I told her to wear a bib at All-You-Can-Eat Barbecue Rib Night!

Before I begin my review of Carrie, let me say that it holds several places in my heart.  The book, Stephen King’s first published novel, is amazing, as is the story behind it’s publication.  As pointed out in the movie Knocked Up, Nancy Allen is butt ass nekkid before the opening credits end, so YAY!  Lastly, ThatCostumeGirl’s mother went to see this movie late in her pregnancy, and the ending shock of the film somehow pushed an infant ThatCostumeGirl into the world.  Thanks King and DePalma!  That’s good work right there!

Carrie White (played here to absolute perfection by Sissy Spacek, who has one of the coolest names ever) is your typical teenage girl with three differences.  One, she’s incredibly unpopular for someone as attractive as she is.  Two, her mother rules her home with a crushing religious hand.  Three, she’s telekinetic.  She can moves objects with her mind.  That last sentence almost sounds like wish fulfillment instead of the plot of a classic horror film, but not so fast!

Carrie’s mother, acted incomparably by Piper Laurie (Man, she’s got a cool name too!) has kept Carrie so sheltered and locked away from the real world that when Carrie gets her first period, at the age of 17, she has no idea what’s happening to her.  In a scene that’s probably played out in high schools the world over(sadly), she’s teased and made fun of for her ignorance.  It lays the foundation for one of the greatest revenge stories ever told.  If you knew that the people you picked on in high school could crush you with the power of their mind, would you have acted differently?

One of the girls, Susan Snell (Amy Irving) feels so bad about her part in the hazing that she enlists her boyfriend Tommy Ross(William Katt) to take Carrie to the prom.  He does so, because he’s geniunely a nice person, which makes what happens to him all the more horrible.  Feeling slighted about her punishment for teasing Carrie is Chris Hargensen (Nancy Allen), who plays the total bitch to the hilt.  She, also uses her boyfriend Billy Nolan (John Travolta)in her over-the-top vengeance scheme so that the story takes on a terrible symmetry while the inevitable plays out.

Brian DePalma here uses all the tricks that will make him more famous later.  There’s a split screen shot near the end of the movie that’s fantastic, as well as shots with back and foreground in focus, removing depth of field for an eerie look.  The real trick of Carrie, however, is that it is firmly rooted in the 70s.  The dress, the speech, etc, and yet, I have absolutely no problems watching it today, because who can’t identify with someone who was picked on as much as Carrie White no matter when the story takes place?  I mean, obviously, I’m a huge nerd, and I can watch this story and think “Thank God I didn’t have it that rough.”   But, at it’s evil little heart, this horror film is a revenge fantasy, and a great one at that.  This movie is actually so good as to render it somewhat timeless, and that sits well with me.

And, that ending.  Anyone who has seen this movie will tell you that even if you don’t like the film, you should watch it all the way through.  I won’t say what happens here, and telling you when will do no good…you’ll still be surprised.

So, watch this movie.  Watch it with some friends.  Good friends, not the type that’ll pour any kind of animal blood on you.

You never know how someone might get back at you.

Whadda fuck you lookin' at, Wolfy? I'll kick your wolf ass!

Stephen King’s Silver Bullet is a movie based on an illustrated novelette that began life as a calendar.  With beginnings that convoluted, the final product would have to suck ass, right?

Not this time! 

Now, let me get the bad out of the way.  One of the key plot points of this film is that it’s supposed to be a mystery who the werewolf in Tarker’s Mill Oregon is.  Unfortunately, the werewolf has a werewolf nightmare, making it fairly easy to pick out who the goddamn werewolf is.  Other than that, this is an 80s horror movie in that decade’s best tradition(except boobies…there’s no boobies) with a fine ensemble of “B” film stars, to include Gary Busey and Terry O’Quinn. 

We are kept from seeing the wolf in this movie until the very end, where you discover it looks like a bear cub with an overactive pituitary.  Instead of seeing a proper transformation scene, we get to see the wolf change back into a man.  It’s still impressive for all that.  Not American Werewolf impressive, but impressive. 

