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Carrie (1976)

Just like the spoofing genre, the horror genre has been on a recent freefall. My personal favorite punching bag is, of course, Sorority Row. Then there's the recent disappointment known as Pandorum. And Jennifer's Body. And Halloween II. Wow, horror really sucks, doesn't it? And those titles were all released in the last month! It wasn't always like that. In the '70s and '80s, most of the horror entries were original ideas and were actually frightening. Then I was born in 1985 with a 666 birthmark on my scalp and the genre died a painful death. Just kidding but seriously, what happened to horror after 1985?

One of the movies others have referred to as a "classic" that I don't have a problem agreeing with is Carrie, based on the story by Stephen King. It's funny how much of his catalog has been turned into movies. Some of his books-to-movies are just plain dreadful (I still can't get the taste of Pet Sematary out of my mouth). Others are met with decent success (The Mist was watchable). Carrie, on the other hand, should be remembered as one of his greatest horror stories told. Why? Because the twist ending isn't that an obnoxious clown is really a giant spider.

The story isn't one massive setup to one giant letdown. It's a simple story of a young woman named (you guessed it!) Carrie, immortalized on screen by the unbelievable Sissy Spacek. She received an Oscar nomination for playing the shy high school girl who is taunted by everyone after an unfortunate incident in the school's shower facilities. One of the girls tormenting Carrie actually feels bad about embarrassing her in the shower, enough so that she asks her boyfriend to take Carrie to the senior prom instead of her. Another girl does not feel so bad. In fact, she plans an evening more humiliating than anything she's experienced before. Unfortunately for those at the prom, Carrie learned she has developed telekinetic powers. Powers that are waiting to erupt at just the right moment.

Carrie isn't the scariest movie but it's definitely intriguing. Like I said, Sissy Spacek is wonderful but, then again, when isn't she? She was brilliant in In The Bedroom and you can tell those acting chops stemmed from a long, successful career going all the way back to Carrie. Maybe she got lucky, starring in one of the few Stephen King stories that transitioned well onto the big screen. Or maybe the movie is so good because of it was one of the first big successes of director Brian de Palma's career. Whatever is the reason, all parts came together and made Carrie a horror classic worth remembering.

Father of the Bride: Part 2 (1995)

I'm aware that I recommend a lot of movies from my youth that most people wouldn't deem recommendation worthy. I just recommended Dracula: Dead and Loving It. I've recommended the Power Rangers movie and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie. Heck, I've even recommended Halloween: H20. But one of the movies that I remember from childhood that I enjoyed and is something people of all ages can find appealing is Father of the Bride: Part 2, not just action figure or horror movie lovers.

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