--- title: "Carrie" year: 1976 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/carrie" fi1m_score: 86 critics_score: 83 critics_reviews: 14 published: "2026-09-16T10:33:14.101768+00:00" updated: "2026-09-16T10:33:27.537784+00:00" region: "US" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Carrie (1976) Directed by Brian De Palma · 1h 38m · MPA R · Horror, Thriller **Fi1m score: 86** · Critics 83 from 14 reviews *In a sentence:* Carrie needs a different school, a different mother and considerably less attention > Brian De Palma’s *Carrie* is frightening because Sissy Spacek makes its bullied schoolgirl matter. We recommend it warmly, with a reservation about a camera that sometimes seems as interested in girls’ bodies as their distress. ## Synopsis Carrie (Sissy Spacek) is a shy high-school pupil with telekinetic powers, caught between bullying at school and clashes with her mother, Margaret White (Piper Laurie). She wants to belong, but neither home nor school offers much reassurance. A humiliating episode in the school showers puts her fear of her own body in front of the other girls. Sue Snell (Amy Irving) and Tommy Ross (William Katt) are among the people around her as the prom approaches. At home, Margaret’s religious beliefs make the tensions between mother and daughter harder to escape. ## Review *Carrie* is a gripping horror film that takes a schoolgirl’s wish to belong seriously, with Sissy Spacek giving us good reason to worry about her. Brian De Palma directs Lawrence D. Cohen’s adaptation of the Stephen King novel with a relish for cruelty that is sometimes troubling. Carrie has telekinetic powers, but the ordinary people around her supply plenty of fear without supernatural assistance. The film understands how much can depend on being treated kindly when kindness has been scarce. Sissy Spacek makes shyness look exhausting. Her Carrie seems to expect other people to know rules she has never been taught, and the effort of keeping up is painful to watch. We found the shower scene upsetting, because her bewilderment makes the bullying feel like an attack on someone who cannot yet understand what is happening. Spacek also gives her enough stubbornness to keep the performance from becoming a prolonged appeal for pity. Piper Laurie plays Margaret White with a religious certainty that leaves little space for her daughter. The clashes between them are frightening because Carrie ought to be able to trust the person causing her distress. Laurie can be too emphatic, particularly beside the smaller changes in Spacek’s performance, and Margaret occasionally becomes easier to dismiss than she should. The gothic art direction is suitably oppressive, though these arguments need little help from their surroundings. The relationship remains troubling even when the acting grows broad. Mario Tosi’s circling camera gives the film a restless elegance. The shower scene is also where the attention to girls’ bodies becomes difficult to defend: the camera lingers in a way that sits awkwardly beside the concern for Carrie’s humiliation. Being looked at can be frightening for this girl, and De Palma clearly understands that, but he spends too long enjoying the view himself. The scene would still hurt if the camera were less intrusive. Paul Hirsch’s editing lets anticipation build around the prom, whose events we will not describe. The waiting becomes difficult to bear because the film has made acceptance so important to Carrie; an ordinary school occasion carries more weight than the adults might care to admit. Pino Donaggio’s music has a mischievous streak that helps the humour sit alongside the fear without making either feel misplaced. Those changes of tone are welcome in a film whose central character has so much to endure. Across 98 minutes, the suspense rarely loosens its hold. *Carrie* belongs among the coming-of-age horror films that take their teenagers seriously, including the parts of adolescence adults find embarrassing. Spacek gives her curiosity and resolve, and we want to see what she might be like without all this punishment. Even when De Palma is showing off, her performance keeps our attention on what this girl is feeling. Watch it for Spacek, but save it for another evening if school bullying is closer to home than you want horror to come. *Fi1m score 86, published 16 September 2026.* ## What the critics say Most critics strongly favour Carrie, with praise centred on Sissy Spacek’s vulnerability, Piper Laurie’s disturbing presence and Brian De Palma’s control of tension. The reviews repeatedly find that the horror draws its force from recognisable adolescent fears: bullying, sexual anxiety and conflict between mother and daughter. De Palma’s elaborate staging and vivid imagery attract broad admiration, while several critics value the uneasy mixture of sadness, humour and cruelty. The main reservation concerns how the film looks at its female characters: Time Out finds the male gaze exploitative, despite admiring the direction and Spacek’s performance, whereas Slant Magazine praises its feminine perspective and sensual style. The spread is otherwise concentrated at the positive end, with one sharply negative dissent. The New York Times finds the film generally overwrought and messy, allowing that it is occasionally touching and that Spacek provides its chief interest. ### Reviews we read (14) - **Radio Times**, Alan Jones (5/5): De Palma's gothic fairy tale is praised as a tense and lyrical web of emotions with standout performances from Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie. The symbolic crucifixion scene and overall package of pop psychology and psychic phenomena are highlighted as thrilling highlights in an unforgettable film. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-lue6ie/carrie/) - **Empire**, Andrew Collins (90/100, inferred): The critic praises De Palma's directorial bravado in this masterwork, highlighting the unforgettable set-pieces like the shower scene, prom night, and dream ending, while noting its subtext on power, religion, and high school cruelty. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/carrie-review/) - **RogerEbert.com**, Roger Ebert (90/100, inferred): Ebert calls the film an absolutely spellbinding horror movie and an observant human portrait of a shy, complicated high-school senior with telekinetic powers. He praises the performances by Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie and notes how the horror grows organically out of the characters. [Read](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/carrie-1976) - **Slant Magazine**, Eric Henderson (90/100, inferred): The critic calls Carrie De Palma’s first completely mature film and a profoundly sad horror comedy that synthesizes his destructive humor with graceful visuals. He singles out its insistently sensual style, feminine perspective, and bittersweet humor for praise. