Scene from Carrie

At last things seem to be working out for Carrie White. The bullied schoolgirl is going to the senior prom with the best-looking boy in the school. She's about to be crowned prom queen. But it's all a fix – her fellow teens are out to humiliate her. Few who have seen it will forget that teetering bucket of blood set just above her head. Carrie's telekinetic revenge on just about everyone, and the six-minute slow-motion scene that follows it, remains one of director Brian De Palma's most memorable scenes.

The film was cheap to make at $1.8m and a 50-day shooting schedule. The blood was made of something called karo syrup and food colouring, even though Sissy Spacek had volunteered to have actual pig's blood spilled on her. When Carrie returns home after her prom meltdown, the script had called for the house to be destroyed by a volley of rocks. In the end, however, the machine for hurling the rocks lacked the power to collapse the house.

The shoot was running late at 4am and the police had been called about the noise, so De Palma opted for simply burning the house down.