Okay, being both female and a huge nerd I have a soft spot for the movie Carrie. I just re-watched it the other day and I forgot how much I love it. I love everything from Piper Laurie's over the top warbling "THEY'RE ALL GONNA LAUGH AT YOU!" to the extremely dates 70's styles, to the split screen shots of the carnage.
Yeah its pretty over the top and its also extremely dated. I mean have you SEEN the hair in that movie? More white guy Afros than you can shake a pick at! Not to mention Piper Laurie chews the scenery like a rabid beaver. But Sissy Spacek's performance was so vulnerable and so raw that I felt for her. And honestly? I can't picture anyone but Piper Laurie as Mrs. White. That over the top madness is what made that woman truly terrifying.
"Momma only wants to comfort you...with this knife."I work with the public. I have encountered MANY a Mrs. White in my day. Piper Laurie's performance is pretty damn spot on. She's like the one woman who came into my place of work and left me a DVD of her cult leader's diatribe to listen to. Then she came BACK to my place of work four weeks later to see if I was ready to join the fold.
When I said no I had to give her the DVD back.
talk about a cheap cult leader.
But I digress.
There's something extremely fulfilling about the movie. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only nerd in the horror community and I'm positive I'm not the only nerd on the interwebs. Yet I never had a Hellish high school experience. Actually high school wasn't half bad for me. I was a reasonably socially accepted gal. I had my small circle of pals. Overall? High school was just kind of there for me. Yet I get this overwhelming feeling of satisfaction when Creepy Carrie goes all wall eyed on the cool kids and sets them a blaze.
Yeah....we've all been there.I think everyone of us has a bit of Carrie in them....okay that sounded dirty.
I mean to say that we all have that insecure awkward part of us that is terrified that everyone IS gonna laugh at us. And we all have that part of us that wants to turn them all into over cooked ballpark franks when they do. Obviously we don't because we're mildly socially adjusted and know that setting people on fire is bad. But dammit, there are days.
By the way. There is a musical version of Carrie. Seriously.
Oh, you thought I was kidding?!It played on Broadway for about seven days back in the 80's and is known as the biggest Broadway flop in history. I researched this show feverishly back in college. One of my prize possessions is a bootleg audio tape copy of a performance.
There is a kill the pig ballet.
I KID YOU NOT!!!
Don't believe me? Here's the actual moment from the show.
Don't ask me silly questions like why is everyone costumed for gay porn, why they're leaping across a flaming pit, and why there are no pigs. This Is ART!!!
And here's some reviews!
Bastards don't know what they're talking about.
I would given a toe to have seen it on stage.
There REALLY needs to be more rock horror musicals.
I recommend to any gal who is enjoying the horror genre to check out the original Carrie if they haven't. And if you're a musical theater geek like me, hunt down clips of the musical on youtube.
Carrie needs a hug...and therapy. But honestly? I probably wouldn't have stopped her from setting Chris Hargensen on fire.
The bitch had it coming.
6 comments:
Have you read the book? She takes out more than the prom-- try about half the damn town. It is AWESOME!
And I think cult lady needs a blog entry all her own! All I ever got were the extremist Jehovah's Witnesses who would try to convert me via drive through when I worked at DQ. Even knowing I was already a practicing Christian wasn't enough for those woo-hoos.
Shark Week started tonight. I' not wearing any clothes.8D
Oh man. Carries was in that list of horror movies I watched every Saturday on broadcast TV. Along with House and lots of other 70s and 80s horror movies. I based entire roleplaying game characters off of elements from Carrie and those other movies.
I totally didn't know there was a Broadway show. Although honestly looking at the clips, I'm not surprised it got such a bad review. Although I don't like the guy for attacking the story, or getting the terms wrong. She had pyrokineses too! Not just telekineses!
Wow there is a book? That is totally awesome. I need to find this book. After I finish reading Dresden Files... Who wrote it?
Last Saturday night I saw a Burlesque version of the Carrie Prom. It was freakin cool. I remember reading the book when I was about 14 and I was going to the Boys and Girls club and The evil bitch at the fron desk took it away from me for reading it in the TV room. Then I got in trouble for wishing I had Telekeniess so I could poull the big screen tv on her head.
Carrie was also the frist horror movie I got to rent so I have good memeories of it.
I just finished Stephen King's "on writing." Where he talked at length about what was going on in his life and the circumstances that surrounded his authoring of the novel. I have never seen the movie, nor read the book, but now I can't wait to do both. I was so surprised to see a blog about this movie. It seems like such coincidental timing.
Stac>>not yet. I always wanted to though. I do like Mr King's earlier work before his early 90's I'll publish anything phase. *L*
*L* The cult lady wasn't nearly as interesting as she sounds. But she DID have them crazy eyes. I did find out she came back on a day I wasn't working and asked for me. *shudder*
...and you're always naked so this surprises me not.
Nojh>Ah yes, I remember the shades of Carrie on Armageddon. There's a lot to take from that movie if you're building a dysfunctional character. The show is hilarious. I would have LOVED to have seen it because a good chunk of it was a huge train wreck. The other part of it was actually really good theater. Kinda sad really.
And yup. The book is by Stephen King.
ZS>>Its definitely a good starter film and its really fantastic when you're feeling out of place. A Burlesque version would be UBER cool to see!
Bear>>I'm psychic! Now to set someone on FIRE! Actually I stumbled upon this awesome blog while I was doing some clip searching. Check it out if you like Carrie:) http://carriefansite.blogspot.com/
Ah yes, Carrie The Musical. I remember the days where you and I would OBSESS over this thing and dream of seeing it live on stage. Dean and I actually in the early part of this decade, before I moved, went to see a High School put the show on. You can imagine how horrific the results were.
Carrie always has a special place in my heart. Mainly for Piper Laurie's amazingly over the top performance. Both her and Spacek earned their Oscar nominations for that film. My favorite scene with them is the one where they are talking about the prom while eating the apple cake. The scene still gives me chills today. Plus it has my favorite quote from the film from Laurie 'Pimples are the Lord's way of chastising you".
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