Carrie, shows that the filmmakers are going for broke and makes the audience unsure of what could happen next. The man who would come to be known for his insanely long Steadi-Cam shots in films such as Snake Eyes and The Bonfire of the Vanities, first flexed those muscles here with the opening crane-shot and the two long shots which take place during the prom. And of course, the shot of the fire starting behind Carrie is a classic. De Palma’s use of the split-diopter lens also helped to create a sense of atmosphere, placing one object in a dominant position in the foreground and another off in the distance. The gothic design of the White’s house, along with De Palma’s creative framing (check out the "Last Supper" shot), helps to heighten the relationship between Carrie and her bigot mother.

Carrie seeks revenge on Blu-ray Disc courtesy of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. The film has been letterboxed at 1.85:1 and the Disc houses a MPEG-2 1080p transfer which runs at an average of 20 Mbps. Having grown up in the 70s and 80s, I'm used to seeing Carrie on broadcast television, where the image was always incredibly soft...like Barbara Walters lens soft. Thus, I was pleasantly surprised by the clarity of this transfer. Yes, the image is still soft at times, but I've seen far, far worse. There is a fine sheen of grain on the image and some very mild defects from the source material. There are also haloes around the actors are times. However, the colors look very good and this is the most detailed transfer of this film that I've seen. The Disc carries a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track which runs at 48 kHz and an average of 3.0 Mbps. Given that this is a made-from-nearly-scratch track, it sounds very good. The film's famous score sounds very good and the prom attack scene provides a nice amount of stereo effects. Bass sounds are a very subtle, but the dialogue is always clear. For purists, the original mono track is included here as well.

The only extra on the Carrie Blu-ray Disc is the film's THEATRICAL TRAILER.

Review Copyright 2008 by Mike Long