Night+Day

Creepy Carrie Nineteen seventy-six's Carrie has some of Brian De Palma's most flamboyant directorial touches, from the spinning camera and split-screen effects of the fiery prom sequence to a final shock that reduces the film from a genuinely traumatic experience to a sick joke. The latter trick became a regular horror motif (Wes Craven's A Nightmare on Elm Street is almost ruined by a similar ending), but the best element of the film is its performances: John Travolta and Nancy Allen as evil bullies; P.J. Soles as a girl who always wears the same dumb hat; Betty Buckley as a kind gym teacher; and most of all, Piper Laurie as a religious maniac mom and Sissy Spacek as the tortured titular character. (In the fine, perverse tradition of Michael Powell's Peeping Tom, the director includes a short scene where his son is tortured -- Carrie uses telekinesis to make him wipe out on his bike.) Relive high school hell and witness cinema's second-most-traumatic shower scene at 7:15 and 9:35 p.m. at a special benefit for the Sick & Twisted Players (who will appear before each screening) at the Red Vic, 1727 Haight, S.F. Tickets are $6; call 668-3994.