#46: CARRIE (1976)

THRILL SCALE 1-10

10

HAVE I SEEN IT BEFORE?

Yes, many times. I couldn't even tell you when the first time was but it was probably one of my earliest horror movies (I also couldn't tell you if I saw the movie before I read the book as it was also one of my earliest horror novels)

BEST SEQUENCE

OK, so the obvious answer is the prom night massacre. If that's your pick, I have absolutely no problem with that. It's terrifying and it's impeccably filmed and performed. However, for me, the part that chills me to my core is when Carrie returns home afterwards to find the entire house lit up with candles. Full-body shivers, and the shot of Carrie's mother standing and waiting behind the bathroom door had me checking behind doors for a good long while.

BEST LINE

"I can see your dirty pillows. Everyone will."

"Breasts, Mama. They're called breasts. And every woman has them."

ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE

94%

ROTTEN TOMATOES CRITICS CONSENSUS

"Carrie is a horrifying look at supernatural powers, high school cruelty, and teen angst -- and it brings us one of the most memorable and disturbing prom scenes in history."

IMDB SYNOPSIS

"Carrie White, a shy, friendless teenage girl who is sheltered by her domineering, religious mother, unleashes her telekinetic powers after being humiliated by her classmates at her senior prom."

DIRECTOR

Brian De Palma

MAIN CAST

Sissy Spacek, Piper Laurie, Amy Irving, William Katt, Nancy Allen, John Travolta, Betty Buckley, P. J. Soles

THOUGHTS

• There may be some who are surprised by the perfect 10/10 score I'm giving Carrie, but I stand behind it wholeheartedly. It's true that there are some calmer stretches of the movie, but I see this as patient instead of slow. There aren't many scares in the lead-up to prom night, and once Carrie and Tommy arrive at prom it's played very sincerely as we watch Carrie have the most magical night of her life, experiencing feelings she had never even come close to feeling before. The movie instills a tremendous false sense of security in us (and in Carrie), and it shows us how much Carrie's life would have been changed permanently if only things had gone a little differently that night
• But tragically, and inevitably for the punching bags of the world like Carrie White, it was not to be. When the rug is pulled out from under her, when the world reverts back to the miserable experience that she's had for her whole life, we can't help but sympathize with her, to understand the horrors she inflicts upon the world as a whole, not just those who had an active part in tormenting her that night. Because it wasn't just individuals who broke Carrie, it was society. It was existence. And when the lights switch to a violent red, or when the gym goes up in a hellish blaze directly behind her (two incredible shots from this sequence), I think we might be scared of what Carrie's doing, but we're not scared of her. Maybe just for her
• As effective as the prom night sequence is, though, it's true, the part that really sticks with me is when she returns home and finds no solace from even her mother. I also love the floaty physicality that Piper Laurie has in this scene, especially when she makes the sign of the cross with her knife. Incidentally, the way this plays out in the movie differs from the novel, in which Carrie telekinetically stops her mother's heart from beating
• Speaking of the book, it's been previously established that Stephen King is my favourite author, and without the success of this movie he might have had a very different career. Carrie was his first book published, in 1974, and the movie came just two years later. By that point King had published his second book, 'Salem's Lot, and The Shining would come out the year after. King was a big fan of Carrie the movie, at one point even saying that it was much better than his novel
• Carrie was also a rarity in horror cinema, getting some attention at the Oscars that year. Sissy Spacek was nominated for Best Actress and Piper Laurie for Best Supporting Actress. Both nominations were well deserved, especially Spacek, I think she's incredible in this. Apparently Laurie thought her character was so over the top that the movie had to be a black comedy, and De Palma even had to correct her of this notion, but I don't think this comes across in the movie. She's terrifying
• Also terrifying, the White household as a setting, especially Carrie's prayer closet and that incredibly creepy statue. I always assumed it was meant to depict Jesus, as I'm sure many people did, but it's actually a statue of Saint Sebastian, an early Christian saint and martyr who was shot with arrows (depicted in the aforementioned statue)
• 
  
  
  

• Finally, I rewatched Carrie with my wife, we had both seen it many times before, and she said something about the prom that really resonated with me: it's remarkable that even though we were watching a movie that we had seen before, even though we both knew exactly what was about to happen, and why, and how, there was still a part of us that hoped this time things would be different, the blood wouldn't spill, and Carrie would just go on to have the wonderful night that she so deeply deserved
• HAND REACHING OUT OF THE RUBBLE. Sorry. Had to hit you with one more jump scare before ending the review (one of the best jump scares ever, by the way)

Up next: Jumping from Stephen to Steven now, King to Spielberg. Spielberg is the second-most represented director on this list behind just Hitchcock but, surprisingly, this is the first of his movies we've talked about aside from his involvement on Poltergeist. From 1998, we'll be Saving Private Ryan

#47-B: INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1978)

THRILL SCALE 1-10

9.5

HAVE I SEEN IT BEFORE?

