Welcome to the Scream Factory Crypt! In this binge series I will be watching all my Scream Factory titles I own alphabetically! Scream Factory is my favorite imprint of Blu-Ray’s because they take movies that studios and the public might not adore but have fans and deserve to be given respect. This will take a long time as I have over 120(!) titles and counting, I know I will have more before I finish, so stay tuned! Not only will I talk about them on the podcast but I will review them here as well so you can see how I feel about aspects of each release. Part 19 is the horror classic, Carrie!
Carrie is such an iconic horror film one would think that it would lose some of its impact 42 years after its release. This is not the case, as Carrie still stands as a great horror film. Brian De Palma directs the tale of an oppressed teenage girl who discovers she has amazing powers with a dream like feel throughout the film. Beautifully shot and intensely acted, Carrie still packs a thrilling punch.
Carrie White is a shy teenage girl without any friends. She is terrorized by her overbearing religious mother, who locks her in a closet every time Carrie “sins”. After a traumatic event at school, Carrie soon realizes she has telekinetic powers that she slowly learns to control.
Carrie stars some up and comers Sissy Spacek and John Travolta. Also Halloween actress P.J. Soles is also part of the stellar young cast. De Palma keeps the drama and horror moving at a brisk pace with some of his trademark wonderfully framed shots. Also too, the climactic scene where Carrie has pig blood dumped on her still is a master class of suspense.
Scream Factory has employed a new 4k scan for its Collector’s Edition release of Carrie. Suffice to say it looks brilliant. The softness in which the film is shot really shines. No compressing issues on the disc as it sports some pretty solid detail and colors throughout the film. Carrie has never looked better.
The sound too is pretty solid. The prom scene is a great example of a soundtrack done right on blu-ray. It won’t give your surround sound a workout but it gets the job done.
Carrie earns its Collector’s Edition branding with some truly great interviews into the making of a horror classic. There are eight different featurettes from an interview with the director of photography to a great piece with some of the actors on Carrie. The total run time on the special features is over 3 hours(!) of movie making goodness. Plus trailers, TV spots, radio spots and a still gallery. Not to mention a visit to some of the films locations from Horror’s Hallowed Grounds.
Overall Scream Factory delivers the goods on this horror classic. From a new 4K scan of the film to an abundance of extras, Carrie is one great package.
Film: A
Video: A
Audio: A-
Extras: A+
Overall: A