Stephen King's Novel
48 years ago today, the tragic story of Carrie White was released to the public, marking the first published novel in the career of the most successful horror writer of all time. What started as a three-page draft of a story King deemed suitable only for his wastebasket has since turned into a cultural phenomenon synonymous with the perils of transitional womanhood, adolescent bullying, and disastrous school dances.
On the surface, Carrie is a simple story about an uninformed albeit gifted young girl at odds with her mother and cast out by her peers. She decides to take matters into her own hands when her abuse becomes too much to bear. Upon some deeper digging, however, readers will find a pointed commentary about the generational disconnect that had been permeating the lives of many families in the seventies.
Carrie White’s relationship with her mother was representative of the nationwide decrease in religious interest amongst teens and the subsequent unraveling of the traditional family unit. In a time when sexual promiscuity was growing more prominent in media and everyday life, the depiction of an unyielding mother who viewed womanhood as sinful made Carrie White somewhat of a sympathetic antihero, as well as an emblem for an evolving America. Carrie was more than a horror novel; it was a cautionary tale that warned against the dangers of a sheltered upbringing.
The sense of dread in Carrie hits the reader within the novel’s very first pages. By using the unique framing device of interlacing excerpts from future scholarly articles and sworn testimonies with the continuing narrative of Carrie White’s story, King hints at events to come in a way that implies grave consequences for many of the characters he is introducing. This dread continues to rise as readers are shown the constant mistreatment of Carrie in both her school and her home.
The introduction of telekinetic skills suggests that there is hope for the outcast antihero, providing her with an outlet to express her feelings while also giving her a way to stand up against her mother’s overbearing religious antics. Even still, the dread looms, as readers are given a glimpse into studies dissecting Carrie’s powers and the ways in which they were eventually used for evil. Every time there is hope for his heroine, King’s framing device reminds readers of the inevitability of her imminent tragedy.
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Brian De Palma's Carrie
This framing device was abandoned when Carrie was adapted for the screen, with up-and-coming director Brian De Palma opting instead for a straightforward account of the events in King’s novel. This approach lends itself to a more shocking ending to Carrie White’s story, which arguably worked in the film’s favor.
While the film changes many aspects of the book, likely due to budgetary restraints, it still manages to solidify the iconography of King’s imagery. The opening shower scene in the locker rooms of Bates High School—a name change from the book that allows De Palma to pay homage to Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho—turns an intimate setting into a nightmarish hellscape, as Carrie’s cries for help after experiencing her first period are met with laughter and mistreatment from her classmates.
Carrie’s relationship with her gym teacher Miss Collins (Miss Desjardin in King’s novel) is handled delicately to make the eventual fate of both characters that much more devastating. The execution of the prom night massacre is a near-flawless affair, with De Palma using all of what would become his signature directorial chops, from split screens to colorful lighting to gruesome gore.
Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie, both honored with an Academy Award nomination for their portrayals of Carrie and Margaret White respectively, are the film’s greatest assets, bringing a truly disturbing mother-daughter relationship to life. The supporting cast is also outstanding, starring an energetic John Travolta in his first studio picture role as Billy Nolan and Amy Irving as the compassionate Sue Snell. The film was a success, earning $33.8 million against its $1.8 million budget and spawning a number of reimaginings.
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Carrie: The Musical
The first of these reimaginings was an attempt to bring Carrie White’s story to the stage. Lawrence D. Cohen, the writer of Carrie’s screenplay, teamed up with composer Michael Gore to turn the story of Carrie White into Carrie: The Musical. When funding was finally received in the late ‘80s, the show transitioned from some preview performances to Broadway. For its Broadway premiere, Betty Buckley, known for her role as Miss Collins in the original film, returned to the world of Carrie to play Margaret White.
