When Sissy Spacek was preparing for her character, she isolated herself from the rest of the ensemble, decorated her dressing room with heavy religious iconography and studied Gustave Doré's illustrated Bible. She studied "the body language of people being stoned for their sins," starting or ending every scene in one of those positions.
Nancy Allen claims she never realized her character was going to be so evil until she saw the finished film. She thought she and John Travolta were playing such self-centered, bickering morons that they were there for comic relief. Piper Laurie also thought the character of Margaret White was so over the top that the film had to be a comedy.
In the last scene of the film, Amy Irving's outburst so terrified her real-life mother Priscilla Pointer, that she screamed out "Amy" instead of "Sue." She had never seen her daughter that hysterical and called out her real name in concern. However, the loud ending music covered the mistake.
While speaking at a book event in Fort Myers, Florida in 2010, Stephen King recalled that he was paid just $2,500 for the movie rights to Carrie (1976), which may seem like a pittance, but he has no regrets. "I was fortunate to have that happen to my first book," King said.
The name of the high school is Bates High, a reference to Norman Bates from Psychose (1960). In addition, the four-note violin theme from Psycho (1960) is used over and over in the film.
Brian De Palma: [Split screen segment] Split screen segment during the prom massacre also used in Soeurs de sang (1972).