--- title: "Carrie: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/carrie/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/carrie" critics_score: 83 critics_reviews: 14 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): what the critics said Critics' score 83 from 14 reviews: 13 positive, 0 mixed, 1 negative. 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. ## Radio Times — Alan Jones Rating 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 the review](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-lue6ie/carrie/) ## Empire — Andrew Collins Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 1 January 2000. 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 the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/carrie-review/) ## RogerEbert.com — Roger Ebert Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 1 January 1976. 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 the review](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/carrie-1976) ## Slant Magazine — Eric Henderson Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 20 August 2006. 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 the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/carrie/) ## The Guardian — Peter Bradshaw Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 17 October 2024. 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 the review](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/oct/17/carrie-review-brian-de-palma-horror-rereleased) ## The New Yorker — Pauline Kael Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 15 November 1976. 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 the review](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1976/11/22/carrie-movie-review-spacek-de-palma) ## The Times Rating ★★★★☆. 17 October 2024. 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 the review](https://www.thetimes.com/culture/film/article/carrie-1976-review-sissy-spacek-piper-laurie-kpdc37qw9) ## Little White Lies — Anton Bitel Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 11 December 2017. 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 the review](https://lwlies.com/home-ents/carrie-review-brian-de-palma) ## The i Paper — Mark Butler Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 3 November 2016. 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 the review](https://inews.co.uk/culture/film/carrie-horror-is-high-school-itself-28707) ## Time Out — Tom Huddleston Rating 4/5. 26 May 2022. 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 the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/carrie-1976) ## The New York Times — Vincent Canby Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 17 November 1976. 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 the review](https://www.nytimes.com/1976/11/17/archives/film-after-the-prom-the-horror.html) ## Eye for Film — Antoni Konieczny Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 13 April 2025. Festival review. 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 the review](https://eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/carrie-1976-film-review-by-antoni-konieczny) ## Paste — Jim Vorel Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 18 September 2019. 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 the review](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/horror-movies/best-horror-movie-of-1976-carrie-sissy-spacek) ## Den of Geek — Rebecca Lea Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 12 August 2019. 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 the review](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/revisiting-the-film-of-stephen-kings-carrie/) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/carrie.md