Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.5

Carrie Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman October 10, 2016

Religious fanaticism is much in the news these days, but as Carrie proves, it’s a phenomenon perhaps only slightly less old than, well, Original Sin. This now iconic property is often thought of as “only” a horror film, an aspect which certainly can’t be denied, given the blood (pig and/or otherwise) on display, but Carrie is also a really interesting examination of religious fervor that makes it somewhat unique in the horror universe. Stephen King has often posited supernatural phenomena in his stories without ever really going out of his way to “explain” what’s going on, something that’s understandable given the inherently inexplicable aspect to many of King’s premises. That said, it’s notable that in Carrie, the first huge book (and film) of King’s career, while Carrie’s telekinesis is a “given”, the subtextual “horror” of Margaret White’s obsessive religiosity is detailed in almost picayune fashion. The Christian subtext of Carrie is in some ways the most frightening aspect of the tale, as Carrie (Sissy Spacek), already the butt of jokes and harassment at school, has to deal with her harridan mother Margaret (Piper Laurie), a fundamentalist “believer” who is convinced her own “sin” has produced a demonic presence in the form of Carrie. Rather interestingly, then, Carrie’s burgeoning telekinetic abilities aren’t overtly part of her relationship with her mother, and instead tend to unfold in her “other” guise as a put upon student. Of course both plot arcs dovetail in the film’s gruesome conclusion, but for those interested in seeing a visceral cinematic examination of “radical [insert religion here],” there may be no more gut wrenching example than Carrie.

I’ve recently had a rather long lasting series of “re-releases”, or at least releases in other regions which already have a domestic United States release, in my review queue. As I did with Scream Factory’s recent “new, improved” version of The Thing, I’m referring those interested in a plot summary of Carrie to Martin Liebman’s Carrie Blu-ray review of the long ago MGM Blu-ray release. I'm doing this due to my hunch that most coming to this review are going to be most interested in comparing the video and audio quality of the two releases, as well as seeing a listing of this version’s supplementary content, not to mention the fact that at this late day (shades of the End Times, Margaret) most folks probably know at least the general outlines of King's saga.

Carrie Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Carrie is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Scream Factory, an imprint of Shout! Factory, with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1, culled from a new 4K scan of the original camera negative. At the risk of sounding like a broken record since I've recently had so many re-releases and the like and have repeatedly said this, while I'll certainly offer my two cents' worth about this transfer, I've also attempted to recreate several of the screenshots Marty uploaded to his long ago Carrie Blu-ray review of the MGM version, for I feel strongly that fans should simply do a side by side comparison to see what their own eyes tell them about the differences between the releases. It's worth noting that the MGM version of Carrie came early enough in the Blu-ray era that our review as well as some of the users who posted reviews mention grain as a potential "issue". The MPEG-2 transfer on the MGM disc was hobbled by a pretty coarse looking grain field at times, and a cursory comparison to the Shout! disc shows a much finer looking accounting of grain, though there are certainly expected upticks in chunkiness during opticals and even at times in the darkest sequences. Compression is generally very good throughout these dark sequences, though again the grain coarseness is more apparent here than in other, better lit, moments of the film. Perhaps ironically, then, the Shout! version looks at least a little brighter overall than the MGM version, something that actually helps in shadow definition and the overall accounting of the palette. The red push of the MGM version is largely absent here, which will probably give rise to the perception that this release looks "cooler", which it probably does relatively speaking, but I personally found the palette here natural looking, with nothing that stood out to me as problematic. As with the previous Blu-ray release, clarity is a bit variable at times (contrast for example screenshot 7—in either version—with many others), and the general look of the film is frequently (intentionally) on the gauzy side. As with the MGM release, there's a tendency toward slight blooming or at least an effulgent quality at times due to pushed contrast (see screenshot 16). Detail levels are often quite impressive even when the image isn't particularly "sharp" looking (see screenshot 15 and note the crosshatched pattern of the screen door which resolves very well). Restorative efforts have delivered elements that are by and large problem free, though there are still a few isolated dings that eagle eyed videophiles may notice.

Carrie Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Carrie features DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and 2.0 mono tracks (the previous MGM release offered a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track and a Dolby Digital mono track). As Marty noted in his review of the MGM version, the surround track isn't exactly a showcase, and in fact tends to be anchored fairly front and center for large swaths of the film. That said, Pino Donaggio's score spreads quite effectively through the surround channels and in a couple of key sequences (notably the prom), there's quite significant if subdued surround activity. I experienced none of the brightness Marty mentioned in his review, and I personally found the midrange and low end of the 5.1 track rather full sounding, even when not delivering a ton of immersive characteristics.

Carrie Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Disc One (Feature Film)

• Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 2:06)


• Carrie Franchise Trailer Gallery (1080p; 4:12)

Disc Two (Special Features)

• Interviews

  Writing Carrie (1080p; 29:07) features screenwriter Lawrence Cohen.

  Shooting Carrie (1080p; 15:22) features director of photography Mario Tosi.

  Cutting Carrie (1080p; 25:09) features editor Paul Hirsch.

  Casting Carrie (1080p; 16:03) features casting director Harriet B. Helberg.

  Acting Carrie (1080p; 42:42) is an archival piece features interviews with principal cast and crew.

  More Acting Carrie (1080p; 20:19) features new interviews with William Katt, Nancy Allen, Betty Buckley, Piper Laurie, Edie McClurg and P.J. Soles.

  Visualizing Carrie (1080p; 41:33) is another archival piece, this one covering the adaptive process.

  Bucket of Blood (1080p; 23:53) features composer Pino Donaggio.

• Horror's Hallowed Grounds (1080p; 11:25) visits some of the film's locations.


• Carrie, the Musical (1080p; 6:23) is an archival piece on the infamous flop musical.


• More Carrie

  TV Spots (1080p; 3:11)

  Radio Spots (1080p; 1:29)

  Still Gallery - Rare Behind the Scenes (1080p; 4:54)

  Still Gallery - Posters and Lobby Cards (1080p; 3:56)

  Stephen King and the Evolution of Carrie Text Gallery (1080p) features several pages of text arranged into three main categories which document King's work on Carrie.

Carrie Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

About the only thing that might have made this new edition of Carrie better would have been a commentary with King and De Palma (hey, we can dream, can't we?). Otherwise, this is a great looking and sounding effort from Scream Factory, and as typical with this imprint, the supplementary package is outstanding. Highly recommended.