Oh…lookout!  We got a Corey!  Corey Haim, ladies and gentleman, as wheelchair bound Marty.  Maybe it’s because you knew he was a spoiled little shit at that age, but you can buy him being a “MEDDLING LITTLE SHIT!” as Everett McGill calls him.  Megan Follows, pre-Anne of Green Gables here being all cute and Scooby Gang for her handicapable brother (I mean, before the wolf’s killed, Marty’s the only one in the town that manages to injure it…With a fucking bottle rocket.  That’s skill, my friends.) But, if watching these two cute kids try to unravel the mystery of the Ravenous Fair Ruining Asshole wasn’t enough, you also get an alcoholic, sarcastic, skeptical uncle in the mix, played by none other than master thespian Gary Busey!

He drinks, he smokes, he swears…he builds his nephew a 400 horsepower wheelchair(I wish I were kidding about that part).  The only thing that would have made the part of Uncle Red better would have been if, like Busey in real life, he’d spilled his cocaine on the werewolf, picked up the werewolf, and snorted his coke off the werewolf.  That would have been tits!

I know how I’ve sounded so far, but let me say this, and then I’ll go to bay at the moon.  There is one seriously dramatic moment in the film where Terry O’Quinn and Kent Broadhurst get into an argument over mob mentality.  Imagine my surprise when I picked up a book of acting monologues to find Broadhurt’s “Private Justice” speech in there.  It is actually a very powerful part of the movie.

I recommend this movie.  It’s not the best werewolf movie out there, but it’s the only one with Gary Busey in it, making it a solid player in the lycanthropy game.  Don’t worry about the “Hardy Boys vs The Werewolf” (paraphrased to avoid further spoilers), aspect of the movie.  This is a popcorn movie, pure and simple…and most of all, fun!

Just a bit of WHAT THE FUCK you can look for in this movie.

I’m going to keep this one short and sweet.  Sleepwalkers, written by Stephen King is like…well, it’s like being whipped while reading a good Stephen King story.  And not in a good way!  To my knowledge, I think there has only been one work that King (one of my favorite authors) has brought directly to the screen that worked really well, and that was Storm of the Century.  Having said that, let’s look at Sleepwalkers!

On the plus side, the monsters in this movie hate cats.  That’s about where I stop having anything in common with them.   Granted, I don’t treat them the way the Sleepwalkers do, with bear traps and quick spine snaps, and never will, but felines and I don’t see eye to eye.  Another plus here is casting.  Bryan Krause, who you might remember from Charmed here plays…well, it’s simply a ham handed, overwrought personification of date rape.  I’m not certain what the message here is, but clearly, if you’re a young girl and, God forbid, you’re thinking about sex, your days are numbered in this version of King’s Castle Rock (It’s got the same cemetary at any rate).  Whatever the hell he’s supposed to be, Krause makes the most of it.  Alice Krige plays his mother.  Let’s all bow our heads for the hotness that is Alice Krige.  Here, she’s asked to do any number of silly ass things, which she does while making it seem that she’s the Dame Judy Dench of “B” films, which she might just be. There’s also a very subtle hint of incest going on, but you might miss that.  Okay, the Mom and son are totally fucking each other, but that’s revealed in the first thirty seconds of seeing them for the first time.  Rounding things out nicely…oh so nicely, is Madchen Amick.  She plays a good victim here, but, of course, that’s all she is in this one.  A victim.  She makes a couple feeble attempts to save herself, but ultimately, by the end of the movie, you definitely find yourself rooting for the bad guys.  On the other hand…pretty-pretty!

This is an entertaining, fun, film, I thought.  There’s a stab at some kind of message in there, but for me, all that goes out the window when Ron Perlman shows up to show just how well he can play an asshole cop.  Turns out…very well.   All in all, put it in your player, get some popcorn and perhaps a large amount of alcohol or other mind altering substance, and enjoy the ride.

And enjoy Madchen Amick.  I know I do.