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Click above to purchase "Carrie: Special Edition"
at amazon.com
Carrie
Special Edition
review by Anthony D.
Rated R
Studio: MGM
Running Time: 98 minutes
Starring Sissy Spacek, Piper Laurie, Amy Irving,
William Katt, Nancy Allen, Betty Buckley, John Travolta
Screenplay by Lawrence D. Cohen
From the novel by Stephen King
Directed by Brian DePalma
Retail Price: $19.98
Features: Three New Documentaries: "Acting Carrie",
"Visualizing Carrie", "Singing Carrie", Animated Photo
Gallery, Stephen King Biography, Theatrical Trailer
Specs: 1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen, English Dolby
Digital 5.1 Surround, English, French and Spanish Mono,
English Closed Captions, French Subtitles, Spanish
Subtitles, Scene Selections
Stephen King's mind may have given her birth, but in the
hands of Brian DePalma "Carrie" came to magnificent life. A
mature macabre tale which most adults can identify, whether
once the givers or receivers of hurtful high school antics.
Herein Carietta White is the victim, make that VICTIM. She
lives with her single mother, Margaret whose religious
fervor and fanaticism hasn't earned her much respect in the
small town where they reside. Carrie is the epitome of
repression, sexual and otherwise. She dresses in ill-fitting
clothes sewn by her mother, whose fashion sense is as
outmoded as her revivalistic take on religion. Carrie can't
even hit a volleyball on the court during gym class.
Constant brow-beating at home, coupled with the complete
contempt of her peers has so introverted Carrie that a mouse
has more character. But suddenly with the onrush of her
womanhood, the flow which comes from Carrie is not merely
resigned to flesh and blood; for with the coming of menses,
Carrie's subconscious creates a telekinetic power capable of
annihilation in epic proportions. It is a power which comes
with the blood, a power (if Margaret White is to be
believed) that started with Eve and has transcended through
the bloodlines of the weaker sex.
When Lawrence D. Cohen adapted King's debut novel for the
screen, he chose to concentrate on the power of the blood,
and director DePalma lays out that sanguine fluid in gothic
over saturation. Once Carrie's own menstrual blood is
displayed in the shocked and traumatized hands, the image of
blood remains a constant factor in the dialogue as well as
cinematography. It's a Grand Guignol device that enriches
this inside-out take on the classic "Cinderella" story, and
turns it on its ear. For who is Carrie, but a modern-day
Cinderella, who gets her chance to go to the ball, be
treated as royalty (she is elected Prom "Queen") until...
(it's no wonder that "Carrie" has registered with so many
young women who were raised on that fairy tale)...well,
Carrie's midnight revenge is a far cry from Cinderella's
"they lived happily ever after."
I believe that "Carrie" has become a part of our national
consciousness, so only a brief plot outline should suffice:
The pathetic Carrie White (Sissy Spacek) literally becomes a
woman under the cleansing school locker room showers.
Thinking that her ignorance of things sexual is a reason for
mockery, the girls (led by Sue Snell and Chris Hargenson)
toss tampons at her with the chant-like cries of "Plug it
up!" Carrie's agony grows and an electric light blows up.
Kindly gym teacher, Miss Collins, reprimands the girls, and
comforts Carrie. In the principal's office, the many
mistakes of the principal calling her "Cassie," causes an
ashtray to fling itself from the desk. As Carrie walks home,
a child on a bike calls her "Creepy Carrie!," and is
promptly thrown by some force from his bike.Carrie is sent
home to her strange mother, who proclaims that with the
blood come the boys. Margaret advises Carrie to pray. Carrie
stares into a mirror which violently breaks.
Miss Collins doles out a week-long detention and loss of
prom tickets for the shitty thing that the girls did to
Carrie, and as she takes on the force of a drill sergeant,
Chris vows revenge while Sue thinks of a better plan.
Sympathetic to Carrie's plight, Sue has her boyfriend Tommy,
a guy with looks and brains, ask Carrie to be his date for
the prom. After much cajoling, Carrie relents, if only so
that Margaret will not see him at their door. In the
meantime, Sue's plan for revenge takes on a diabolical tone,
as she has her boyfriend slaughter several squealing pigs.
