Halloween 2013 Day 1: Carrie (1976)

In the 1976 film Carrie, we're introduced to our protagonist as a reserved, isolated, mocked, and, most importantly, pure girl. When that purity is put into question, she begins to exhibit supernatural powers, specifically telekinesis, and her mother, abusive from the get go, begins to escalate her physical and emotional attacks on Carrie. As Carrie grows stronger and stronger, her high school peers begin to plot against her while her mother prays for her salvation.

Brian De Palma is a director who understands cinema better than most, and he guides what would be a rather uninspired script to a fantastic film. The editing in this film is superb, making great use of split screen and other, less traditional, tools in the cinematic arsenal. There's much more praise I could lay at the feet of De Palma. The soundtrack comes off as cheesy at times and the film might not have aged as well as some of its campier peers, but Carrie serves as an excellent piece of film.