Adapted from Stephen King’s debut novella, Carrie details the psychological trauma of a bullied teenager being raised by a pious zealot whose adherence to the principles of her faith veers into sheer lunacy. Anchored by two astounding performances: Sissy Spacek plays the beleaguered title character whose adolescent frustration and eventual fury leads to inconceivably visceral revenge; Piper Laurie, marking a dynamic comeback after a fifteen year absence from films (she initially thought the script was a satire), gives a superbly creepy, deranged performance as Carrie’s devout mother. Carrie’s polarizing presence at high school causes differing reactions from her classmates. Sue (Amy Irving) feels remorseful and tries to help Carrie’s self-esteem through a not-well-thought-out scheme to have her prettyboy romantic partner (William Katt) invite Carrie to the prom. Meanwhile, uber-bitch Chris (de Palma regular Nancy Allen) enlists her boyfriend (a young John Travolta) in a particularly vicious (and viscous) prank to ruin Carrie’s prom experience. All of this is brilliantly filtered through director Brian de Palma’s technical bravura aesthetic sensibilities (dramatic zooms, roving Steadicams, split diopter shots, histrionic flourishes, delightfully over-the-top campy moments interspersed with moments of unsettling quiet menace, terrifying Grand Guignol pathos, etc.) to deliver one powerful and ultimately sad modern horror classic.