I never thought Carrie would lead to a religious conversation with my mother – but here we are.
Many people know that I’m a big horror movie fan. I love all of the best this genre has to offer. I’ll watch all of A24’s best horror movies, and I’ll even do a marathon of the best Blumhouse horror movies. I freaking love them, and honestly, that started with my mother.
She was always a huge lover of horror movies for many years. One of the first horror movies I ever watched was 1978’s Halloween, a film I rewatched in 2022 that stands the test of time and remains an absolute classic. My mother is the one who introduced me to that film – which was actually released in her first year of college.
My mother and I can be very different, but the one thing we always shared was horror movies. So I decided to rewatch another film I genuinely love – Carrie, starring Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie, the adaptation of the famous Stephen King novel of the same name. This time, I took my mother along for the ride – and we had a long conversation about religion not long after.
Let Me Preface This And Say We’ve Always Loved To Watch Horror Movies Together
I mean it when I say my mother and I are avid horror movie watchers. She didn’t just introduce me to the genre – she was my guide long before I went to college.
I watched many movies that would be considered “starter horror” with her. You could think of the Daniel Radcliffe-led movie The Woman in Black, or maybe the first Paranormal Activity, but whatever the case, she was the person next to me when I would get scared and then proceed to laugh at myself for getting that way.
Eventually this would evolve into more intense scary movies, ones that didn’t quite gross me out, but had bloodier scenes and much more suspense. This is where Halloween came from, or all the bloody kills on Nightmare on Elm Street, or even the Friday the 13th franchise, which we’ve all ranked—all of those I watched first with my mother.
This has evolved so much that I have seen more horror films than her recently. I’m still trying to get her to watch the scariest horror movie in years, Talk to Me, but she is steadfast in waiting for it to stream. Either way, she’s why I am the way I’ve become. So when I went home to visit, I rewatched Carrie with her, a movie I loved and one I knew she liked too, and it opened up so much more to discuss.
She Realized Just How Much I Connected To Carrie
I’m pretty sure anyone reading this knows about the main plot of Carrie. But on the off chance you don’t, it’s about a teenager named Carrie who is bullied relentlessly at school and is controlled at home by a mother who is fanatically religious – as well as mentally unstable. Carrie has telekinesis, and when she is bullied to a certain point at prom, she takes out everyone there and causes a whole panic in her hometown.
While I don’t have telekinetic powers – as no one does – I have always connected a lot with Carrie for a long time. I was the bullied kid who didn’t have that many friends and was pretty consistently stuck in a bubble in her mind, trying to escape her reality. It took going to college and meeting like-minded people like me to finally step out of my shell.
Granted, that didn’t happen for Carrie, as some bullies never give up, but it was from the kindness of Sue and her boyfriend that Carrie finally felt some sense of normalcy. And when I told my mother that my younger self identified a lot with Carrie, she started to realize why. She never really understood until she watched the movie, but it was nice to see her realize that.
And I Think I Finally Understood Just How Much Her Religion Meant To Her
I’ll start by saying that I grew up in a very religious family – which is almost funny considering how much my mother loves horror movies, especially the ones about ghosts and demons. It’s almost like an oxymoron, but either way, she was always taking me to church, putting me in Catholic school and ensuring I learned about the religion I grew up in.
I’m not as religious as her. I am spiritual – i.e., I believe in God, the spirits around us, and the afterlife – but I don’t think I’ll ever be on her same level. That said, I understand why my mother appreciates her religion much more now.
My mother is not Carrie’s mother at all. She was always kind and loving and ensured I had food on my table and a roof over my head, but I never understood why her religion meant so much to her. I think I saw through Carrie’s mother, Margaret, that my mother turned to it in her darkest hour.
While Margaret took it to another level and used her religion almost as a weapon against her daughter because of her mental instability, my mother took her religion and cherished it. She loved and grew with it.
She lost a lot as a young woman, and turning to God was something that truly helped her. Now, whenever something goes wrong and she can’t do anything about it, she “leaves it up to Him.” That utter faith is something I’m still working on.
It’s hard for someone like me to imagine doing that. Still, I think through this movie, I learned to appreciate her connection to Catholicism and religion as a whole.
But Even Then, Towards The End, We Had A Long Conversation About Religion
Despite that, the ending of Carrie sparked a conversation about religion, and I was honest with my mother about how, as a kid, I almost felt like Carrie in a way. My mother asked why, and I answered that I was afraid that I wouldn’t be worthy of her love if I became someone other than her perfect religious daughter.
If we’re being honest, it was all insecurity and anxiety that was fostered by the media I watched. I knew my mother, deep down, was never like that, but it was always in the back of my mind. When I told her that, she was shocked.
That then led to her saying she would “never” force her religion on anyone, especially not like Carrie’s mother. She said that while she would “love” for me to be more religious, as any spiritual mother would, she didn’t care what I did as long as I was happy and healthy and always coming up to say hello. Her love for me outweighed anything I could do.
That hit home with me because for the longest time, I never really knew if that was the case. I was constantly drowning in some anxiety about how I felt around it, and to hear that come from my mother’s mouth was something I desperately needed.
I Think Both Of Us Walked Out Of This Horror Movie Better Understanding Each Other
I didn’t expect to leave a Stephen King adaptation thinking my mother and I understood each other better, but here we are. I learned the value of why she cherishes her religion so much, and she knew about my own life and the struggles I’ve had to communicate my feelings.
I never thought watching horror movies with my mother would lead to us fully understanding such serious topics, but I wouldn’t want it any other way. Truthfully, if she ends up reading this, I want her to know that no matter what, I love her too and will continue to do so despite our differences. She’s become my best friend – even if she’s why I’m desensitized to all horror now.
Either way, I’m trying to say that the most unexpected movies can lead to life-changing conversations that help you understand a person more. My mother and I are from two very different generations, and somehow, we came to a consensus about a movie surrounding a bullied girl with telekinesis, of all things.
If you’re wondering if you should watch that movie with your parents, go ahead and do it. It might turn out for the better.