When the prom day arrives, Maragaret is shocked by
Carrie's hand-made pink dress, calling it red, the color of
sin - - and begging Carrie to stay at home and pray with
her, lest everyone laughs at her. Carrie and Tommy are the
hit of the prom, if only because of a stuffed ballot-box,
and are crowned king and queen. Then in a stunning display
of film making, Chris' plan is set in motion. With the tug
of a rope, a bucket of pig's blood drenches Carrie - - and
everybody laughs at her. Wrong thing to do, as Carrie's
telekinetic powers now seem to have a life of their own: she
creates a holocaust at the prom, dispenses with the villains
and returns home to a purifying bath. Instead of comforting
Carrie in her moment of despair, Margaret plunges a kitchen
knife into her, declaiming Biblical verse "Thou shalt not
suffer a witch to live." Carrie and Margaret remain in
locked in turmoil as the house itself implodes upon them and
rocks torrentially pour down from the skies. Following a
peaceful moment, DePalma still has one last shock up his
sleeve.
I could go on forever about the incredible cast "Carrie"
contains. Following a fifteen year, self-imposed retirement,
Piper Laurie returned to the screen as Margaret White. It is
a role that re-identified her, and re-affirmed her status as
one of the un-heralded great film actresses. In a tricky
role, Laurie is allowed her over-the-top moments of
religious fervor which in lesser-talented hands would cause
unintentional gales of laughter (as it is, the laughter is
earned as that thin line between fantasy and illusion is
trod). Laurie's peers were in on the joke, as they rewarded
her with a well-deserved Oscar nomination for Best
Supporting Actress. Two television stars, ironically linked
to the same ABC series, launched commendable careers with
"Carrie:" Betty Buckley and John Travolta. (Travolta was
engaged to "Eight is Enough" star Diana Hylands, whose
untimely death brought Buckley to the Bradford fold as
stepmother Abby). Buckley portrays the only sympathetic
character in the film - - the gym teacher Miss Collins, with
an utterly believable empathy, while Travolta plays upon his
"Welcome Back Kotter" sweathog persona as Chris' partner in
love and crime, Billy Nolan. In a very strange turn of
events, Betty Buckley would become further associated with
"Carrie" for all time, when she took over the role of the
musical Margaret White in an infamous theatrical fiasco,
more on that later. Amy Irving is stunningly beautiful, baby
fat and all, as the remorseful Sue, whose story arc is
well-developed right on through to the final zinger.
Irving's real life mother, Priscilla Pointer, plays her on
screen alcoholic mother in two brief but telling scenes.
Making their debuts in film are a trio of gals who would
continue the bloody reign at the box office: Nancy Allen as
Chris has the difficult task of making the villainy
inflicted believable, she would fare better in "Dressed to
Kill" and "Blow Out," also for DePalma; P. J. Soles as a
classmate with an agenda would go on to baby-sitting
immortality in John Carpenter's "Halloween;" and most
surprising of all, is a very youthful Edie McClurg, best
know today for her voiceover work, but directed brilliantly
by Oliver Stone in his blood-fest, "Natural Born Killers"
(she's Juliette Lewis' mother in the faux sitcom sequence "I
Love Mallory). William Katt has just the right amount of
surfer boy charm as Tommy Ross, who also falls victim to
Chris' vengeful plot.
And then there's Sissy Spacek's titular turn: face it,
without Sissy, "Carrie" would be just another teen horror
flick. With Spacek, then mostly unknown, Carrie takes on
character. There is not a single moment of Spacek's Carrie
that rings false, she is that immersed in the role. And
those eyes! Soulful when listening to a poem by Tommy Ross,
scornful when she realizes the implications of the bucket of
pig's blood. Wide open beneath a shimmering veneer of blood
as she makes the most of her revenge - - there's not a trace
of pleasure in her deeds, it's a demonical gaze that demands
these deaths, as if in a catatonic state Carrie's revenge is
swift, powerful and non-judgmental (when the only person who
has been kind to Carrie is cut in half by a basketball hoop
board, you know that this comeuppance is non-selective) .
Spacek's Carrie does not thrive on this violence as say an
action hero would knowingly gloat over such bloodshed; this
holocaust is a necessary evil, and her Carrie carries it off
to the best of her abilities. In a very rare moment of
lucidity, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
rewarded Spacek's brilliance with an Oscar nomination as
Best Actress - - a feat never accorded to stars of "horror"
films, and would not be repeated again until Jodie Foster's
nomination and win for "The Silence of the Lambs."
