Carrie, directed by Brian De Palma is one of the very first horror movies that played with audience expectations and sparked a new genre of horror in the mainstream movie industry, and after the release of Carrie, many ‘copycats’ emerged during the next few years. “Carrie helped usher in a boom period of huge popularity for horror fiction.” This success came largely from the way that the film was constructed and how it played with audiences expectations. The original poster of the movie depicts what looks to be two different women, but is actually the same one, it offers a description the leaves the audience wondering “what could have happened to Carrie?”
Carrie opens with a scene focusing on a high school girls locker room. During the beginning of the scene there’s a ‘sexual vibe’, with the way that the camera shows nude girls in a locker room, and Carrie washing herself in the shower, the filming during the beginning of the scene is very level and slow moving. Then, when Carrie discovers that she has gotten her period, she is extremely frightened. The filming immediately changes and shows the view of the locker room and showers from up above and slightly slanted, as if to make the audience uncomfortable (this wasn’t an angle that was usually used in films during the time). After Carrie discovers her period, girls in the locker room bully her aggressively and Carrie is mortified. Carrie causes a lightbulb to explode using her “psychic abilities’ when she is aggravated by her tormentors- this whole scene foreshadows the underlying themes of the movie and also what is to come of Carries’ ‘psychic’ abilities. The film goes on with Carrie being the subject to torment from her peers, and also the overbearing behavior of her mother and the dysfunctional relationship between the two of them. It almost feels like a realistic high school drama film in the beginning of the movie, it succeeds in making the audience feel uncomfortable for things that happen in everyday life- and is relatable to most because it’s set in high school, where most everyone had been at one time. Throughout the film Carrie’s psychic abilities become more apparent the more she is aggravated or embarrassed by others (including her mother)- this leads up to the climax of the movie, the prom scene.
“The prom scene” was the climax of the movie and was incredibly intense, even compared to some of the modern day horror movies i’ve seen. The scene started with Carrie feeling accepted by her peers, and being nominated prom queen with her date, Tommy. Then her bullies dump pigs blood on her, and Carrie imagines that everyone is laughing at her and enters into a trance-like state. The filming of this scene builds the suspense really well, panning back and forth between happy Carrie, and what her bullies are planning with the pigs blood. Finally at the climax, the screen splits into two and shows Carrie using her abilities to set fire to the whole school- and then shows the students and faculty and their reactions. The split screen depicts the cause and effect of carries abilities and what is happening in the gym, and has the effect of added tension which was used intentionally by Brian De Palma. “The movie combines long shots with quick cuts, split screen somehow amplifies the feeling that there is no escape”. The sympathetic feelings I had for Carrie during the movie ended during this scene, and Brian de Palma is successful in creating her into the ‘villain’ of the movie- even though her journey to the point and been somewhat heartwarming. Yet again, playing with audience expectations of Carrie becoming the ‘hero’ of the film.
Brian De Palma succeeded in creating a movie that played with audiences expectations until the end- and in doing this, he contributed to a new genre of film, and is regarded today as one of the most successful auteurs. During the time of Carrie in 1976, some people weren’t very fond of Brian de Palma, saying things like, “Brian de Palma, who is often wrong but not dull”. This is most likely because he was rethinking the horror genre and many may have been resistant to that change at first, but he shortly became a well respected director.
Sources
Carrie/Stephen King (critical)
Carrie: Film Techniques (critical)
1976 Review of Carrie (historical)
Original Film Poster (historical)
Hello Mylikha,
I really enjoyed that your blog post went into depth with not only an overview and analysis of the film, but also incorporated how the shots had an effect on the audience. I never knew that Carrie sparked a new genre of horror and was really the front runner of what future horror fiction movies were to look like. Many horror films undoubtedly play with the audience’s emotions and typically have a different outcome than what is expected. Since I have never actually seen the original Carrie, I would be interested to see the effect that the split screen effect would have on me like many others. You did an excellent job of giving an analysis of the film while still keeping some mystery for those who have yet to watch the film.
Hello Mylikha,
I really like how to explained the filming angles of the movie to make the audience feel uncomfortable. The movie does have some scenes where even if it’s not an intense see you still feel uneasy and that explains why. It’s great for you to point that out. Also, it’s such a quick switch for feeling so bad for Carrie to having no more sympathy for her. She’s so quiet and harmless, like a little mouse, and within a flip of a switch she just lost it all as the hero of the story. It’s one of the few film I can think of where we, the audience, turns on our hero because she seeks revenge in the most horrible ways. It’s a great psychological movie and then its a slaughter fest. I really enjoyed your article and now I must go watch this film again.