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/carrie/) - **The Guardian**, Peter Bradshaw (90/100, inferred): The critic hails De Palma’s 1976 film as an insouciantly horrible masterpiece and a groundbreaking horror classic. They single out the staggering, drawn-out prom sequence for its evolving power and split-screen carnage. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/oct/17/carrie-review-brian-de-palma-horror-rereleased) - **The New Yorker**, Pauline Kael (90/100, inferred): Kael praises the film as a terrifyingly lyrical thriller with a teasing mix of comedy, horror, and tension, calling it a new trash archetype and a menstrual joke in the form of a film noir in red. She highlights De Palma's baroque sensibility, the archetypal Cinderella-revenge plot, and strong performances by Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie. [Read](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1976/11/22/carrie-movie-review-spacek-de-palma) - **The Times** (★★★★☆): The critic calls the film a streamlined shocker that retains its unnerving power, praising the central pairing of Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie as the emotional spine. They note the disturbing clashes between mother and daughter. [Read](https://www.thetimes.com/culture/film/article/carrie-1976-review-sissy-spacek-piper-laurie-kpdc37qw9) - **Little White Lies**, Anton Bitel (80/100, inferred): The review highlights how adolescence and coming-of-age themes drive the horror in De Palma's adaptation of the Stephen King novel. It praises the film's exploration of empowerment, sexuality, and violence through its vivid red imagery and key sequences like the shower scene and prom climax. [Read](https://lwlies.com/home-ents/carrie-review-brian-de-palma) - **The i Paper**, Mark Butler (80/100, inferred): The critic highlights how the film captures the terror of high school bullying and social anxiety through its iconic scenes, praising the direction and performances for reflecting everyday adolescent fears. [Read](https://inews.co.uk/culture/film/carrie-horror-is-high-school-itself-28707) - **Time Out**, Tom Huddleston (4/5): The critic finds the film troubling in a modern context for its exploitative male gaze on female characters and bodies. De Palma's assured direction and Sissy Spacek's flawless performance are singled out for praise as making it a gripping horror with effective set pieces. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/carrie-1976) - **The New York Times**, Vincent Canby (30/100, inferred): Canby describes the film as an elegant but messy box lunch that is sometimes funny, generally overwrought, and occasionally touching. He singles out Sissy Spacek's effective, if over-the-top, performance as the main source of interest amid the horror and prom-night chaos. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/1976/11/17/archives/film-after-the-prom-the-horror.html) - **Eye for Film**, Antoni Konieczny (90/100, inferred): There is practically no fault in Brian De Palma’s landmark adaptation of Stephen King’s novel, a defining work of New Horror that showcases the expressive potential of cinema. The critic singles out the film’s visual eclecticism, swirling camera work, irreverent score, gothic art direction, and kaleidoscopic cinematography for particular praise. [Read](https://eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/carrie-1976-film-review-by-antoni-konieczny) - **Paste**, Jim Vorel (90/100, inferred): The critic calls Carrie the best horror film of 1976 and praises its fidelity to the source material in the New Hollywood era. They single out Sissy Spacek's genuinely vulnerable and unstable performance as the key element that later versions fail to recapture. [Read](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/horror-movies/best-horror-movie-of-1976-carrie-sissy-spacek) - **Den of Geek**, Rebecca Lea (80/100, inferred): The critic calls De Palma’s film a solid adaptation of King’s novel that captures its disquieting mood and focuses on Carrie’s personal tragedy. They praise Sissy Spacek’s performance for balancing naivety and steeliness while noting the film’s potent, layered quality as a horror classic. [Read](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/revisiting-the-film-of-stephen-kings-carrie/) ## Details - **Director:** Brian De Palma - **Director:** Brian De Palma - **Screenplay:** Lawrence D. Cohen - **Novel:** Stephen King - **Cinematography:** Mario Tosi - **Editor:** Paul Hirsch - **Music:** Pino Donaggio - **Costume design:** Rosanna Norton - **Producer:** Paul Monash - **Cast:** Sissy Spacek as Carrie; Piper Laurie as Margaret White; Amy Irving as Sue Snell; William Katt as Tommy Ross; John Travolta as Billy Nolan; Nancy Allen as Chris Hargenson; Betty Buckley as Miss Collins; P. J. Soles as Norma - **Runtime:** 1h 38m - **Certificate (MPA):** R - **Release (the US):** 16 November 1976 - **Genres:** Horror, Thriller - **Budget:** $2 million - **Box office:** $34 million - **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9Mg-GRS46Y ## Where to watch in the US - HBO Max: streaming - The Roku Channel: add-on, hd - Hulu: add-on, hd *Checked 2026-09-16.* Also available in: AU, BE, CA, FR, GB, IE, IT, JP, NL, NZ, TR, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## Awards - Academy Awards 1977: Best Actress (nominated); Best Supporting Actress (nominated) - National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress 1976: National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress (won) ## If you liked this - *Thelma* (2017), Fi1m 85: Religious repression and frightening new powers, handled with a colder patience. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/thelma-and-louise.md) - *Ginger Snaps* (2000): Puberty becomes bodily horror, with two sisters allowed anger and bleak humour. - *Let the Right One In* (2008), Fi1m 88: School bullying and unexpected tenderness make the vampire story hurt more. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/let-the-right-one-in.md) - *The Innocents* (1961): Religious conviction and adult anxiety make childhood frightening in a different way. - *May* (2002): An isolated young woman wants company; the film takes that need seriously. --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/carrie