Carrie (1976)

¶ … Brian De Palma's teen thriller Carrie is an unusual example of the horror genre. Unlike most horror films in which the viewer finds himself rooting for a protagonist faced with horrific evil supernatural forces, in Carrie, the most evil actions are perpetrated by 'normal' humans while the title character is highly sympathetic, even when she goes on her murderous rampage at the end of the film.

The film narrates the story of Carrie White, a shy high school senior who is an outcast because of her social awkwardness and her religious fanatic of a mother. The first scene of the film depicts Carrie getting her period for the first time in the girls' gym shower: she does not realize what is happening to her and the girls react by throwing sanitary napkins and tampons at her, oblivious to her tears.

If Carrie was an ordinary girl, the film would be a relatively straightforward Mean Girls tale in which the title character was persecuted by the most socially prominent students in school. However, Carrie is no ordinary high school senior. She has telekinetic powers which means she can move objects with her mind. At first she uses this power for benign purposes, not to harm anyone.

But when she is asked to go to the prom by the most popular boy in school and is crowned prom queen, some of the nastiest (and most popular) students play a horrible trick on her, dousing her with pig's blood. Carrie is driven mad with rage and unleashes her telekinetic fury on the high school gym. Carrie is sympathetic because she is a victim, although probably the most poignant character is Sue Snell.

Sue feels bad for having bullied Carrie and asks her boyfriend Tommy to take Carrie to the senior prom instead of herself, so Carrie can have a taste of what it is like to be popular. In contrast, Chris, who is also punished for bullying Carrie in the showers, turns on her and concocts the pig's blood scheme. In the end, regardless of their culpability, everyone dies (including Carrie herself) except Sue, who is safely away from the gym when Carrie begins to unravel.

Carrie continues to be sympathetic, however, even while she kills also because the reader is aware that she is an abused child. Her mother routinely beats Carrie over the course of the film, locks her in a closet, and makes Carrie feel guilty about her sexuality. In the scenes leading up to the prom, Carrie gradually gains more autonomy and stands up to her mother but in the end her mother kills her.

The house where the two of them lived collapses in on itself, ending the sad and terrible legacy of the family. Perhaps the most horrifying scene.