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When Carrie gets home, having been let off early, she's bursting with questions for her mother, Margaret White (Piper Laurie). However, when Margaret appears it's clear why she's never given her daughter any sex education. To her, physical pleasures are a sin, with Carrie's impurity signposted by the onset of the "curse". In fact, more that just fanatically religious, Margaret is borderline psychotic, projecting her own psychological/sexual inadequacies onto Carrie, like the Ugly Sisters all rolled into one - domineering, aggressive and manipulative. Amazingly, after all of this, Carrie is still relatively normal and able to briefly stand up to her mother. If only her classmates didn't avoid her, they'd find out that under that taciturn shell lies an intelligent and realistic young woman.
However, when Miss Collins punishes Carrie's class-mates for their behaviour, by implying that they stand to lose their prom tickets, a schism appears. On one side, Chris is determined to get her own back on Carrie by doing everything she can to humiliate her. With the eager help of her boyfriend Billy Nolan (John Travolta), an evil plan is hatched. In opposition, Sue Snell (Amy Irving) realises just how nasty they've been to Carrie and, in the spirit of repentance, tries to rope her boyfriend Tommy Ross (William Katt) into helping her make amends. Since he is the class Adonis, it'd be just wonderful if he'd ask Carrie to be his date for the prom. Understandably Carrie is suspicious, wary of the possible (and likely) hidden motives. Besides this, she knows that Margaret wouldn't let her attend anything as immoral as the prom, so that's another opportunity for friendship down the tubes.
Carrie is an unusual member of the horror film genre for one simple reason - it finds time for a believable script amongst all of the gore. Carrie is in many ways a typical gawky teenager, confused by the hormone-induced changes occurring and unsure of her position in the great scheme of things. However, she is also lumbered with two unusual features; a raving, obsessed mother and a latent telekinetic ability. With these, Carrie is walking a knife-edge, vulnerable to criticism yet capable of inflicting fatal retribution on those who upset her. Thus, by restricting the pace, the story gradually builds, incorporating many small actions into a larger, relentless whole. As the half-way mark passes, there are hints that all is not right. Unfortunately, by then, it's too late.
At the heart of Carrie lie two excellent performances, from Spacek and Laurie. The former really gets to the heart of her character, combining deep sexual repression and ignorance with the needs and desires of any girl. Like a spring flower, she blooms under the attentions of Tommy and asserts her independence from Margaret's dominion. When the trouble starts, it flows naturally from her character, the consequence of Spacek's foundation building. Equally convincing, and perhaps even more troubling, Laurie is wonderfully intense as the loopy Margaret. She's exactly the sort of woman who invades your privacy with her religious dogma then makes you feel small for giving her a donation (she doesn't even deign to touch the cash). Thus there is a sense of depth, complication and past history swirling around this family.
On a technical level, De Palma employs everything from slow-motion to colour filters in his desire to truly represent the mental torment of the situation. By making careful choices, these don't come across as needlessly flashy but instead complement the overall tone. For instance, when the camera tracks around the dancing couple of Carrie and Tommy, the initial tone is romantic. However, a subtle speeding up casts a queasy light, giving the scene an out-of-control, dangerous edge. With the screen soon draped in crimson and the only sounds provided by a bucket clanking on the end of a rope, the transition from joy to terror is complete (the split-screen used here looks out-of-date but luckily it doesn't last long and it's not a serious distraction). Carrie ends up as a film full of tension, courtesy of long takes which make the viewer uneasy (in the same way that a stranger staring relentlessly does so), and characters that are worth caring about. A top-notch horror flick.
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