Never

BEST SEQUENCE

The final scene of the movie

BEST LINE

Honestly nothing really stood out, so I'll just go with the very last thing that Donald Sutherland says

ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE

93%

ROTTEN TOMATOES CRITICS CONSENSUS

"Employing gritty camerawork and evocative sound effects, Invasion of the Body Snatchers is a powerful remake that expands upon themes and ideas only lightly explored in the original."

IMDB SYNOPSIS

"When strange seeds drift to earth from space, mysterious pods begin to grow and invade San Francisco, replicating the city's residents one body at a time."

DIRECTOR

Philip Kaufman

MAIN CAST

Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams, Jeff Goldblum, Veronica Cartwright, Leonard Nimoy

THOUGHTS

• Alas, this is another time when the scariest, most impactful part of the movie had its impact somewhat lessened because I was not just aware of it, but expecting it, despite this being my first viewing. Still gave me shivers, and great execution, but I can hardly imagine what the effect would have been if it caught me completely by surprise (and hence my somewhat vague descriptions above)
• I mentioned in my review of the '56 Body Snatchers that I expected more paranoia and uncertainty, and there was indeed a little more of what I expected in this movie, but still not quite at the level I anticipated. I guess John Carpenter's The Thing really is the place to go for the ultimate in sci-fi paranoid alien horror
• Loved the special effects. Packed a wallop in a somewhat cheap, no frills sort of way, and I mean that as a compliment. The simplicity of the special effects made them feel more real and more convincing, somewhat ironically. And it's impressive how much spookiness was added just through dim lighting and wonky camera angles
• There's even a moment when we see a dog with a human face that was clearly achieved by just putting a mask on a dog. Pretty silly looking, but utterly bizarre and filmed with a sincerity that still kind of sticks with you
• At times it struck me with more of a zombie movie vibe than sci-fi horror, especially in the crowd and chase scenes. Lots of overlap between the two genres here
• Finally, I thought all the performances were great, especially the leads. Sutherland has a kind of eerie, haunted vibe about him right from the get-go, with his pale blue eyes and long face, and Brooke Adams is winning and sympathetic. This was also one of Jeff Goldblum's first major roles, and he brings his classic Goldblum-ness to it - quirky and twitchy and wholly convincing as a man whose entire world is coming unravelled (and godDAMN was he attractive back then)

Up next: It's another big one, and the first appearance of Stephen King on the official AFI list (and the first time we've talked about Stephen King since Pet Sematary made an appearance on the readers' choice list almost exactly a year ago, last Dec. 28th). Up next is Carrie from 1976

BONUS REVIEW: FRIDAY THE 13TH PART III (1982)

THRILL SCALE 1-10

6.5

HAVE I SEEN IT BEFORE?

Yes, once, in October of 2017

BEST SEQUENCE

Jason vs. the final girl, Chris

BEST LINE

"OK. But there's only so many cold showers I can take"

ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE

11%

ROTTEN TOMATOES CRITICS CONSENSUS

"Jason may solidify his iconic wardrobe in this entry, but Friday the 13th Part 3 lacks any other distinguishing features, relying on a tired formula of stab and repeat."

IMDB SYNOPSIS

"Jason Voorhees stalks a group of friends who have just arrived to spend the weekend at a cabin near Crystal Lake."

DIRECTOR

Steve Miner

MAIN CAST

Richard Brooker as Jason, Dana Kimmell as Chris, and that's about all that matters. OK, I'll also give it up for Larry Zerner as Shelly Finkelstein

THOUGHTS

• Gotta be honest, I liked this a lot more than I expected to and a lot more than I remembered! I certainly wouldn't call it good, but I was entertained, and I think it's more memorable than Friday the 13th Part 2
• It's always a hoot to watch these old 3D movies and see how much they bent over backwards to get footage of things coming out of the screen directly at the audience. Best examples from this one are probably the yo-yo being yoed directly into someone's face, and another person's face being squashed by Jason to the point that an eye shoots out of its socket right at us
• Best remembered as the introduction of Jason's famous hockey mask, it's funny how insignificant it really is. There's no deeper meaning to the mask. It was just an item that Jason took after killing prankster Shelly Finkelstein, who is truly one of the most annoying movie characters ever created. Pretty creepy to see the hockey mask's straps on the back of Jason's bald, gross head, though
• Best kill: speargun spear through the eye (which is also the first hockey mask kill ever)
• I picked the final confrontation as the best sequence because I liked how fucked up Jason got. Knife to the knee, log to the head, shovel to the head, hanged, and also axe to the head. Took a lickin' and kept on tickin'. Well, maybe he didn't keep on tickin' if we just go by the final shot of Jason. But come on. We all know there are many more sequels
• And it's gonna be a while until our next Friday the 13th! See you in June, Crispin Glover and Corey Feldman (and also Jason)!

