The Los Angles Times reports that "Carrie" is both "outrageously witty" and "one of the all-time great horror classics." After viewing "Carrie" for the very first time I cannot concur with the Times' review. I did not find the film "horrific" by any standard, especially the standard that is posited by Carroll who takes great pains to establish what the content of horror should entail i.e. having a disgusting and fearsome monster.
The narrative (story line) centers around a young teenage girl who is somewhat out of place in a sixties High School environment prone to shyness and rejected socially by her sadistic classmates. She is not a total misfit however, in that her outward appearance is not out of the ordinary except for her ill-fitting dresses. Compared to her female classmates she is bland looking and perhaps that is what sets the stage for her onscreen persona. Carrie is the only child of a psychotic mother bent on manipulating Carrie into a religious fervor in order to protect her virginity; a task she herself was unable to maintain, the result of which was Carrie. Although Carrie is center stage in the narrative and the object of the events that will gradually unfold, she seems to me more normal that the rest of the characters. In spite of her being endlessly teased by her classmates she holds no ill will toward them, and in fact actually secretly desires to be a part of the group.
Early on in the onset Carrie herself discovers that she has a telekinetic power that can move objects by shear will. She gradually gains confidence in the use of her new found ability that enables her to free herself from her manipulating and controlling mother. Her use of her power is not used arbitrarily however, but only when she feels threatened with possible harm. Her power comes to full fruition when she is made a laughing stock at her High School prom. This embarrassing moment, caused by one of the sadistic classmates unleashes a rage in Carrie which prompts her to use her telekinetic powers thus causing havoc setting fire to the building and killing her fellow classmates whom she sees in her mind as laughing at her uproariously. Even when unleashing her powers she is not made to look hideous or unnerving, rather more like someone who is angry but not hateful. In the end Carrie's mother tries to kill her by stabbing, but the wounded Carrie is able to use her telekinetic powers to turn the tables and unleash a fury of knives and various kitchen utensils that become lodged in her mother's torso. The house, for some unknown reason begins to crumble at this point (no apparent reason) collapsing on Carrie and her mother.
The film did hold my interest but I am not sure if I was drawn to the "weirdness" of most of the characters or moved emotionally by the fate of Carrie's unhappy circumstances. I felt strangely attracted to Carrie and moved to somehow console her and become her friend. I felt sad at her death and am quite convinced that it was because I felt sympathy for her situation. I am not quite sure how people came to realize that Carrie had this power as she did nothing outwardly to suggest to anyone that she had this power. In fact in one of the last scenes one of the sadistic classmates who hated Carrie for some unfounded reason, tried to run her over which indicated to me that she had no idea that Carrie had this power. Seemingly the story line did not reveal a true discovery and there was evidently no confrontation nor confirmation.
One, I suppose could make a case for the "fantastic hesitation" genre, however I would lean more toward the "fantastic-uncanny" because of its naturalistic explanation although at times the supernatural came into question. I'm not sure, even at this time, if this film can be classified within horror genre, but it certainly could be framed as a suspenseful drama with a psychological foundation and rationale. It contained the elements categorized within "art-fiction" narrative but I think failed to attain the status of "art horror." One could argue that because Carrie was an anomaly, out of the ordinary and unexplained scientifically, that would suffice for the category of monstrous, but I doubt that Carroll would agree because the monster in this case was not disgusting, repulsive or fearsome. In regards to the question of how it would be considered as suspense I would say that the morally unlikely outcome would be that Carrie went on to live a normal life once mom was out of the way. In other words her demise was inevitable.
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