Film appreciation: Carrie, directed by Brian De Palma, adapts Stephen King's debut novel

Sissy Spacek, Piper Laurie, Amy Irving, William Katt
Brian De Palma

Stephen King's debut novel about a young girl cruelly bullied at high school went straight to the bestsellers list in 1974 and launched his career, but it wasn't until Carrie was made into a movie two years later that it really shook the world.

Director Brian De Palma set out to make a name for himself and this edgy horror flick did more than that - it launched the careers of a number of young actors, pulled in US$33 million at the box office on a budget of just US$1.8 million, and came to define the horror genre.

Carrie marked the start of the teen horror movie market. Even its shock ending has become a horror movie staple. De Palma was a huge fan of Alfred Hitchcock, the master of the psychological thriller. As in Psycho, Carrie has a shower scene, and De Palma also pays homage to Hitchcock in the name of Carrie's school: Bates High School, after the motel in Psycho.

Almost 40 years on, the story is still relevant - perhaps even more so with its focus on teenage bullying. Carrie White is a painfully shy girl picked on at school for being the odd one out. Things aren't any easier for her at home: her mother is a religious fanatic.

Carrie has a meltdown at school when she gets her period for the first time - this is the shower scene. Humiliated and pelted with tampons by the other girls, the frightened teenager is taken to the principal's office and there we get a taste of her telekinetic powers.