Carrie

I've been catching up on old school horror lately. Partly because of all the remakes going on -- I want to keep the originals fresh in my head. And partly because I realized I just hadn't seen some of these movies since I was a kid.

I watched Prom Night last week. I loved it. Prom Night is every late-70s/early-80s slasher trope combined. It even has the obvious red herring, a kooky gardener who gives high school kids the fish eye while he trims the bushes.

And I watched Carrie last night. This is Brian DePalma at the height of his abilities, adapting a Stephen King novel (his first bestseller, if that puts a date on this picture) with horror sensibilities of the period in full effect. This ain't chocolate and peanut butter. This is chocolate and peanut butter and blowjob.

Carrie also gives us the feature film debut of a young TV actor named John Travolta, whom you may recall from his role as Vinnie Barbarino on Welcome Back Kotter.

This is of interest because, according to the special features, George Lucas and Brian DePalma cast for Star Wars and Carrie on the same day. Actors would come in and audition. Lucas took the people he liked, and DePalma took the rest for Carrie. So there is an alternate universe in which John Travolta would have played Han Solo.

The movie opens with a girls' volleyball game. Carrie (Sissy Spacek) is immediately tagged as a pariah and a klutz. Then we go into the girls' locker room, a scene involving copious nudity. But it's not played for exploitation. The tone is "nymphs in the garden," very slow and steamy and dreamlike. And then we get this horrible scene in which Carrie's persecuted. It's a perfect example of the inherent cruelty of high school girls.

She's rescued by a kindly gym teacher. One of the girls feels bad, and tries to make up for it by getting her boyfriend Tommy to take Carrie to the prom as a way to make up for her part in everything.

(The guy who plays Tommy was originally up for Luke Skywalker. He didn't get Luke. He got Tommy. He relays this fact with a distinct, what-the-fuck undertone of karmic THAT COULD'VE BEEN ME!!!)

These characters reminded me that, despite all the death and horror, King frequently loads his stories with multiple "good guys." His world is dark, but not without lights.

Most of the movie is a high school drama. The acting is excellent. The writing's great. I loved the directing -- there are some seriously awesome shots in this thing. Even simple stuff has an added layer, like the kid on his bike weaving between trees. Just fucking cool.

And then you get the prom, which is still in everyone's collective consciousness.

This may sound like a huge "duh," but it wasn't until that scene when, purely at random, I'd decided to watch two classic horror movies that revolve around bad proms. I wonder if there are any others, so I can make a trilogy out of it.

I also watched the original trailer. According to the trailer, Carrie is adapted from the bestselling novel by "Steven King." Good times.