Few Stephen King adaptations have had the heart and soul of Lawrence D. Cohen's humane, intelligent adaptation of CARRIE, which is, at its core, the story of a teenage girl coming into her own body and struggling with the pressures of high school. Director Brian De Palma brings his signature style to the film making it a visually dazzling spectacle, but the great filmmaker never lets these visual flourishes drown out the human story. Grounded by Sissy Spacek's subtle, wrenching performance as the eponymous character and further buoyed by Piper Laurie's indelible comeback performance as Carrie's religious zealot of a mother, CARRIE smartly realizes that a horror film is only as strong as the dramatic story it's built upon.
Lawrence D. Cohen is a screenwriter and playwright best known for his three adaptations of Stephen King's CARRIE for both the screen and stage. He also wrote the teleplay for the miniseries version of IT in 1990.