Naked high school girls showering after a sweaty game of volleyball grabs your attention in the first few minutes. “Creepy” Carrie is far from the sexiest among them, but she is cute in an unobtrusive way. The fact that she’s constantly mistreated by almost everyone around her, including her manic Mama, makes you root for her. It’s when she’s invited to the prom by Tommy Ross, one of the cutest coolest boys in the school, which she relunctantly accepts, that things start to go really bad for her.
It’s a sad story but never to the point of maudlinism, even when Carrie’s sadness forces her to tears. That’s because she possesses a power that more than makes up for her social inadequacies. She can move and physically affect things with her mind; she can close windows and break mirrors; if she concentrates hard enough. It’s what known as telekinesis, a phenomenon she herself doesn’t fully understand. All she knows is that it tends to happen, rather inadvertently, when people make her mad.
The final fifteen minutes or so before the ending credits, especially the view-violating epilogue that makes up the final three minutes, are unnecessary. From both a narrative and an artistic point of view, the movie should end just after the prom, which is the obvious climax in the world of a high school student who cares about nothing more than fitting in with the popular crowd. With that said, the ending excess isn’t enough to ruin what remains an endearing story about a very special girl.
my rating : 4 of 5
1976