Though far from perfect, as the film makers attest in the
Special Features, "Carrie" is still a remarkable
achievement, and a seminal moment in horror film history.
Aside from being in anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1), MGM's
presentation of "Carrie" obviously comes from the same
source as the previous no-frills edition released only a
couple of years ago. The same artifacts are there (the
"creepy Carrie" scene, Chapter 3 still has that same little
white speck on the right hand side), and the film still
looks dated. The soft focus photography notwithstanding,
"Carrie" constantly looks very subdued. Of course once that
final bloodbath begins (Chapter 27), the reds are vibrant
and intense without bleeding (hey! I made a pun). If only
the remainder of the presentation were this good. The black
level seems weak, most notably in the ambient-lit dinner
table scene in Chapter 17. Contrast is inconsistent, too,
with some minor bleaching from light sources. For all the
red-blooded males out there, the shower scene is likely to
be a disappointment with its distracting artifacting.
"Carrie," being the most put-upon film lead until "Breaking
the Waves," should deserve a better presentation than this.
A very exciting soundtrack only adds to the enjoyment of
"Carrie," and that would be the Dolby Digital 5.1 track,
which was also used for the previous DVD. Of course, it
pulls out all the stops only when Carrie herself does - -
the prom is alive with surround activity - - there are a few
choice scare tactics employed prior to the climactic scene.
I must say that the use of Bernard Herrman's strings from
"Psycho" take on a life of their own with this mix. There is
some noticeable hiss, and like other MGM remixes, the music
often threatens to drown out the dialogue, but on the whole
this is a great mix. The original mono track is also
available, and, surprisingly, one can toggle between all the
language tracks (which include the French and Spanish
language versions of "Carrie"). I gave the foreign language
tracks a round or two, and found the voice casting to be
interesting, the French and Spanish Carries being heavier on
the "little girl" voice, while the music itself is harsh,
tinny and distorted.
Even without a Director's Commentary from DePalma,
"Carrie" carries a bundle of features which can truly be
called "special." Commencing with three brand new
documentaries filmed for this release by Laurent Bouzereau;
with not a single fluff-piece amongst them, they are more
than satisfactorily geared at making "Carrie" special.
Acting Carrie runs forty-three minutes, and presents nearly
all of the cast members in newly shot interview segments.
John Travolta, who is second billed on the dvd, but
introduced in the Original Theatrical Trailer, is
conspicuously absent; thus making this a very distaff
version of the making of the film. Joining leading actresses
Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie are supporting cast members
Priscilla Pointer, Amy Irving, Nancy Allen, P. J. Soles,
William Katt and Betty Buckley. The then-youthful cast
astonishingly has become the still-youthful cast. I'm sure
that many viewers will be taken aback by Nancy Allen's
startling appearance. Tales of comradery and directorial
decisions punctuate this very informative special feature.
Betty Buckley discloses that even though "Carrie" was her
on-screen film debut, she had previously worked for DePalma,
looping various character voices in his "Obsession" and
"Phantom of the Paradise." (This of course was a major
surprise to me, since I've had the pleasure of sharing
Betty's company after several concert gigs, and have had
various conversations with her about her voice-over work in
film, which until now, I thought was exclusive to Milos
Forman's musical film "Hair"). Spacek, Laurie and Buckley
haave the lion's share of interview sequences, and
justifiably: their story-telling skills combined with their
professionalism have earned them accolades for their
continued work following "Carrie." I found that the
reminiscences of the casting to be very interesting as well,
as "Carrie" was cast concurrently with George Lucas' "Star
Wars." (Somewhere, in a galaxy far, far away an alternate
universe exists wherein "Carrie" has been filmed with Carrie
Fisher, Debbie Reynolds, Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill). This
feature, along with its mirror feature Visualizing Carrie
employ enough scenes from the film itself to validate the
points being made. Visualizing Carrie delves into the depths
of artistry behind the scenes that went into the making
"Carrie." Through the use of stills and script pages, the
viewer is shown the original opening sequence of "Carrie,"
which, if you've read the book know that it involves stones
falling from the sky. The sequence is only hinted at in
King's novel, but the screenplay provided an apt
visualization, with ironic echoes to later scenes. Editor
Paul Hirsch and Brian DePalma relate film making secrets
employed to give "Carrie" its Gothic Opera visual tone. Dick
Fisk, production designer and husband of Sissy Spacek,
provides interesting trivia about his work - - and locations
- - used for filming "Carrie." Who knew that "Twister" and
"Titanic" star Bill Paxton actually worked on "Carrie" as a
location scout, running around Los Angeles with his 8mm
camera? Much is made about the shock value of the female
nudity, in both documentaries, within the film's first major
sequence by film editor Paul Hirsh and DePalma himself. The
ladies recall their terror at the prospect of such abundant
nudity so early in their careers; Hirsch relates the camera
techniques used to achieve this seminal DePalma moment.
