Carrie is a 1976 supernatural horror film directed by Brian De Palma and based on Stephen King’s first published novel. Sissy Spacek stars as Carrie White, a shy and isolated teenage girl who is bullied at school and psychologically abused at home by her fanatically religious mother, played by Piper Laurie. As Carrie begins to discover her telekinetic powers, the cruelty directed at her builds toward the disastrous prom night that has become one of the most famous sequences in horror cinema. The film is both a high-school revenge tragedy and a psychological horror story, using adolescence, humiliation, repression and religious terror to turn Carrie’s pain into something explosive and catastrophic.
The film was shot in Southern California, with several Los Angeles-area locations combined to create the world of Bates High School and Carrie’s suburban life. Palisades Charter High School in Pacific Palisades was used for the school’s exterior and athletic-field material, including the opening volleyball sequence, while the Hermosa Beach Community Center supplied the gym and prom-night setting. Some school-related material was also connected to Santa Paula, while the White family house was filmed in Santa Paula before being burned for the finale. Culver Studios was used for some of the controlled interior and effects work, including the prom destruction, where the production could stage the blood, fire and telekinetic chaos safely. By combining real schools, community buildings, suburban streets and studio-built horror set-pieces, Carrie creates a world that feels recognisably ordinary before it collapses into nightmare.
Hermosa Beach Community Center
Hermosa Beach Community Center was used as part of Bates High School in the Stephen King classic horror movie Carrie from 1976.
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