Carrie (Blu-ray)
Steve Barton
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Reviewed by Uncle Creepy
Starring Sissy Spacek, Piper Laurie, Amy Irving, William Katt, Betty Buckley
Directed by Brian DePalma
Distributed by MGM and Fox Home Entertainment
“They’re all gonna laugh at you! They’re all gonna laugh at you! They’re all gonna laugh at you! They’re all gonna laugh at you!”
Well, unfortunately for Blu-ray connoisseurs the joke is painfully on us. Before I get started with all that though, let’s take a moment to relive some vintage cinema history.
When this Brian DePalma version of Stephen King’s novel Carrie first opened in theatres way back in 1976, it hit a lot of high notes. DePalma proved that he could do tension with the best of them, King learned that his work could be successfully adapted for the big screen, John Travolta became more than just a lovable sweathog, and Sissy Spacek left no doubt in our minds that a fair-haired and freckle-faced girl can be really spooky. It was the perfect combination of elements, and to this day Carrie stands as one of the best genre films of our time.
When the flick first hit DVD ten years ago in 1998, the package was of the bare bones variety. All we got was the movie and the trailer. True, the DVD craze was just getting started back then so not many editions of films had all the now prerequisite bells and whistles. Given that this new medium was in its infancy, the lack of extras was easy to forgive.
Then in 2001 MGM/Fox dropped a special edition on us that was just that … special. We had documentaries, featurettes on Carrie: The Musical, biographies, etc. All was right in the horror-loving world, and it was only a matter of time before Carrie would make the jump to Blu-ray. In fact, there have been many of us out there anticipating the high-def release of this classic motion picture. Well, folks, the day is finally upon us. Horror lovers can now view their favorite pig’s blood bath in full 1080p resolution. The only problem? That’s all we get to view.
This Blu-ray is as bare bones a package as the initial DVD release was a decade ago. Sure the movie looks and sounds great and that’s reason enough for some to buy it, but, man, does this all just seem downright lazy on behalf of MGM/Fox. Would it have been so very hard to include the supplemental materials from 2001 on this release? Even if they were in standard definition, who cares? At least they would have been here. It’s hard not to cry foul and honestly … there’s good reason to.
This movie is an important piece of cinema history. It deserves better than this. For those of you out there wondering whether or not to make the purchase, if you already own the special edition DVD, I simply cannot recommend doing so unless you’re an absolute stickler for high definition viewing. Sit pretty, DVD aficionados; you certainly are in possession of the long end of the video stick in this instance. Feh.
Special Features
4 out of 5
Special Features:
1/2 out of 5
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