“They’re all going to laugh at you!” Everything in Brian de Palma’s Stephen King adaptation builds to the brilliant split-screen prom scene in which a bloodied Carrie gets brutal revenge on the entire school. The camera lingers lovingly on each detail before the carnage: Tommy ex-ing out his own name on the prom ballot. The bucket of blood balanced precariously above the stage. Kris licking her glossy lips in anticipation.
When the pig’s blood splatters over Carrie’s pretty pink dress, it’s shocking, no matter how many times you’ve watched this classic. Spacek transforms from innocent bliss to the ghoulish spirit of vengeance in one of the greatest moments of horror acting. It’s a magnificent crescendo of destruction as Carrie traps everyone inside the gym, turns the fire hose loose and electrocutes the principal.
No Buffy?