Movie #208 Carrie *1976*

Sissy Spacek - Carrie
Piper Laurie - Mrs. White
Nancy Allen - Chris Hargensen
Brian DePalma (Director)
Carrie is one of those classic horror movies everybody must see.  There is Halloween, Friday the 13th, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Rosemary's Baby, The Omen, The Shining and so on.  I am not much of a horror buff so I am slowly making my way through these classic films.  The questions I ask myself after having seen one of these movies is "What separates this movie from the others" and "Why is this considered a classic".

With Carrie both of those questions are easily answered. Carrie has wonderful performances from several cast members.  Spacek is un-nerving in the title role.  At first (the shower scene) I was asking if she was mentally challenged.  That was not the case.  She has problems blending in with other students at her high school because of her upbringing.  Her mother, Piper Laurie, was just as chilling in her role as the overbearing and abusive religious fanatic.  Nancy Allen was a little over the top as Chris, the most popular girl in school / biggest bitch.  All these are archetype characters in teen horror flicks.  While this cast was good, it was not the factor that set the movie apart.

The plot revolves around Carrie.  A shy, awkward girl that is abused both at home and at school.  The twist is that she begins to develop the power to movie objects with her mind.  She is asked to the Senior Prom by a school hunk as a favor from his girl friend who feels bad for taunting Carrie.  When the high school tart pulls a cruel prank on Carrie all hell breaks loose.  This plot is specific to this film of course, and the Steven King book that it was based on, but the basic story could be pulled from many different films in the horror genre.

The camerawork is fantastic as you would except from a Brian DePalma film.  The most flashy of the set-ups takes place during a dance Carrie and her date share.  It does a great job of setting up the mood and foreshadowing the events to come.  The signature DePalma split screen is present, but I had to ask why.  There didn't really seem to be a need to go split screen, at least early on in the movie.  I think it was used a little more organically later in the movie.  Even though much of the camerawork is easily recognizable as DePalma's, creative and exotic camerawork is almost a staple of horror movies.  Usually they have lower budgets and that forces directors and DP's to come up with inventive and fun ways to movie a camera to create a atmosphere.  Evil Dead is a great example of this.

So what sets Carrie apart?  The pacing.  DePalma is not interested in making a traditional horror movie.  He is having a blast making an almost exploitative teen sex romp.  He goes as far as to have Karen Allen go down on John Travolta and right in the middle of it she belts out "I hate Carrie White"!  I laughed so hard at that moment.  The opening of the movie consists largely of a tracking shot through a high school women's shower, where all sorts of fully naked, fully exposed teens are shown.  I thought that was a little over the top.  The girls PE scene looked like it was filmed for some USA Up All Night movie from the 80's.  But all the while there is this building tension between Carrie and her mother.  And tension with Carrie and her prom date.  And Chris and her mean spirited prank.  DePalma milks every bit of anxiety out of the first 2 acts.  Then the final 20 minutes is bat shit crazy and one of the most horrific 20 minutes of horror history.  Most of this comes from the long build up, then the sudden release of all that tension.  Carrie is like a cinematic spring that just busted.

Another thing Carrie has going for it is there is more going on that what is written in the script.  I don't think I am stretching it too much when I say that Carrie is a movie about the fears of womanhood as much as it is a horror movie.  The scariest thing about most horror films isn't what is seen on screen, it is what we know is off screen but we don't know where.  Carrie uses the mysteries of becoming a woman and to invoke the fear of the unknown.  It is very effective.

Why is Carrie considered a classic?  That is the easier question to answer.  It is a classic because of all of the things listed above all in one movie.  Other horror films might have great characters or unique camerawork, but not many others have all these things.  Carrie is a film that you can tell was realized exactly how the director pictured it in his head.  I give Carrie ★★★1/2.

Movie #206 Blow Out *1981*

Movie #180 was the first time I watched Brian De Palma's Blow Out.  That review is lacking a little, but I was short on time then just like I am now.  So one of these day I will better be able to accentuate what it is I love about this film.  Until then here are my 3 Reason to watch Blow Out.

Reason 1.  The 360 degree shot in the film storage room.

