Film Credits

Screenplay by: Lawrence D. Cohen

Directed by: Brian De Palma

Starring: Sissy Spacek, Piper Laurie, William Katt, John Travolta, Amy Irving, Nancy Allen, Betty Buckley, P.J. Soles, Priscilla Pointer

Review

Carrie is the first film adaptation of a Stephen King novel (from King's first book), which tells the sordid story of Carrie White (Sissy Spacek). Carrie is the mousy, repressed, very troubled teenager that nobody likes (and I mean nobody), and whose mother (Piper Laurie), is the ultimate wacko, religious, man-hating fanatic to ever walk the face of the Earth. Carrie struggles to maintain whatever dignity and sanity she can, but it's a downhill battle. Aside from having to cope with her nasty classmates (Nancy Allen, John Travolta, P.J. Soles), friendly classmates (Amy Irving, William Katt), a caring P.E. teacher (Betty Buckley) and a lunatic mom, Carrie must ultimately deal with her ever increasing (and powerful) telekinetic abilities. But in the end, all of Carrie's struggles are to no avail, as her telekinetic powers are unleashed against those who did her wrong!

Although he directed several earlier films (including the fantastic Phantom of the Paradise), Carrie was Brian De Palma's first major success. De Palma's stylish film techniques are present throughout (as are his oft-attempted Hitchcock homages), and when combined with Lawrence D. Cohen's fairly-literate script (no, he's not the Larry Cohen who wrote/directed many popular low-budget films), Carrie becomes an interesting depiction of teenage angst. At least until the end, that is, when the film turns into your average, horror film bloodbath (literally) and revenge tale. In any event, the film was aimed at an appropriate teenaged audience and it did quite well. Carrie was also the film debut of actresses Amy Irving and P.J. Soles; contrary to what is stated on the disc in a couple places, John Travolta's debut was not in this film, but in 1975's The Devil's Rain (he had a bit role as a guy who melts).

As I'm sure most laserphiles will agree, Voyager is an outstanding laserdisc company, and their Criterion Collection releases are invaluable. But let's be honest, while we appreciate the fact that Voyager releases many titles in the CAV format, some films don't really warrant a CAV-only release. Carrie is one of those films. I'm sad to say that there's nothing really special about the film, nor of Voyager's supplementary materials, to make Carrie a worthwhile CAV investment.

The film transfer is very good considering the film's low-budget roots. The image is occasionally a bit dirty and the photography is sometimes soft and a bit pale, but overall the image is sharp, clean and colorful. Even the usually annoying reds, which De Palma makes much use of, are handled without a hitch, and the CAV still frames are perfectly steady. Carrie was not a widescreen effort (it has a 1.33:1 aspect ratio), and thus the disc is neither letterboxed or matted. Even so, Voyager did decide to keep the opening credits/sequence intact by banding them with black on all four sides, and we wish they thought enough of the film to retain the banding for its entirety (a slight amount of picture information is lost from the top and bottom edge of the frame in order to fill up your screen with picture information). Also, there's a badly-chosen and extremely jarring side break that occurs at the end of side three, interrupting the infamous "prom night" sequence. This two-disc set comes in a gatefold jacket containing several color stills, a black & white photo montage, and a complete listing of all 74 chapters. The discs were pressed at Sony DADC and are Table of Contents encoded.

The best of Voyager's extras are the three separate audio tracks on the disc. While the digital track contains the film's digital mono soundtrack, the analog track have been split. Analog 1 (left) features the music and sound effects track, allowing listeners to enjoy Pino Donaggio's score; his music cues, all 44 of them, have also been chapter marked for easy access. Analog 2 (right) features an audio commentary by Laurent Bouzereau (author of "The De Palma Cut") and screenwriter Lawrence D. Cohen. Bouzereau's comments are fairly incisive for the most part, but he does manage to stray from the subject matter with worthless and annoying attempts to discuss De Palma's symbolism. As for Cohen, his insights into the film and story are a nice addition, but he isn't featured long enough to make any real impact. All three audio tracks are in great condition, and the disc has not been CX-encoded because of its dual-audio nature.

The actual supplementary section for Carrie is a very meager offering indeed, and is among Voyager's worst. The section starts out with a 2m theatrical trailer, after which appears a combined total of nine trade ads, French posters and a magazine cover. Next, Carrie's non-film-related history is shown through seven photos, consisting of a few book covers, a playbill for the ill-fated Broadway musical version, and the cover to the soundtrack album. After that we have the complete set of eight lobby cards, followed by a photo and extremely short biography of the main stars (as well as of De Palma and King). In what is a complete waste of time and space, a total of 42 still frames, lifted directly from the film itself, are divided up over three segments to give you a photo replay of the prom scene, Carrie's returning home after, and the "shocking" final scene. I cannot understand what the point of this is, considering the same scenes just played in the film itself and the CAV functions already allow you to freeze-frame such shots if you wish. De Palma is represented by a short essay (with 11 photos) describing how he always has his actors and actresses raise their hands and arms above their faces for dramatic effect, as well as by a complete filmography (accompanied by 18 photos). And finally, the complete text from the original opening prologue (subsequently cut from the film) is presented, as is one still from the sequence of Spacek portraying a very-young Carrie.

Again, Voyager's transfer is nice, and I really wish I could recommend this disc, but there is simply nothing else to support Carrie as a CAV-only release - the commentary is okay, but I can't see anyone wanting to sit through it more than once, and the supplementary section, with one or two minor exceptions, is pitiful. Another problem in releasing the film in CAV at such a high price ($89.95) is that Voyager has essentially made the film inaccessible to most of the people who would be interested in it. De Palma film addicts aside, I highly suggest you await the lower-priced CLV edition that will inevitably be forthcoming.

Supplementary Recap

• Audio Essay featuring Laurent Bouzereau and screenwriter Lawrence D. Cohen
• Original theatrical trailer
• Production Stills and Promotional Materials
• Filmography of Brian De Palma
• The complete text from the original, deleted opening prologue
• Music and Effects Track (analog track 1)