Review: The De Palma Decade: Redefining Cinema

 

Review by Doug Gibson

Who remembers the first time they saw a Brian De Palma film during his horror decade? For me it was "Carrie." I was too young to be allowed to see it. No Rs for this early teen, said my wise parents. So, as a late mid teen I viewed the film on a late-night network movie slot, probably on a weekend.

Alone in my room, I loved the film. The split screen action, the doses of high school comedy as a very dark horror plot unfolds, the gothic, oppressive, large tank-like rooms that mom Margaret White forces Carrie to live in. And the horror of the prom and a vicious prank turned into a holocaust.

And, finally, that final scene. For the souls who have never seen it I'll remain silent. But alone in my room, I jumped so high my head almost hit the ceiling. I have yet to be scared like that in a film. That type of scene has been copied too often for nearly 50 years, but no film has matched the intensity and fear De Palma created. As author Laurent Bouzereau notes in his new book, The De Palma Decade: Redefining Cinema with Doubles, Voyeurs, and Psychic Teens, Running Press, 2024, the finale of Carrie lets the viewer know that teen Sue, who unwittingly sets the stage for Carrie's fury, will never fully recover from the experience. (Buy it from Amazon here).

Just like Carrie's author, Stephen King, who wrote Carrie (a darn good book by the way), De Palma has moved from being a "horror director," which he was known for during the '70s and early '80s, to a mult-genre artist. Bouzereau, a filmmaker himself, does a superb job of capturing how De Palma helped define film evolution generations ago. In movies like Carrie, he captured sexuality and dark horror in teen culture in a believable manner. Carrie, for example, is a tale of a young woman's move toward sexual and emotional maturity. It is cruelly arrested due to a horrific prank. The hitch is that Carrie can move objects with her mind, and the still-young teen gets her terrifying revenge.

Several films of De Palma are explored by Bouzereau. A large amount of actors and crew members on the films, including De Palma, provide insights on "Sisters," "Carrie," "Phantom of the Paradise," "Obsession," "The Fury," "Dressed to Kill," and "Blow Out." Within the recapping, histories and analysis of the films, interesting narratives emerge. The reader learns of the progression of the careers of actors, including Sissy Spacek, Nancy Allen and Betty Buckley. Also, there is the domestic box-office disappointment of "Phantom of the Paradise," but then the happy surprise that it was a hit in France, and Winnipeg, Canada. 

In one passage, actress PJ Soles recounts her audition. She performed for De Palma and George Lucas. The latter was casting for "Star Wars." Soles recalls, "I went in and and I just remember, right away, Brian looking at me. I could just sort of tell that he liked me. And then George Lucas was just kind of stern-faced. Brian turned to him and said, 'I'll put this one on my list.''

I loved De Palma's films as a young adult, and The De Palma Decade: Redefining Cinema ... brought a lot of great memories. "Carrie," "Dressed to Kill," "Phantom of the Paradise," and "Sisters" are personal classics to me. Bouzereau provides clear evidence that with great, unique filmmakers, there never is a time where you can't learn more about their work. Most of the films in this book are free on online streaming sites. Go see them for the first time or again.