Carrie

Early Brian De Palma movies were kind of nuts. In fact, when looking back over his whole career, you could say that CARRIE was, at the time, his first venture in making a mainstream movie. That’s right, a film about a high school and social outcast (Sissy Spacek) who, through her psychic powers, spreads terror to those in her presence whenever she boils with rage was a step toward conventional Hollywood filmmaking for De Palma. That’s how crazy his movies were back in the early 70’s.

Along with the amazing Spacek the film also co-stars a young, feathery-haired John Travolta (in case you forget it’s set in 1976) and a creepy Piper Laurie (who, along with Spacek, was nominated for an Oscar) as Carrie’s famously overbearing mother. It appears that De Palma’s move toward normal was a good one as CARRIE remains one of the best and most influential modern American horror films. And now you can see it, from the eerie and unsettling opening to the bloody, iconic finale, on the big screen.