Hirsh and DePalma both decry the use of split-screen for
"Carrie's" rage sequence, the device does distance the
action when, of course, the action needs to be specific, if
not one-on-one. Finally, Betty Buckley fans and nay-sayers
against the film itself, are given quite a validity to the
onscreen demise of one of the few characters in the film who
has actually been good to Carrie. Much has been made of the
lack of redemption in "Carrie," and I myself still question
this total annihilation of both GOOD and BAD (there is no
real "evil" within "Carrie), but a satisfactory reasoning is
offered up by the film makers, which may assuage many other
doubters. Both are very finely produced, and directed,
documentaries not to be missed.
As if those two documentaries weren't enough, there is
still a third six minute featurette, Singing Carrie, which
features screenwriter Lawrence D. Cohen and Betty Buckley
discussing - - are you ready for this? - - CARRIE: the
musical! Musical theater mavens know this show very well,
despite it being one of the costliest shows ever to reach a
Broadway stage to fall flat on its face. Outside of the
theater world, very few people know that "Carrie" was
musicalized, and when mentioned that it was, usually greeted
with an unmistakable look of "What the f*** were they
thinking?" Cohen tells us exactly what the musicalizers were
thinking, that here was an operatic piece, comparable to
Berg's "Lulu," which could find an audience. Cohen places
the blame entirely on the director (who is never mentioned
by name: Terry Hands) who had never even been approached to
direct a musical before. (Ken Mandlebaum's brilliant book
"Not Since CARRIE: 40 Years of Broadway Musical Flops"
devotes two entire chapters to this theatrical misfire;
including a complete rundown of the musical's action). I'm
certain that composers Michael Gore and Dean Pitchford
("Footloose" "Fame) didn't allow the documentarian access to
scenes from the musical (they've not granted performance
rights to the musical since the debacle on Broadway), but
some still shots would have been nice. As one of the lucky
owners of two complete audio tapes (London and Broadway) as
well as a cast member's videotape of the first act of the
musical, I have to say that, to quote the musical's tagline,
"There's never been a musical like CARRIE;" but Cohen's
parting remark grants hope that a revival might just happen
in my lifetime. Buckley only gets to relate one musical
tale, but it is killer!
"Carrie's" Original Theatrical Trailer is presented in
non-anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1), and is in very good
shape. Presented by a sonorous male voice-over, the trailer
gives just enough information without divulging too much. I
do however, like the fact that the trailer dispenses with
John Travolta's screen appearance in "The Devil's Rain," and
proclaims that "Carrie" is his motion picture debut! Another
six minutes is given to the Animated Photogallery (MGM's
spelling) featuring behind the scenes photos (it's nice to
see a smiling Piper Laurie and a not-tto-serious Spacek),
production stills, promotional artwork as accompanied by
Pino Donaggio's haunting score.
Finally, credit is given where credit is due with an
informative text offering Stephen King and the Evolution of
"Carrie." Divided into three sections, "Stephen King and the
writing of "CARRIE," "From Novel to Screen," and "Book and
Film Comparison," which provide information not given on A
& E's "Biography" series. With features such as the
above, the nomenclature "Special Edition" is earned.
Despite the transfer's deficiencies, with nearly two
hours of excellent Special Features, this "Carrie" does
eliminate the need for the previous DVD. I won't be getting
rid of mine, however, as my "Carrie" cover is inscribed with
"Love, Betty Buckley," allowing me to own two Very Special
Editions of "Carrie." And with a price tag five dollars
lower than the previous non-special edition of "Carrie,"
this prom date will be a night to remember.
 (4/5 - NOT included in
final score)
 (3/5)
(4/5)
(3/5)
(4/5,
NOT an average)
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