#47: INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1956)

THRILL SCALE 1-10

7.5

HAVE I SEEN IT BEFORE?

Never

BEST SEQUENCE

It's a smaller moment, but there's a shot of all the townspeople converging at a central spot that I found effectively creepy

BEST LINE

"They're here already! You're next! You're next, you're next, you're next!

- delivered directly to camera

ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE

97%

ROTTEN TOMATOES CRITICS CONSENSUS

"One of the best political allegories of the 1950s, Invasion of the Body Snatchers is an efficient, chilling blend of sci-fi and horror."

IMDB SYNOPSIS

"A small-town doctor learns that the population of his community is being replaced by emotionless alien duplicates."

DIRECTOR

Don Siegel

MAIN CAST

Kevin McCarthy, Dana Wynter, King Donovan, Carolyn Jones

THOUGHTS

• It wasn't quite the movie I expected. I thought there would be more uncertainty, more paranoia about who was safe and who had been turned. While there's a little bit of that early in the movie it soon becomes pretty straightforward - what the protagonists think is happening is definitely happening and there's not much uncertainty there. At this point, however, the movie does gain a manic, breathless quality that I appreciated and found quite entertaining
• There are some pretty memorable visuals throughout. The body on the pool table, the pods in the greenhouse, even just the appearance of the pods themselves, all very effective in a cheap sci-fi sort of way
• Towards the end there was a danger of falling asleep that I liked, in a way that reminded me of A Nightmare on Elm Street. What's scarier than the fear of falling asleep, something that everyone needs to do eventually, and something that gets harder and harder to resist the more time passes? This did call into question the actual m.o. of the aliens, though. So the pods are used to create exact duplicates of people, and the pod person replaces the real person at some point when they're asleep. But in the case of female lead Becky, she falls asleep for a second and instantly becomes a pod person - it's not like her body is replaced with the duplicate that has been created for her. So what's the point of the duplicates even existing?
• Fun fact: a director I've talked about before has a small acting role in this movie! Sam Peckinpah, director of The Wild Bunch, was a dialogue coach for Invasion of the Body Snatchers and made a brief appearance as Charlie the metre reader
• Finally, as a genre, science fiction has often been used to comment on the times in which the work was made. Invasion of the Body Snatchers is unique in this regard because it's been interpreted a few different ways, including two that are diametrically opposed - some saw it as anti-McCarthyism, while others saw it as anti-communism. Complicating the matter, the author of the source novel, Jack Finney, said that he intended no specific political commentary, and the filmmakers never stated their intention one way or the other, either. Interpret it as you will!

Up next: Not to go into it with too many pre-conceived notions, but I suspect that the 1978 version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers might have the paranoia that I expected from this one

#48: DIAL M FOR MURDER (1954)

THRILL SCALE 1-10

7.5

HAVE I SEEN IT BEFORE?

Never

BEST SEQUENCE

Tony's entrapment and coercion of Charles, and his explanation of the perfect murder he's planned out. The attempt to perpetrate this crime is also very effective, tense and thrilling. So, basically, I'll just say the whole first half of the movie

BEST LINE

None worth mentioning

ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE

90%

ROTTEN TOMATOES CRITICS CONSENSUS

"Dial M for Murder may be slightly off-peak Hitchcock, but by any other standard, it's a sophisticated, chillingly sinister thriller -- and one that boasts an unforgettable performance from Grace Kelly to boot."

IMDB SYNOPSIS

"A former tennis star arranges the murder of his adulterous wife."

