A fleshy, dreamy, remarkably faithful adaptation of Stephen King’s first novel. The main meat from the book that the film cuts out are its flash forwards to commentary years in the future from (fictional) writers who try to make sense of the unbelievable events of the prom night in the (fictional) town of Chamberlin, Maine in 1979. King sprinkles those moments throughout the book to build a sense of foreboding, to let us know that, yes, this story of a bullied teenage girl with menstrual issues, telekinetic powers that she doesn’t understand and an abusive religious nut mother IS going to lead to an explosive and ghastly climax—just stick with it, horror fans. Without that stuff, the film still makes the story sing as a harrowing teen drama. Sissy Spacek is painfully perfect as her high school’s resident alien, every bit as believable when weak and beaten as she is when she finally decides she’s had enough and that people need to die. The beautiful and arrogant faces of the rest of the teen set here (including Nancy Allen, P.J. Soles and a pre-fame John Travolta) are equally on the money. Meanwhile, director Brian De Palma keeps things moving at a zip and gets in his weird signature split focus shots to good effect. Forty years later, this still holds up as one of the better King adaptations.