Reason 2.  Hitchcock would be proud.

Reason 3.  John Travolta playing it straight.  Easily his best performance (and that is saying something)

Here are 3 more:

Reason 4.  The chase sequence and fireworks scene.

Reason 5.  The opening B movie and both it's steadycam shots.

Reason 6. The editing during the editing in the film. 

Blow Out really is a master at the height of his craft.  This is his Mona Lisa.

I give Blow Out ★★★★1/2.

Movie #180 Blow Out *1981*

John Travolta - Jack Terry
Nancy Allen - Sally
John Lithgow - Burke
Dennis Franz - Manny Karp
Brian De Palma (Director)

I have always been on the fence about Brian De Palma.  I loved The Untouchables when I was younger, before I knew about directors better yet De Plama.  I love elements of Scarface, but as a whole I think it is too over the top and self aware.  I don't like Snake Eyes or The Black Daliha at all.  I watched Sisters as part of my Year of Film (Movie #92) and was less than enthused.  But I keep hearing that he is a master so I keep on giving him the benefit of the doubt.

So Thursday I watched the new Criterion Release of Blow Out.  I had just finished playing basketball and was physically beat.  I put it in the Blu Ray player kind of expecting to fall asleep to it.  Instead I couldn't take my eyes off it.  The film opens right into a slasher flick.  Soon we find out that this is a film that is being viewed by Travolta and that movie's director.  Travolta is a sound guy and they are trying to find the perfect scream. 

Blow out ends up being about Travolta (a sound guy for B movies) recording a car crash and saving one of the passengers, the female while the male dies.  The man in the car was Governor and presidential hopeful.  The woman was a call girl of sorts.  Once the cops begin trying to cover the whole thing up Travolta thinks there is something going on and plans to use his audio recording to prove it.  The film evolves into a gut wrenching thriller with a psychopathic killer, a slime ball photographer, extreme political ambition and a hooker with a heart of gold story lines all interweaving.  The film ends with a crazy chase that leads into a Liberty Day celebration of fireworks that perfectly lights the penultimate scene. 

Q. Tarantino is all over this film.  I have read that he thinks it is one of the 5 greatest movies ever made.  He blantly stole the lead actor (Travolta) for Pulp Fiction, the titles for several films, the phone booth scene (also for Pulp) and the music for Death Proof.  This music is used in a scene that while I was watching it I knew that it must be referencing something else, I just didn't know what.

I can't wait to see this film again and it will be joining my collection when Barnes and Noble have their 50% off Criterion sale in July.  I give Blow Out ★★★★1/2.  Check out the Trailer Park to see for yourself.

Movie #92 Sisters *1973*

Last night I started watching Le Cercle Rouge on Netflix streaming. I had to shut it off because the sub titles were too low on the picture and the bottom half of them were getting cut off.  I had a bit of the same problem with Rules of the Game this past weekend, just not as bad.

So, I instead watched Brian De Palma's Sisters.  This was the first film of his to really receive critical acclaim and some commercial success.  It is a murder mystery revolving around Siamese twin sisters that have been disconnected, and the pesky neighbor that thinks she saw the whole thing go down.

This is classic De Palma, but it didn't really take for me.  The thing most people talk about when this film comes up is his use of split screen.  I did find that technique really effective, impressive and satisfying without feeling to gimmicky.

The rest of the movie kind of fell flat for me.  There were a few moments here and there that stood out, but as a whole I found the pacing a little off and the ending too bizarre and disjointed. 

Margot Kidder played the twins.  She was good in the role, but her French Canadian accent really grated on me.  Jennifer Salt played the neighbor.  I think I liked her better in the movie at first, but as the film went on I got less and less interested in everyone involved.  William Finley had a role in this film.  Too tell you much about it would have to include spoilers.  Let's just say he was bat shit crazy in this thing.  A little too much in my opinion.  For a thriller movie his performance was comedic and it took me out of the picture.

I would recommend seeing this if for no other reason than the split screen.  Sisters has been released in a Criterion DVD.  I will give Sisters a 2.5/5 stars.  Check out the Trailer Park to see for yourself.