DIRECTOR

Alfred Hitchcock

MAIN CAST

Ray Milland, Grace Kelly, Robert Cummings, John Williams (no, not that John Williams), Anthony Dawson

THOUGHTS

• The whole movie is good, but the first hour is really terrifically entertaining, and I loved Ray Milland's performance as Tony - smug and cocksure when he thinks he's planned the perfect murder, then a little more frazzled but still sly and devious when things start to unravel. I was impressed by how intriguing it was to hear Tony's description of his plan - barely any action on screen, just a man describing the act of violence that he wants to transpire. Then when that violence does happen, it's suspenseful and gripping. The first half of the movie also reminded me of Gaslight, another movie I really liked
• The second half shifts gears a bit, turning into more of a detective story, a la Knives Out. Still good, and it's fun to watch the pieces fall into place and the facts get revealed, just not many thrills to be found
• And actually, that's about all I have to say about Dial M for Murder! Before we go, though, I think it's worth taking a moment to admire Grace Kelly's career. She's another actress I didn't expect to see so often in these movies, but she'll be appearing two more times - High Noon at #20 and Rear Window at #14 (also directed by Hitchcock). Her film career lasted only five years - her first movie was in 1951, and her final movie was in 1956. In that short span of time she appeared in eleven movies, five of which were released in 1954 (including Dial M for Murder), and she was nominated for two Oscars, winning one as Best Actress for The Country Girl. And what was the reason for her incredible film career to only last for five years, you ask? Why, she became a princess, of course! She retired from acting to marry Prince Rainier III of Monaco. Now, this might sound like a staggering list of achievements, enough to put most of us to shame. But...did she have a movie blog? I didn't think so

Up next: Just like when I reviewed both The Thing From Another World and John Carpenter's The Thing, the next movie on the AFI list is the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers from 1956 which was followed by a subsequent adaptation in 1978, neither of which I've seen. So, I'm going to review both, starting with the original

#49: BEN-HUR (1959)

THRILL SCALE 1-10

5

HAVE I SEEN IT BEFORE?

Never

BEST SEQUENCE

Chariot race, no question, nothing else even comes close

BEST LINE

"Ben-Hur, done that"

- Just kidding. But actually, there were no lines that I thought worth mentioning from the movie, so instead you get this bon mot, courtesy of my wife

ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE

87%

ROTTEN TOMATOES CRITICS CONSENSUS

"Uneven, but in terms of epic scope and grand spectacle, Ben-Hur still ranks among Hollywood's finest examples of pure entertainment."

IMDB SYNOPSIS

"A Jewish prince is betrayed and sent into slavery by a Roman friend in 1st-century Jerusalem, but it's not long before he regains his freedom and comes back for revenge."

DIRECTOR

William Wyler

MAIN CAST

Charlton Heston, Stephen Boyd, Jack Hawkins, Haya Harareet, Hugh Griffith

THOUGHTS

• The chariot race is truly incredible. I knew it was considered one of the greatest action sequences of all time, but I was still prepared to be a little underwhelmed, given its age. Upon seeing it, however, I wholeheartedly agree, it really is one of the best action sequences I've ever seen. The action is dynamic and gripping, the camerawork is stunning, and it combines two things I've praised in the past - practical effects and car stunts (or, at least, the 1st-century version of car stunts)
• At the time the chariot race alone cost 1 million dollars to film, which would be the equivalent of 10.6 million today. I also must acknowledge, I was somewhat biased against this movie because I thought it was the one that had multiple horses die during its making, but I was wrong - that would be the silent version of Ben-Hur that was released in 1925. As far as I can tell, no horses were hurt during the making of the 1959 Ben-Hur
• So if you haven't seen Ben-Hur's chariot race, I do highly recommend it, even if you don't care to watch the rest of the movie. I mention this also because, to put it bluntly, the rest of the movie is boring as shit
• Admittedly, I'm being deliberately flippant here. There's some entertainment to be found in the scale and grandiosity inherent to so many movies of this type, and there are a few other memorable moments, including the scenes set on a Roman ship where Ben-Hur was enslaved as a rower, as well as a naval battle that was pretty unlike anything I'd ever seen before. But the vast majority of the movie outside of the chariot race was really not interesting to me, to the point that I wonder if I'm being overly generous giving Ben-Hur a 5/10 considering the chariot race takes up about 10 minutes of a 212-minute movie. Take that as one last indication of how great I thought that sequence was
• Going into it I knew that this was a religious movie of some sort - the book it's based on is subtitled A Tale of the Christ. I didn't really know how Jesus would factor into the story, though. Turns out Ben-Hur and Jesus were going down adjacent paths, only intersecting at a few key moments, and the movie is bookended by Jesus's birth and death. And while I found it a little jarring when the movie shifted focus to Jesus's crucifixion, its depiction was undeniably effective, even for an atheist like me  
• Finally, Ben-Hur set a record at the Oscars in 1960, winning 11. This number has never been beaten and it wasn't even tied until Titanic in 1998 (and then tied again by The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King in 2004). Ben-Hur's Oscars included a Best Actor win for Charlton Heston, and I do believe this will be the last Heston movie we'll be talking about after he showed up in Touch of Evil and Planet of the Apes. When I reviewed Touch of Evil I commented on the fact that Heston was playing a Mexican character, but I think it's also fair to mention that at the time of Touch of Evil and Ben-Hur Heston was a staunch Democrat and advocate for civil rights (as was Orson Welles, the director of Touch of Evil). All of this may be surprising given Heston's political views later in life. Also surprising - the egregious brownface used on actor Hugh Griffith in Ben-Hur, a Welsh actor playing a character named Sheik Ilderim, and also a performance that won Best Supporting Actor (somewhat inexplicably, in my opinion; aside from the brownface it wasn't even that memorable a role or performance and not terribly significant to the movie as a whole)

