Carrie (1976)

While the Dodgers fought a good battle in St. Louis and the Seahawks won over the Washington Redskins I was watching the classic horror movie Carrie on the big screen at Arclight in Sherman Oaks. This really was classic '70s horror but it hasn't lost its edge. 

I haven't read the book by Stephen King and really the only thing I knew of the film was the scene at prom when she gets covered in blood. The music reminded me at times of Psycho with that high pitched noise. 

What first hit me was how nasty the girls are to Carrie. Come on high school seniors shouldn't be acting like children and still picking on other people. There comes a time when everyone grows up. Sure it might happen in high school but by the time you're a senior you're expected to be somewhat of an adult. It also made me glad that we never had to shower after gym in high school. I mean really the first five to ten minutes rate as high as a good '70s porn. 

Scary as fuck crucifix. Not kidding.

Then we got to meet Carrie's overly protective ultra  religious mother. The woman  beats her own daughter with a book making her say things like, "And the raven was called sin!" and "The first sin was intercourse." Yelling at Carrie while all she is trying for is some sympathy from a mother who never told her about her period. I mean seriously the woman is convinced that Carrie had sex and if she hadn't she would have had, ". . . this curse of blood." And of course the best cure is to lock the girl in a closet with the scariest as fuck crucifix I have ever seen. That's going to really help her. 

There of course has to be one hero and while I would have hoped it would have been the gym teacher to me it was Sue Snell. Sue asks her hunky star athlete boyfriend, Tommy, to ask Carrie to the prom. Of course he obliges but Carrie of course turns him down or more to her character runs away because holy crap a guy just talked to her, mom better not catch wind of that. Tommy doesn't give up and finally Carrie says yes. What happens at the prom is a cute little love arc of the star jock realizing that sometimes the shy girls are the most interesting. Too bad that never worked for me in high school. 

From prom queen to red queen

Then prom the best time of senior year. Carrie is just in awe of everything and Tommy is drinking up her innocence and lost in her childlike wonder of what he has known all along. And we couldn't have prom without a king and queen. Carrie honestly looked beautiful in her dress with her makeup and hair. She looked beautiful standing there next to Tommy but one girl, Chris, got a burr up her butt and decided to teach Carrie a lesson because you know if you are the biggest bitch and are told you can't do something then by all means torture who you think is to be blamed. I'm sure many are familiar with what happens next with Carrie's rage and such. 

And no Stephen King movie would be complete without a total crazy ending. I mean really there was nothing that jumped out and nothing that made me want to cover my eyes. It was just a horrific series of events that happened to be the one person you probably shouldn't have messed with. Oh and the messed up survivor of the whole ordeal, Sue, well she'll never have a normal life after that I don't see how she could. 

Overall, I felt that it was a lot of build up to a  moment that I've seen numerous times depicted in multiple ways which was wonderful to see in its original glory but at the same time kind of a let down. The fanatical mother was just . . . I have no idea. She was there and she would have scared the hell out of me. It was good and I enjoyed it. I'm happy I got to see it on the big screen because the ending wouldn't have looked the same watching it on TV. 

I guess my evening ended on a positive note because two out of three things went good. Seahawks won and I saw a good movie. On the down side, the Dodgers dropped another game to St. Louis. I'm hoping for a Dodgers win tomorrow so they can come back to LA and win a spot in the NLCS.