by A.J.
The film adaptation of Stephen King’s debut novel, Carrie, was released in 1976 to critical and box office success kicking off 50 years of film and TV adaptations of the work of the master of horror. King is not shy about commenting on which adaptations he likes and which he does not. He famously hates The Shining because he felt Stanley Kubrick missed the point of the novel. Filmmakers who are also fans are aware of this and tend not to stray too far from King’s plots or themes. However, I think the best Stephen King adaptations have been done by filmmakers who put as much of themselves into the movie as King put into his novels and stories. Among these I would include: Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, John Carpenter’s Christine, Mike Flannigan’s Doctor Sleep, and, the one that started it all, Brian De Palma’s Carrie.
Whether writing a novel or short story, King excels at creating and fleshing out full characters, no matter how large or small a role they play. The characters in Carrie have an impressive cast to bring them to life on screen. Sissy Spacek gives a great performance as Carrie White, the skinny, shy, odd, cruelly bullied and teased high school girl who happens to have telekinesis. Carrie’s principle bully is Chris, played by Nancy Allen, who is planning a terrible prank to pull on Carrie at the prom. Chris’s boyfriend, Billy, is played by John Travolta, who is great at flashing charm one moment then turning into a jerk the next moment. Amy Irving plays Sue Snell, who was part of the group that teased and threw tampons at a frightened and crying Carrie, unaware she was getting her first period, at the start of the film. She creates a way to punish herself and make amends with Carrie: she will skip prom and have her boyfriend, Tommy Ross (William Katt), take Carrie instead. Betty Buckley plays the gym teacher who offers sympathy and kind words of encouragement to Carrie. By far the most memorable character, even more memorable than Carrie, is Carrie’s mother, Margaret White, played in a superb performance by Piper Laurie. Margaret White practices her own repressive brand of Christianity and in many ways is more harmful and abusive to Carrie than the school bullies. She believes that anything sexual or related to sex is a grave sin, so she never told Carrie about menstruation. In his rave review, Roger Ebert called Carrie a character study. He is right; the horror works so well and is so effective because it comes from the characters.
De Palma’s filmography is brimming with references and homages–some subtle, some blatant–to his greatest influence, master filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock. Here, anytime Carrie uses her telekinetic powers, the score uses sharp, stabbing strings that sound very similar to the strings used in the Psycho shower scene. In terms of visuals, Carrie is a great example of De Palma’s style. He and cinematographer Mario Tosi make use of one of his favorite camera tools: the split diopter, a special lens split down the middle that allows for two different focal points in the same shot. So, in the scene where Carrie reacts to Tommy reading his poem in class both are shown in focus in the same shot even though Carrie is in the back of the class. It is not offputting but the eye knows it is an unnatural point of view. When Carrie and Tommy have a wonderful dance the camera spins around them, caught up in the joy and romance of the moment, but the spinning goes faster and faster until the image is dizzying; it's a clue about the chaos to come. The climactic disaster at the prom is a great example of a director showing chaos without disorienting the audience. To show just how much is happening all at the same time, De Palma uses another favorite technique: split screen. A kaleidoscope effect to put us in Carrie's mental state. Images swirl and we hear tauntings from her mother, the bullies, and even Miss Collins’s words of encouragement that now seem like taunts. The prom massacre is a great horror show but there is no joy or excitement in Carrie’s revenge. Her rage is the result of a complete breakdown, lashing out indiscriminately (unlike in the 2013 remake where she targets her bullies), and we realize that we have been watching a tragedy unfold.
Aside from some minor changes by screenwriter Lawrence D. Cohen, this might be the closest film adaptation of any King novel. Little is lost in terms of set pieces and scenes but more importantly little is lost in terms of characters and themes. Carrie still resonates because no matter the era or technology involved, the essence of these characters, the way they act, the things they are capable of (telekinesis aside) are recognizable and relatable.
Carrie is available to stream on HBOmax and Prime Video. It is also probably at your local library.
No comments:
Post a Comment