Up next: It's been a while since the last Hitchcock movie, Rebecca at #80, but he's back with Dial M for Murder

#50: MARATHON MAN (1976)

THRILL SCALE 1-10

6.5

HAVE I SEEN IT BEFORE?

Yes, once, I think in high school. Incidentally, if it seems like I saw a lot of these movies for the first time in high school, this very list that we're reviewing was unveiled in June of 2001 when I was in grade 9. There was a TV special counting down the list, hosted by Harrison Ford, and I watched the hell out of that special, and it definitely led to a lot of my movie picks over the next few years

BEST SEQUENCE

The interrogation scene

BEST LINE

"Is it safe?"

ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE

82%

ROTTEN TOMATOES CRITICS CONSENSUS

"Marathon Man runs the gamut from patient mystery to pulse-pounding thriller, aided by Laurence Olivier's coldly terrifying performance and a brainy script by William Goldman."

IMDB SYNOPSIS

"After the murder of his older brother, a New York history student is hounded by shadowy government agents on the trail of a Nazi war criminal who is trying to retrieve smuggled diamonds."

DIRECTOR

John Schlesinger

MAIN CAST

Dustin Hoffman, Laurence Olivier, Roy Scheider, Marthe Keller, William Devane 

THOUGHTS

• There are some movies on this list that have clearly been chosen for one indelible segment, and in my opinion Marathon Man is one such movie. Best remembered for its interrogation scene mentioned above, the sequence is incredibly effective and squirm-inducing even if it's not really all that graphic or violent
• In fact, I usually try not to give too much away in these reviews just in case you get the urge to watch the whole movie, but this time I think it's worth watching just the interrogation sequence alone. All you need to know is that Laurence Olivier is trying to get information out of Dustin Hoffman, and Hoffman has no idea what he's asking about; in fact, he doesn't even really understand the question. Content warning: dental trauma (and if you do decide to watch this clip but don't want the rest of the movie to be spoiled, stop at 6:35)
• And I can't stand going to the dentist even when I'm NOT being tortured!
• Outside of this standout sequence, the rest of the movie is still pretty good if a little more forgettable. The performances are effective, and there are even some other noteworthy scenes - the part where Olivier's ex-Nazi, Christian Szell, gets recognized on the street by Holocaust survivors is worth mentioning, and there's also a part where Roy Scheider kills a guy by putting his knee on the guy's back, grabbing him by the chin, and breaking his spine - extremely visceral, and something I remembered even from my first viewing
• I feel like I would be remiss if I didn't mention a fairly famous behind-the-scenes story from the making of Marathon Man. Dustin Hoffman was a method actor, and, so the story goes, he had stayed awake for two days before shooting scenes where his character had not slept for 72 hours. Upon hearing this, Olivier was quoted as saying to him, "My dear boy, why don't you just try acting?" Now, there are conflicting reports about how contentious this was intended to be, or if this was actually due to Hoffman's acting method or just his personal life at the time, but still - the zing goes to Olivier
• Finally, I recently ran my first marathon, and I decided that this would be the perfect movie to watch the next day, despite already remembering that there's actually fairly little about marathon running in the movie. Dustin Hoffman's character, Babe, is a marathon runner, the titular marathon man (and side note, Babe is a nickname, presumably coming from the character's middle name of Babington, but man, it's still kind of silly every time we hear him referred to as such). When Hoffman is being pursued by bad guys he certainly does do some high-stress running, but I think this character trait was mostly deemed important to explain how he can put up with all the pain he goes through. As Babe says, "Well, I'm a marathon runner. When you race 26 miles, you don't give in to pain. It hurts, but I don't pay any attention." 

Up next: A new one for me, and a long one, to boot - at 3 hours and 32 minutes it's the longest movie I've reviewed so far (but it will eventually be bested by Lawrence of Arabia's 3 hours and 42 minutes). From 1959, it's Ben-Hur