“Carrie,” which revolves around a shy, telekinetic teenaged girl who gets mercilessly picked on by virtually everyone in her life, has never been a favorite of mine. At the time of its release “Carrie” was considered groundbreaking, but nowadays it’s merely just another “high school is hell” movie. With that said, there is still much to admire. The cast is clearly the highlight here. Sissy Spacek gives one of her finest performances as the awkward teen, as does Piper Laurie as the psycho religious mother. John Travolta and P.J. Soles are also memorable in their small roles as high school hot shots/bullies.

I also have to give props to the script which was written by Lawrence D. Cohen and based off of the Stephen King novel of the same name. The script not alone gives ample screen time to nearly character, but also showcases an identifiable story about accepting people for who they are (and leaving them alone).

The one major flaw that “Carrie” has is the hackneyed direction by Brian DePalma. To me, DePalma always goes overboard and often tries to hard to imitate other directors (namely Alfred Hitchcock). I literally could not stand his lingering shots or his nauseating 360 angles during the dance sequence.