Focus Features

When Carrie, the high-school horror tale of an awkward teen who wreaks havoc on those who would humiliate her, came out, neither its director, Brian De Palma, nor the book's author, Stephen King, were well-known. Carrie was King’s first published novel and got a robust marketing push as a genre paperback. De Palma had read the novel on a friend’s recommendation and immediately saw the film potential. After learning that the rights were still available, De Palma made it widely known that he was interested in directing. But De Palma had to wait over six months before United Artists spoke to him. From the start, De Palma wanted to make it his story. While King’s novel emphasized Carrie’s telekinesis, De Palma later acknowledged, “I only ever wanted to use it as an emotional expression of her passion.” Instead De Palma (and the screenwriter Lawrence D. Cohen) focused on the high school trauma. Here the real horror is just being a teenager. Indeed De Palma’s successful meshing of the high school ensemble movie with the horror genre lead the way for such films as 1978's Halloween, 1980's Friday the 13th and 1984's Nightmare on Elm Street, not to mention the later revisionist pieces like Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer. The low-budget horror pic, made for about $1.8 million made over $30 million (and garnered Oscar nods for both Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie), as well making De Palma and King very bankable names from then on.

When Carrie, the high-school horror tale of an awkward teen who wreaks havoc on those who would humiliate her, came out, neither its director, Brian De Palma, nor the book's author, Stephen King, were well-known. Carrie was King’s first published novel and got a robust marketing push as a genre paperback. De Palma had read the novel on a friend’s recommendation and immediately saw the film potential. After learning that the rights were still available, De Palma made it widely known that he was interested in directing. But De Palma had to wait over six months before United Artists spoke to him. From the start, De Palma wanted to make it his story. While King’s novel emphasized Carrie’s telekinesis, De Palma later acknowledged, “I only ever wanted to use it as an emotional expression of her passion.” Instead De Palma (and the screenwriter Lawrence D. Cohen) focused on the high school trauma. Here the real horror is just being a teenager. Indeed De Palma’s successful meshing of the high school ensemble movie with the horror genre lead the way for such films as 1978's Halloween, 1980's Friday the 13th and 1984's Nightmare on Elm Street, not to mention the later revisionist pieces like Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer. The low-budget horror pic, made for about $1.8 million made over $30 million (and garnered Oscar nods for both Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie), as well making De Palma and King very bankable names from then on.