Carrie(1976)
1976 · Brian De Palma · 98 min
Withdrawn and sensitive teenager Carrie White faces bullying from her classmates and abuse from her fanatically pious mother. When she begins to suspect that she has supernatural powers, things take a dark and violent turn.
Horror · Thriller
7.34.5k votes
TMDB score
4/5
Intensity
2/5
Gore
4/5
Stays with you
How scary is Carrie?
It spends most of its runtime as a slow, aching drama about cruelty and shame before tipping into a supernatural nightmare in its final stretch. The scares aren't about jolts; they build from humiliation, dread, and watching someone pushed past their limit. There's a real sense of doom hanging over the quieter scenes, and when the horror finally arrives it feels earned and awful rather than fun. This one sticks with you more because of the sadness and tension than because of any gore.
On The Horror Database's 0–5 scare profile, Carrie rates psychological 5/5, visceral 3/5, gore 2/5, lingering effect 4/5, and overall intensity 4/5.
- Psychological: 5 of 5
- Visceral: 3 of 5
- Gore: 2 of 5
- Lingering: 4 of 5
- Intensity: 4 of 5
Slow burn vs Jump scares: 15 of 100 — leans Slow burn
Supernatural vs Real-world: 25 of 100 — leans Supernatural
Fun-scary vs Disturbing: 65 of 100 — leans Disturbing
Intensity over runtime
Shape only — no eventsReveal pacing shapeHide pacing shapeHidden by default — shows where the tension peaks and lets up.
A slow, uneasy build through everyday cruelty and quiet dread that suddenly erupts into an overwhelming climax before settling into a last unsettling jolt.
Intensity across the runtime, 0 to 100: 1, 1, 2, 1, 2, 2, 1, 2, 2, 3, 5, 3.
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