Carrie White Burns in Hell!

There is something strangely affecting and attractive in young Sissy Spacek's Poppy from Prime Cut (1972), or in her Holly in Badlands (1973) and, of course, in her tragic Carrie White from Brian de Palma's 1976, Carrie. With her ginger hair and freckled face, she may not be everyones taste, yet she never seizes to appeal to me in these early genre parts. Perhaps it is her gawky wide-eyed youth, or maybe that disarming clumsiness, or that mousy, put-upon quality that may just conceal a wealth of restrained sexuality underneath that shy façade... I may not be too far off as it is just that repressed sexuality that eventually explodes in a barrage of telekenetic death and mayhem! Mmh, dangerous girl.

There are a couple of interesting stories revolving around Spacek's genre appearances, or non appearances for that matter, as she is said to have turned down the lead in David Cronenberg's Rabid (1977). It is quite interesting to imagine her in the part of Rose, eventually taken up by Marilyn Chambers. Another story goes that the auditions for Carrie and Star Wars were held simultaneously, and that Sissy was set to play Princess Leia Organa, with Carrie Fisher to take up the part of Carrie. Fisher objected to Carrie's nudity and well, the rest is movie history...

Here are some original French stills from the movie.