August 23, 2001
They’re all gonna laugh at you! They’re all gonna laugh at you!
Adam Sandler aside, this is a funny funny film. Funny because it was made in 1976, the year I was born. Funny because it scared the living crap out of me as a kid. Funny because we loved it so much that we had a ‘Carrie’ themed party in college.
Carrie is so ridiculously dated, that it must almost seem like a parody of itself now. John Travolta in his pre-scientologist days is such a hoot, oozing sexuality and dorkiness in equal measure. On the other hand, The Greatest American Hero takes poor Carrie to the dance, but you feel sorrier for her for having to put up with his cheesy fro.
It’s no wonder that Piper Laurie was nominated for an Oscar for her role as Carrie’s bible beating mother. She was hands down scarier than telekinesis, pig’s blood or ghostly hands from the grave. I would have to attribute most of my fear of Christianity to that scary bitch. Nothing is scarier to a child than being stabbed by their own mother, especially a crazy, Christian mother. After watching Carrie at about the age of seven, I was too scared to sleep in my own bed. I would creep out of my bed in the middle of the night and sleep on the couch. I’m not sure why I preferred to sleep on the couch, instead of in my room, but I sure wasn’t crawling into my parents’ room. I could hear my dad snoring from my own room.
I finally got over my fear of Carrie enough to enjoy it by the time I was in college. Erin and I decided that our theme for Halloween would be Carrie/Prom Night. So we rented Carrie and all the Prom Night movies and went for it. Erin was Carrie and I was the chick from Prom Night. (No, not Jamie Lee Curtis, the other one.) What do you think? No one would come near us, we were sopping wet. Though it was convenient that a frat boy came to the party dressed as a tampon (I have a picture, but I’m not posting it – it’s gross), he didn’t know what we meant when we yelled “PLUG IT UP!” at him…
PS – Don’t watch The Rage: Carrie 2!
Rating – R
Runtime – 98 minutes
Genre – Stephen King Movie
Director(s) – Brian De Palma
Writer(s) – Lawrence D. Cohen, Stephen King
Actor(s) – Sissy Spacek, William Katt, John Travolta, Amy Irving, Piper Laurie
BOB Rating – Four BOBs
Favorite Quote – "Take that dress off. I can see your dirty pillows." - Margaret White (Piper Laurie)