1. Carrie (1976)
Poor shy Carrie is bullied mercilessly by her peers at school and is also subject to abuse at the hands of her religious fanatic mother. She gets her first period in school during shower time. She doesn't understand what is happening to her and freaks out. The other girls throw tampons at her and shout "Plug it up!". The Gym Teacher Miss Collins arrives to break it up and she is very hard on the girls for tormenting Carrie - subjecting them to a harsh week of physical exertion during detention, if the girls do not attend, they will not go to the prom. Meanwhile, Carrie's mother raves about the 'curse of blood' and shoves Carrie in a closet to pray. Later, a miserable Carrie stares at the mirror and using her powers of telekinesis, shatters it. On the field the next day during detention a total bitch called Chris storms off and is banned by Miss Collins from the prom. Sue is a better girl than Chris and feels dreadfully sorry for Carrie. She asks her boyfriend Tommy (he of the tumbling golden locks) to take Carrie to the prom. He approaches her several times before her suspicion drops and she takes up his offer. When she tells her whacko mum, she goes into hysterics but Carrie uses her telekinetic powers to restrain her. Carrie goes to the prom and has a great time. Little does she know that Chris and her stupid boyfriend Billy Nolan (a young John Travolta) have rigged up a bucket of pig's blood on the stage. They doctor the voting for Prom King and Queen so that Carrie and Tommy are given the title. And when Carrie is having the time of her life on stage - Woosh! There goes that pig blood. Carrie, realising she has been set up to look like a fool, and with every one laughing at her, finally has an excuse to use those powers. In an awesome sequence, Carrie kills everyone in the gym hall - unleashing her telepathic powers on all of those who have scorned her. Carrie walks home, gets into the bath and tries to get rid of the pig's blood. She falls sobbing into her mother's arms but her mother knifes her in the back and comes after Carrie to kill her. Carrie telepathically commands kitchen implements to impale her mother and she dies. A grief stricken Carrie makes the house crumble down on both of them. Plus there is a terrifying conclusion for Sue. I must confess to really, really loving Carrie. I have watched it oodles of times and every time it never ceases to thrill me and scare me. De Palma did a fantastic job of adapting Carrie - which is one of King's slimmer novels. The quality of the acting in the film is very high. Both Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie are stunning in their roles - Sissy Spacek brings alive the shy, scared girl who just wants to be normal. Piper Laurie is in fine fettle as Carrie's religious nut mother who has religion-based histrionics every other moment. I actually think the film is better than the book - it adds substance and style. Carrie was the first Stephen King film adaptation and set the bar very high for other interpretations to follow. It was also one of the very few horror films to receive Academy Award nominations. My favourite thing about Carrie is the cheesy music to the exercise scenes and also the scene where Tommy and his friends go to rent tuxes. Absolutely priceless! Moments of 1970s cheese-tastic fun amid a bleak and scary movie.