Carrie (1976) - the best 70s Teen Movie?

Seriously, you take some of the scenes of that film (IE Travolta cruising around with Chris drinking, the makeout scene, the Detention scene) and it feels like a prototype of Dazed & Confused. Am I the only one who loves Carrie, but feel it straddles some weird, awesome line between horror film and teen movie?

 

I vote for "Over The Edge".

 

Halloween hands down, but I mostly agree about Carrie.

 

I would agree, that is a good way of describing it, kind of like a mixed genera.

I remember jumping in my seat, the last scene of the movie, didn't see it coming.

 

I vote The Pom Pom Girls.

 

I'm not sure I even consider Carrie a horror movie. It has horror elements but there is a lot going on in it.

Piper Laurie, the actress that played the mother in Carrie, was also in an oddly similar movie about a spooked teenage daughter called Ruby.

Ruby Blu-ray Review - DoBlu.com

 

It's a masterpiece of '70s weird cinema and enjoyable even when you know what's going to happen in my opinion. There is a DVD with great extras about it too. I rank it with Suspiria and maybe even Carnival Of Souls, but maybe a notch below Spider Baby.

Oh yeah, I remember Ruby, but I like Carrie better.

 

Foxes (1980)
Little Darlings (1980)

Both released in early 1980, but filmed in 1979.

 

Easily one of the best.

 

It's an odd combination of the two, for sure. I've always thought the "teen" sections detracted from the elements that were truly exceptional - the mother/daughter relationship, Carrie's scenes with Tommy, the mean girls, etc. Travolta became a great actor, but his scenes in Carrie were overdone, to be charitable. There were director's mistakes, like the stupid sped up tuxedo scene and (in my opinion) the split screen footage in the gym.

But it's a great, great movie, and there are no better performances in any pulp horror movie than Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie give in their scenes together. It's like a great guitar duel as they feed off each other's energy. (You can imagine them collapsing afterward and then bursting into laughter at their mutual creativity.)

I really miss the pre-internet days when you would go to a movie before a million reviews of the trailers and years of pre-publicity. To see Rosemary's Baby, The Exorcist, Carrie, Jaws, Don't Look Now in a crowded theater with an audience that didn't know what to expect was an experience that can never be duplicated in even the best home theater.

 

The remake is terrible, by the way.

 

I actually like Travolta's scenes in it. His hairstyle, and accent, all seem like the character he'd play in Pulp Fiction. Seriously, listen to his voice in Carrie and in Pulp Fiction, he does the same quasi-Southern accent in both - and that's not his natural voice as you know. He also has the long hair and long sideburns in both roles.

 

Another vote for Halloween. I never cared much for Carrie, except the final act.

 

What? Not only is Carrie a horror film, it's a supernatural horror film, which weren't that popular in this era. What would you call it? Suspense? Melodrama? Science Fiction?

 

I could see it being called science fiction. Carrie's powers don't necessarily have to be based in the supernatural. Superhero entertainment has ripped off many things from Carrie over the years, including the X-Men.

 

I think Carrie was just misunderstood...she just needed a female role model to look up to...
This is a seriously disturbing movie, way beyond horror, and features imagery that many horror movies could only hope to aspire to. I never thought of it as a "teen" movie, it just happened to have teenagers in it. And I don't think anyone other than Brian De Palma could have made it as bat-turd crazy as it was.

 

Well the opening shower/locker room scene is a classic up until.......................

 

I can imagine a Stephen King superhero group now... Carrie, Firestarter, Cujo, Pennywise, Christine and Jack Nicholson!

 

“American Graffiti”— or does that not count b/c it’s about teens in the 60s?

If we are counting movies released in 1980, I’d go with “Little Darlings.”

 

The Last Picture Show
Breaking Away
Over the Edge
Quadrophenia
Murmur of the Heart
Deep End
American Graffiti

 

That movie seems forgotten today. I was 17 when it came out and I remember it was very popular with teens and was a "must see" at the time.
It has all the makings of a cult-film, I wonder why it isn't better known now.

 

I see it as a horror film. Possibly it is one of the best horror films ever made. I loved the most recent remake as well. I didn’t care much for the made-for-TV remake.

 

It is a good coming of age movie.

 

I really liked the original Carrie with Sissy Spacek, I did not see the remake.

What really helped it out in the Horror genera is that it was a really creepy movie.

 

can it ever not be? LOL...Roll 'em Roll 'em