*Carrie* (1976): A New Horizon for Horror Cinema
Based on Stephen King’s novel, *Carrie* was the landmark film that propelled De Palma to Hollywood’s front ranks. The story of shy high-school student Carrie White awakening to psychic powers contains a social message extending beyond ordinary horror. Sissy Spacek’s delicate performance as Carrie and Piper Laurie’s compelling portrayal of her fanatical mother give the film the depth of a human drama. Both received Academy Award nominations, bringing broad recognition to the film’s artistic value.
At the story’s core is a psychic catastrophe at the school prom. At the moment when the relentlessly bullied Carrie suffers the humiliation of being drenched in pig’s blood, her suppressed anger and powers explode. De Palma uses split screens effectively in the climax, showing the panicked hall and Carrie unleashing her powers at the same time. The direction makes viewers witness the tragedy from several perspectives and experience extraordinary tension and fear.
*Carrie* addresses adolescent loneliness and revenge, and the anger of the oppressed. Carrie’s powers function as a symbol of the inner strength of vulnerable people who cannot speak up in the real world. Her release from the double oppression of her mother’s religious fanaticism and her classmates’ cruel bullying takes the form of devastating destruction. The film’s success established De Palma as a master of horror and laid the foundation for his subsequent career. Combining commercial success with critical acclaim, it remains highly regarded as a defining horror film of the 1970s.
*Scarface* (1983): A Landmark Gangster Film
Although *Scarface*, starring Al Pacino, was conceived as a remake of the 1932 gangster film of the same name, De Palma and Oliver Stone transformed it into an entirely new work. Relocating the story to 1980s Miami, the film depicts Cuban refugee Tony Montana building a drug empire and then falling, vividly expressing the dark side of the American Dream. Pacino’s overwhelming presence and charisma make the arrogant, ambitious Tony convincing.
The story follows Tony’s ascent from poor Cuban immigrant to the top of a drug-trafficking organization through his natural ambition and violence. His famous line “The world is yours!” symbolizes the insatiable hunger for power and money that drives the story. Yet success destroys his relationships: an abnormal attachment to his sister, a broken marriage, conflict with his right-hand man, loneliness, and suspicion consume him. His spectacular death amid machine-gun fire in the climax is portrayed as the inevitable result of excessive violence.
*Scarface* was innovative in portraying violence and drugs more explicitly than earlier gangster films. Shocking images, including a chainsaw killing and heavy cocaine use, caused great controversy on release. Today, however, the film has been reassessed as a symbol of American hedonism and materialism in the 1980s. Tony Montana is revered as a symbol of success in hip-hop culture in particular and has been quoted in countless songs and visual works. Despite its extreme content, this representative De Palma film also operates as a socially conscious work that identifies something essential in American society.
*The Untouchables* (1987): The Completed Form of a Heroic Tale
*The Untouchables* is an orthodox entertainment film about the confrontation between Treasury agent Eliot Ness and gangster king Al Capone in Prohibition-era Chicago. Kevin Costner’s Ness joins Sean Connery’s seasoned police officer Malone, Andy Garcia’s expert marksman, and Charles Martin Smith’s accountant to challenge Capone’s empire, presenting audiences with a clear classical struggle between good and evil. Ennio Morricone’s majestic music lends the story dignity and enhances its accomplishment as a major entertainment production.
At the heart of the story are the friendship and sense of justice of Ness’s team as it fights alone within a corrupt police organization. Sean Connery’s paternal mentor Malone plays an especially important role, teaching the young Ness “the Chicago way.” His words, “They pull a knife, you pull a gun,” mark the moment when the idealistic Ness confronts reality. Connery won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for the role, acclaimed as one of the defining performances of his later career.
The station-staircase gunfight is the most memorable example of De Palma’s direction. A baby carriage rolls down the stairs amid the shooting in a clear homage to the Odessa Steps sequence in Sergei Eisenstein’s *Battleship Potemkin*. Its effective use of slow motion balances tension and aesthetics, creating a famous moment in film history. *The Untouchables* became a major commercial success and is positioned as the landmark film that revived De Palma’s career after a period of decline. It is a culmination of his cinema, fusing entertainment and artistry at a high level.
*Mission: Impossible* (1996): Adapting to a New Era
The film adaptation of the popular 1960s television series *Mission: Impossible* presented De Palma with a new challenge. In this major spy-action production starring and produced by Tom Cruise, he successfully fused his established suspense techniques with the latest VFX. The impossible missions of Ethan Hunt’s IMF team became a worldwide hit and laid the foundation for the popular series that continues today. It was a significant work that made De Palma’s name widely known to mainstream action fans.
The story begins when betrayal destroys the IMF team and the surviving Ethan pursues the true culprit. Breathless action sequences run from the failed Prague operation through the infiltration of CIA headquarters to the final battle on a high-speed train. The scene in which Ethan hacks the CIA computer system while suspended in midair is particularly notable. De Palma creates complete silence, bringing viewers to an extreme state of tension. The premise that not even one drop of sweat can touch the floor, combined with Cruise’s actual suspended performance, made it a famous scene in film history.
In *Mission: Impossible*, De Palma demonstrated that his distinctive suspense direction worked equally well in a major entertainment film. By applying tension-building methods developed in his thrillers to large-scale action, he completed an intelligent entertainment work that did not depend on spectacle alone. The success opened a new side of his career as a blockbuster director. It is also regarded as an important demonstration of his adaptability during Hollywood’s blockbuster-driven 1990s and stands as a representative work proving both his versatility and ability to move with the times.
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