In 1974, a little-known novel was published about an overweight high school student, Carrie White, that was tormented by bullies. Much to the bullies’ chagrin, the pasty socially awkward Carrie had telekinesis powers and used them to take revenge on her tormentors. It was also made into a John Travolta movie in 1976!
A few months later, NBC released their “The Big Event” made-for-TV movie “The Spell.” It’s about an overweight high school student, Rita, that is tormented by bullies. Much to the bullies’ chagrin, the pasty socially awkward Rita has telekinesis powers and used them to take revenge on her tormentors.
Jokes, aside, the film is a Carrie clone on the surface but is really just the basic premise that is the same. While Carrie only had her demented religious mother, Rita has parents and a sister. Yeah, her dad sucks and her mom is clueless, but it isn’t as extreme. The movie is also a lot more like “The Omen” and “The Exorcist” in a way. The main character isn’t Rita, it’s her mother who knows something is up while weird accidents and deaths seem to happen to all those who oppose Rita.
Rita is also not Carrie. Carrie was annoying but it was because how utterly pathetic she is and that was no fault of her own. Her mother isolated her so far from reality that she was bound to be an outsider. Rita is more like Damien or even Rhoda from “The Bad Seed” (without the charm). She is the villain. And if I wanted to spoil the film a bit while namedropping another character, she is Nancy from “The Craft” without friends.
As a TV movie, it has a subdued production. There are only a couple of scenes with extras, and I’m guessing the opening scenes set in the PE class with the bullies was tacked on to make it look like the viewers were watching another Carrie. It does have that 70s charm which goes a long way.
The cast is quite good. The mother is Oscar winner Lee Grant (from “Omen II), the father is James Olson and Rita’s sister is future hurricane hunter Helen Hunt. The actress who portrays Rita didn’t do much after this and that’s all I’m going to say about that.
An entertaining film for those who enjoy a nice 70s made-for-TV horror/thriller.
