The Director
1976
Brian DePalma
Very well known director who has been making films since the 60's
Carrie was his 9th feature film
Carrie marked a return for DePalma to major studio film-making (united Artists)
Other films of note in his filmography have been The Untouchables, Casualties of war and Raising Cain
Controversial director - often criticised for his blatant use of graphic violence - think Scarface
He's often been labelled a misogynist - as have many "horror" directors
Background of the film
Based on a Stephen King novel - the first Stephen King novel to be brought to film
The film, although distributed by a major studio was made on the relatively meagre budget of $1.8m
The film, like Psycho and Texas Chainsaw Massacre was a major success for the studio grossing over $33m at the US box office
The filming took just 50 days to complete
DePalma is well known for being heavily influenced by Alfred Hitchcock
The name of the high school in the film is Bates High in homage to Psycho
Carrie is one of only a few horror films to have received numerous Academy Award nominations - Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie (Carrie's mother in the film) were both nominated
DePalma wanted Bernard Herrmann to compose the score (Herrmann had worked with DePalma before) but he died before the film began. (Herrmann was the composer of the score for Psycho)
The four note violin theme for Psycho is used at pivotal moments in Carrie
The prom scene took over 2 weeks to shoot with 35 takes
Why the film is considered an important member of the horror canon
Not easily identifiable as a horror film. It is interesting to note that when I looked the film up on the internet, its genre is listed as drama/thriller/romance/fantasy/horror..
Difficult to define - some have considered it a subversion of the Cinderella tale, a psychological or supernatural thriller, a teen angst film, a feminist text and a text dedicated to the idea of the "feminine as monstrous"
One of the first horror films aimed at a teen audience - despite its Rating
One critic described it as an "observant human portrait"
A watershed film - perhaps because the "killer" is female
Introduces a "revenge fantasy" element to horror - think Nightmare on Elm Street
Some important filmic techniques are explored in the film
6 min slow-motion scene used to create suspense and tension
Split screen used in the Prom scene so that we don't lose focus of Carrie but we can still see the death and destruction she is unleashing
A shot of Carrie and Tommy on the dance floor
