Word: depalma
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...reminiscent of Linda Blair shoving a crucifix into her crotch. Crunch, crunch. Blatty's novel needed: a) someone less pretentious than Blatty to write the screenplay, and b) a director with more of a sense of lyricism and wit, a modern James Whale, or a Hitchcock, or even a DePalma. Friedkin and Blatty successfully induce nausea, not terror--unless you're one of the impressionable innocents who gave this film its reputation, in which case, frankly, you have no taste. An excellent performance by Max Von Sydow, a pretty good one by Ellen Burstyn, a lifeless one by Jason Miller...
...Fury. This should have been Brian DePalma's goony epic, a lavish, blood-soaked tale of telekinesis (remember "Carrie"?) and international spies. But John Farris' screenplay turns the sumptuous ingredients into--well, nothing; and although certain scenes leave shivery impressions with their nightmarish silliness, DePalma has paced the film slackly, with none of the mounting horror of his previous efforts. Kirk Douglas, Amy Irving, John Cassavettes, and especially Carrie Snodgrass are wonderful. But don't take a liking to any characters--eventually you will see them lovingly mauled before your eyes. John Williams has provided another goffily bloated score...
Things looked up after that; how could they not? Johnny landed the Barbarino role in Kotter and started his steep, fast climb. He was passed over for a role he badly wanted in The Last Detail but won a prime supporting part in Director Brian DePalma's nightmare fairy tale, Carrie. He had already broken up with Marilu, but while working on Carrie he had become the hottest hood on TV since The Fonz. Four-color posters were being printed, and record contracts were in negotiation...
...must be his audacious reply to those who would put all-American zombies like Gregory Peck and Lee Remick in similar roles. Kirk Douglas's face has never seemed longer, and that dimple never more defiant. With the stature and angry leer of a depraved baboon (perfect for a DePalma hero), and a cuddly, newfound warmth, Douglas looks like a MAD magazine caricature of himself, and that is somehow very appropriate. Carrie Snodgrass, in her first appearance since Diary of a Mad Housewife, walks off with the movie, and if she can bring this much warmth and humanity...
...DePalma uses familiar devices for familiar effects. He considerably subdues his revolving camera here, although when it arcs slowly around Douglas during the first scene, taking in the surrounding beach area, it conveys with great subtlety the oncoming danger. DePalma stages the most powerful action sequence, the escape of Gillian from the parapsychic institute, in slowmotion, lingering over all the deaths. He characterizes his performers by how beautifully they bleed; a little snit in Gillian's school has blood dribble from her nose all over her lunch, but Carrie Snodgrass' blood splashes lovingly, lyrically over a windshield. Clearly, the more...