The musical premiered on May 12th, 1988, and was a tremendous flop, losing seven million dollars. It closed on May 15th after only 16 previews and five performances. It has since, however, gained cult status due to an underlying fandom and a 2012 Off-Broadway revival that led to 2015 Los Angeles and Off-West End productions. Though Carrie’s stage life seemed short-lived, many believed there was still enough blood pumping for a return to the screen.
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The Rage: Carrie 2
In the two decades since the release of De Palma’s Carrie, the horror genre was borderline extinct by the mid-90s. It was only after Wes Craven’s Scream reinvigorated the genre with a new life that MGM decided the Carrie franchise should continue—despite the fact that King had not written a follow-up. A copy-and-paste of the original disguised as a sequel, The Rage: Carrie 2 was released in 1999 to middling reception.
Though the film follows Carrie White’s half-sister and a new group of unsuspecting teens, the story beats remain the same, from the incessant bullying to the ending bloodbath. Aside from these plot similarities, the only true direct tie it has with the original is the return of Irving as Snell, now in the role of a guidance counselor at Bates.
The film contains some surprisingly progressive commentary on rape culture and toxic masculinity, but the overall affair is far from the caliber of its predecessor.
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Made-for-TV Carrie
A new take on King’s story aired on NBC the night of November 4, 2002, to more than 12 million viewers. Angela Bettis portrayed Carrie White, fresh off her star-making performance in the psychological teen horror film May. The made-for-television film, directed by David Carson and developed by Bryan Fuller, differed from De Palma’s take in a number of ways.
It stays truer to King’s source material by bringing back some key scenes that had been left out in 1976 such as the destruction of the town of Chamberlain, Maine following the slaughterhouse at the prom. The framing device was reimplemented, with everything leading up to the prom being told between testimonials with Snell and other students.
Time was spent developing characters in places where De Palma favored stylistic choices. This was in part due to Fuller’s intentions of developing the story of Carrie into a television series, with this TV movie acting as a pilot. Fuller’s intentions led to decisions such as keeping Carrie White alive—she dies in every other version of this story—and having Snell help her escape town following the bloodbath she inflicted. The changes never really resonate the way they were meant to, oftentimes creating more questions than answers and besmirching the classic moments King created. Though this adaptation was a success in terms of viewership, the proposed television series never saw the light of day.
Kimberly Pierce's Carrie
In the years following, horror saw a new trend arise: remakes. The box office success of popular franchise remakes such as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Halloween led to studios clambering once again to profit from any horror property they owned. In 2011, MGM announced director Kimberly Pierce of Boys Don’t Cry fame would helm another Carrie White story and was set to star Chloe Grace Moretz in the title role.
Pierce claimed that her Carrie would be an updated version of King’s story that went back to the root of the source material. However, the final product seems to be caught somewhere in between a faithful retelling of King’s words and a tired retreading of De Palma’s imagery. The inclusion of smartphones brings a sense of modern awareness to this iteration, adding a layer of permanency to the cyberbullying taking place that was not present in prior adaptations. This is one of a few positives. The addition of more violent deaths and a Snell pregnancy twist seems too little too late by the time this film comes to a close.
Yet the film does have merit in that it gives audiences another incredible mother-daughter duo of performances by Julianne Moore and Moretz. Though this is the last adaptation of Carrie to date, there have been talks of a limited series being developed by FX.
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The Legacy of Carrie
What is to be taken away from the history of Carrie’s many adaptations? If nothing else, it shows a good enough story will continue to be told. Carrie turns 50 in just two years, and it is still as relevant as it was when De Palma’s film was released in 1976. King’s themes still resonate with audiences because, through all the terror and bloodshed, he gets to the heart of what makes his characters human. Readers relate to Carrie White because everyone can see a piece of themselves in her. The blood-stained prom queen is not only a mainstay of the horror genre but a symbol of karma incarnate, a warning against those unwilling to accept people for who they are.
These various Carrie iterations would make exceptional Halloween or Stephen King-themed library programming. Spotlighting the 50th anniversary of Carrie would also be another unique library program.
Discover more titles for your film collection in our list of horror films.