The 1976 movie adaptation many Stephen King characters to possess psychic abilities.
Carrie's movie adaptation was an instant success, and has continued to garner fame since its release in 1976. It's often called one of the greatest horror movies in existence. Like many other classics, there was a 2013 remake of the film, starring Cholë Grace Moretz and Julianne Moore. The remake took place in the modern day rather than the 1970s, but ended up paling in comparison. The original movie was nominated for two Academy Awards—Sissy Spacek for Best Actress and Piper Laurie for Best ing Actress—and won accolades at the Avoriaz Fantastic Film Festival and from the National Society of Film Critics.
The 1976 film adaptation of Carrie does a terrific job in portraying the aesthetic and the general story of the original work by King. However, while the movie is renowned, it does often differentiate from its source material. For instance, the movie tells the story in a different way. Additionally, it isn't as intense or disturbing as the book, and sometimes the over-the-top characters seem cartoonish. The character of Carrie isn't interpreted in the same way as she is in the book, and the same goes for her mother's character. Plus, the famous movie ending is completely different from the one King wrote into the novel. Here's every difference between Stephen King's book and De Palma's movie, explained.
How The Story Is Told
The biggest way the movie version of Carrie differentiates from the 1974 novel is in the way it's told. The book is largely told through retrospective s or testimonies, presented as documents like newspaper articles, interviews, and police reports. The book is also told through a memoir that Sue Snell, played in the movie by Amy Irving, published after Carrie's rampage at the prom; Sue was the only survivor of the night. The movie, meanwhile, is told as a normal story with a beginning, middle, and end, as telling it any other way would have been difficult to do on the screen.
Carrie's Character, Powers, And Death
Carrie's character and psyche is explored more deeply in the book than it is in the movie. While Sissy Spacek gives an iconic performance in the movie, the novel version of Carrie allows readers to better understand her intense fear of her mother and her constant inner conflict relating to pleasing her mother and being a normal teenager. Also, Carrie's appearance is different in the book; she's described as overweight with acne, two reasons why she's bullied at school. In the movie, though, she is small and wiry.
Additionally, the book explores Carrie's powers more deeply. For instance, there is a flashback in the book in which Carrie makes rocks rain down on the house after he mother scolds her, and later in the book she threatens that she'll make the rocks come down again if her mother doesn't let her go to the prom. This scene couldn't be included in the movie because it was too hard to portray on the screen.
Carrie is definitely portrayed as more powerful in the book than she is in the movie. When Carrie goes on a rampage at the prom in the book, she ends up wiping out most of the town while in the film, the damage she does is limited to the high school. In the book, readers get a glimpse of the town dealing with the aftermath of Carrie's rampage; a state of emergency is declared and survivors attempt to relocate. Carrie's death is also changed in the movie, in which she dies in her house - which she telekinetically collapses upon herself and her deceased mother - instead of on the ground in a parking lot, with Sue by her side and crying out for her mother. The book version of her death is certainly more dramatic, but the crumbling house could have been difficult to portray on screen.
Margaret's Character And Death
In the book, Carrie's mother, Margaret (Piper Laurie), is given a fuller backstory. She is portrayed as a woman who is estranged from her parents and extremely driven by her religion. Also, Margaret's appearance is different in the book; she's described as large and ugly with white hair and glasses, while in the movie she is younger with long, reddish hair. More notably, Margaret is even more emotionally and physically abusive toward Carrie in the book. While the film adaptation does portray some of this abuse, it often doesn't show it to its full extent.
Additionally, Margaret's death in the movie is different than her death in the book. In the book, Carrie telekinetically stop her mother's heart, killing her. In the movie, though, after her mother stabs her, Carrie makes the knives in the kitchen fly through the air and stab her mother, killing her by means of crucifixion. The latter portrayal of Margaret's death was certainly more visual, and made for a better and more shocking on-screen ending for the character.
Overall, the book version of Margaret is scarier than the one in the movie, because readers see how deeply afraid Carrie is of her. While the movie version of Margaret has become famous, her mannerisms, speeches, and religious fixations occasionally seem over-the-top and make the character seem like a caricature rather than terrifying. Piper Laurie actually approached Carrie as a black comedy after she read the script and interpreted Margaret's lines as comical.
The Ending
At the very end of the book version of Carrie, following the climactic incident at the prom, the reader is presented with a woman's letter. In it, the woman describes the circumstances of her niece, who is developing telekinesis. The ending leaves readers wondering whether this girl will be the next Carrie. In the movie, this aspect was completely ignored. Instead, the movie ends on Sue Snell. Viewers get to see Sue's nightmare, in which she lays flowers down on Carrie's destroyed home, when suddenly a bloody arm reaches up from beneath the rubble and grabs her. The last shot is of Sue screaming and her mother comforting her. King himself has actually said that the movie has a better ending than the book.
Which Version Is Better
It's difficult to say which version of Carrie, the 1974 novel or the 1976 movie, is the better one. While the book and the screen adaptation both have the same ambiance and general mood, they tell the story of Carrie in extremely different ways, with each homing in on different aspects of her life. The movie version is arguably the more definitive version of the story. It's been hailed in pop culture history as one of the greatest of all time, and features legendary performances by both Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie. Plus, visually seeing Carrie White's telekinetic powers in action is perhaps more entertaining than reading about them. The book version, though, delves more deeply into Carrie's psyche and does a solid job of patching together mock documents to form a complete story.
