Carrie (2002 Film) - Plot

Plot

The film begins in a police station. Several people, including high school senior Sue Snell and gym teacher Miss Desjarden, are being interviewed by a detective about the disappearance of high school senior Carrie White.

The film then flashes back to one week before the prom at Ewen High School. The popular girls at school constantly harass Carrie, with Chris Hargensen being especially vicious. After gym class, Carrie has her first period in the shower room and panics. The other girls swarm around the shower and taunt her. Hearing the commotion, Ms. Desjarden comes into the shower, and finds Carrie lying by the drain in a fetal position as the other girls hound her. As she comforts the terrified girl, Carrie asks her if she is dying, revealing she had no knowledge about menstruation and thought she was bleeding to death.

Later, Principal Morton (Laurie Murdoch) determines that Carrie should go home to calm down after the incident. When the principal repeatedly mispronounces her name, Carrie snaps and screams out her name. Suddenly, the principal's desk moves several inches in the opposite direction. While Carrie is getting her things, she discovers someone spray-painted "Plug it up" on her locker, and it's filled with tampons. On her way home, Carrie is accosted by a pre-teen boy on a bicycle. With no warning, his bike smashes into a tree, throwing the boy to the ground and breaking his arm. When she reaches home, Carrie's fanatically religious mother, Margaret White, receives the phone call from school. Margaret considers menstruation a sign of sexual sin, and locks Carrie in her "praying closet" as punishment.

The next day, Ms. Desjarden notifies the girls that they are to have 50 minutes' detention in the gym every day for a week for their bullying. If they skip the detention, they face three days' suspension and banishment from the prom. Chris storms out in protest, but none of the other girls follow her. At the same time, Carrie researches "miracles" in the library to understand what has been happening to her. Eventually, she finds out about telekinesis, an unusual gift that enables the carriers to move or control objects with their minds.

After Chris' father John Hargensen, a lawyer, unsuccessfully attempts to get her prom ban rescinded, Chris enlists her boyfriend Billy Nolan to get revenge on Carrie. At the same time, Sue, trying to atone for tormenting Carrie in the locker room, asks her popular boyfriend Tommy Ross to take Carrie to the prom instead of her. After some hesitation, Carrie agrees. That evening, Carrie tells her mother about the prom invitation; Margaret flies into a rage and forbids her to go. Carrie uses her powers to finally confront her mother, and Margaret seemingly gives in.

As prom approaches, Sue helps Carrie prepare for the big event. Chris and one of her cronies, Tina Blake, overhear their plans and plan revenge. Chris and Billy kill a pig at Irwin Hinti's farm and gather up its blood. On the day of the prom, Margaret begs Carrie to stay home and ask God for forgiveness, but Carrie uses her powers to throw her mother out of the room. Tommy comes to pick Carrie up for the prom on a limousine, impressed by her makeover into a beautiful young woman.

As the prom progresses, more people begin to accept Carrie. Tina manages to switch the ballots for prom king and queen for fraudulent ones that declare Carrie and Tommy the winners. As Tommy and Carrie take their place on stage, Carrie notices something red dripping on her arm and looks up, seeing a bucket of pig's blood placed above the stage. Chris, who has been hiding with Billy backstage and has become extremely hesitant, pulls the rope, sending a wave of blood on Carrie, with some hitting Norma and Tommy. The duo run away, letting go of the rope. The bucket falls on Tommy's head, killing him.

Carrie goes into a shock-induced trance, and loses control of her telekenesis. She locks everyone inside the gym and drops several spotlights on the floor. The sparks set the gym ablaze, causing a mass panic. As Tina screams in horror, Carrie crushes her to death with a basketball board. Ms. Desjarden manages to get a few kids into a vent, where they make their escape. Carrie opens up all the sprinklers, then causes the scoreboard to fall, electrocuting everyone else on the floor.

Carrie leaves the burning gym, locking the doors behind her and leaving almost all of the students and staff to burn to death. As she makes her way back to town, she brings the destruction with her, nearly obliterating the adjoining neighborhoods. Chris and Billy, witnessing the destruction from Billy's truck, encounter Carrie. Billy attempts to run her over, all the while as Chris tries to stop him, but Carrie stops it and sends it slamming into a tree, killing them both.

Once Carrie gets home, she takes a bath to wash off all the blood. She finally snaps back to herself, and doesn't appear to remember what happened. Margaret, now completely insane, calls Carrie a witch and attempts to drown her in the tub. Carrie begins to lose consciousness, but uses her last ounce of strength to mentally stop her mother's heart, killing her.

During the disastrous aftermath of the prom, Sue goes out looking for Carrie and finds her near death in the bathtub with her mother's dead body nearby. Sue manages to revive Carrie with rescue breathing and hide her in the ruins of the school while the furor quiets down. About a week later, Sue agrees to sneak Carrie out of town to somewhere in Florida. As the two drive off into the rainy night, Carrie has a nightmarish vision of her mother, who warns her that "sin never dies". She wakes up and Sue asks her if she had a bad dream. When she looks at her she has transformed to Chris and lunges at her. Carrie wakes up from her nightmare and Sue asks her if she wants to stop for a moment. Carrie sighs, and tells Sue to keep driving.