Carrie [1976] – Blu-ray Disc Review
October 8, 2008 – 3:29 AM - Posted by: Danielle ByingtonTags: Amy Irving, Betty Buckley, Brian De Palma, FOX, John Travolta, MGM, Nancy Allen, P.J. Soles, Piper Laurie, Sissy Spacek, Stephen King, William Katt
has an average rating of 7.4 on IMDb
1080p in MPEG-2 on a 25gb disc
DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio
includes Original Theatrical Trailer
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– 1976
– 98 minutes
– MGM (FOX)
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Overall Verdict – For the Fans Only
Buy it for $27.95 @ Amazon.com
— Review written by: Danielle Byington —
The Movie Itself is directed by Brian De Palma, with screenplay written by Lawrence D. Cohen, based on the novel written by Stephen King. This classic horror flick centers on Carrie White (Sissy Spacek), a senior in high school, who is a bit of an outcast. The trailing atmosphere surrounding Carrie‘s unwanted role as the “freak” at school, is mostly to blame due to her upbringing by her mother (Piper Laurie), who is a borderline cult-esque Christianity-obsessed woman. In the opening of the film, Carrie is in the showers after gym class, and to her horror discovers she is bleeding. Because of her mother’s way of raising a child, Carrie does not understand that she has gotten her first period, and when running to the other girls in the locker room for help, is teased in a cruel fashion. The one person who shows care for Carrie and her situation, Miss Collins (Betty Buckley), the gym teacher, stops the girls who are tortuously throwing tampons at Carrie, assigning them a punishment for later, and explaining to Carrie why she is bleeding.
After being sent home early, Carrie walks home from school, and the audience gets a better glimpse of a secret of hers; as a boy on a bicycle passes her, he insults her, and in her mental frustration Carrie causes the boy to fall off of his bicycle using only her telekinesis. Of course, having this mental power/problem adds to the intensity of her already lonely life with no one she can trust to talk to about this; especially her highly religious mother. When her mother returns home from “spreading god’s word”, she receives a phone call from the school explaining why Carrie was dismissed early. Though a teenage girl getting her first period is obviously common, Margaret White believes it has only happened to her daughter because she has some how succumbed to sin, and proceeds to slap Carrie with a bible, preach her psycho-gospel, and drag her daughter by her hair as she screams into a broom closet to repent at the feet of a really creepy crucifix for a few hours.
The next day at school, Miss Collins begins the deserved punishment for the girls responsible for making Carrie so upset in the locker room, giving them the option of attending her boot-camp themed detention everyday after school, or being denied the purchase of their tickets to the senior prom. Because they are popular brats, they have to attend the prom, therefore they have to suffer Miss Collins‘ physical drills. Obviously, this is a bummer, but one girl in particular, Chris Hargensen (Nancy Allen), is especially resentful, blaming Carrie for the fact that she has to burn a calorie after school everyday. Seeking revenge, Chris develops a plan to humiliate Carrie on a grand scale; she talks her date to the prom, Billy Nolan (John Travolta), into helping her obtain pigs’ blood and rigging it in a bucket to shower Carrie with after setting her up to ironically be the prom queen.
This film is undeniably one of the classics of horror, being one of the most popular movies based on a Stephen King novel, and even aired during the Halloween season repetitively. The story of “Carrie” began with the novel by Stephen King, which was actually his first publication, and has been adapted (aside from this film) to a 1988 Broadway musical, a 1999 sequel, and a 2002 made for TV movie. King has said in interviews that he wondered what it would be like to grow up with such a parent, and the audience gets a fictional view with this film. The character of Carrie does draw sympathy from the audience, as it is comparable to modern situations we hear about in the news of small towns consisting of polygamist cults, who do not allow those who live there to obtain any form of media from the outside world (because it’s “evil”); which is definitely like living in a box in the ground. Brian De Palma‘s adaptation of this story is lasting in the genre of horror, and receives a “4 Star Rating“.
Video Quality on this release is 1080p in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio in 1080p using the MPEG-2 codec on a BD-25 (25 gigabyte Blu-ray Disc). This 1976 film’s transfer to High Definition is best described as “fair”. Obviously, there is moderate film grain and noise accompanying the film’s age, which should be expected, however, it does not bare any outrageous pixelation issues. Along with the film’s age, viewers are presented a rather “soft” picture, with some halo-esque tones in some outdoors scenes (not in regard to the intentional haloing effect in the dream at the end). Fleshtones are semi-accurate the majority of the time, and the color palette is vibrant in scenes outside of Carrie‘s neutral-toned home; the red cap consistently worn by P.J. Soles‘ character, and the yellow uniforms worn in gym class, all stand out with no bleeding. There is decent detail, mostly only in the close-up shots; in the opening shower scene, every freckle can be seen on Sissy Spacek‘s hand as she grabs for a bar of soap, each rebellious strand of the overly-frizzy steel-wool texture of Ms. White‘s hair is quite definable, and even those infamously creepy white eyes on the crucifix (along with its stabbing arrows and ragged hair) in Carrie‘s closet have an improvement of visual presentation. Overall, the video quality is politely mediocre, being an improvement for the 1976 horror classic, however lacking significance in the “wow” department in comparison of other High Definition releases from this era, earning a “3 Star Rating“.
Audio Quality on this release is in DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio. The majority of the film is rather front heavy, in regard to the score, with some faint rear channel presence accompanying it, and no outstanding bass presence. However, it does possess some nice clarity, especially with those infamous high notes on the strings during Carrie‘s mental outbursts. Other audio topics, such as sound effects and dialogue (including a lot of screams) are also heard clearly, with dialogue coming primarily through the center front channel, and the screams in the famed prom scene can be heard with the sound effects of electric-shock and the destruction of the gymnasium in a decent mix of the landscape of sound. The audio isn’t bad at all, it’s just the more significant bit rates seem to be reserved for the climax of the film (pigs’ blood at the prom), however doing the film and its classic score justice, earning a “4 Star Rating“.
Bonus Materials are presented in Standard Definition video (using MPEG-2) and Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo sound.
- Original Theatrical Trailer
Overall, the bonus materials are lousy. Especially with an estimated price tag of $30.00, a High Definition flick like “Carrie” should have at minimal addition to the trailer, an audio commentary track from director Brian De Palma who kind-of-sort-of went on to do movies like “Mission Impossible“, “The Untouchables“, and the notable “Scarface“. This current of releases from MGM (FOX) baring high price tags and what must be “imaginary” bonus materials is displeasing to consumers, bringing up the question “what were they thinking?”.
Blu-ray Disc packaging:
