Carrie (1976): Prom Night, Periods & the Horror of Being a Teenage Girl

About this episode

Periods, pig's blood, religious repression and quite possibly the worst school prom in cinema history. Welcome to Carrie! Hello Gazers! This week we're going back to 1976 for Brian De Palma's horror classic Carrie, starring Sissy Spacek as the painfully shy teenager whose schooldays are about to take a rather spectacular turn for the worse. But is Carrie simply a terrifying tale of supernatural revenge, or is it really about the horrors of being a teenage girl? And, more importantly, could you get away with it today? We begin with one of cinema's most uncomfortable opening sequences, as Carrie's first period becomes a source of humiliation in the school changing rooms. It's a scene that raises some interesting questions about the male gaze, the representation of teenage girls and why De Palma chooses to introduce his heroine in quite such an intimate way. From there, we explore the relentless bullying Carrie endures, her emerging telekinetic powers and her deeply troubled relationship with her fanatically religious mother, Margaret White, played with extraordinary intensity by Piper Laurie. Then, of course, there's the prom. The dress. The date. The bucket. And one of the