By BARBARA THOMAS
Cox News Service

Young director Brian DePalma is fast making his reputation in the genre of the suspense-horror film. His latest, "Carrie," should do a lot of establish him as one of the tops in his field.

Looking at the film objectively, a task which can only be accomplished some days later after the shivers have worn off, one can see some flaws of excess. However, it is unlikely that many will remain detached from the work long enough to see them

The film is seriously frightening, so those prone to nightmares and nervous spells might best not attempt it. For the brave, however, here's something of what you might expect.

Sissy Spacek plays a young high school girl who is teased mercilessly by her friends and dealt with cruelly by her religious fanatic mother, played by Piper Laurie.

When Carrie gets frightened by a biological function of which she's been kept ignorant by her mother, the girls in her gym class tease her relentlessly. As a result, Carrie is sent home in disgrace and the gym class is punished, one or two severely.

To get even, one of the girls (Nancy Allen) enlists the aid of her boyfriend (John Travolta) and other to pull an even more disgusting trick on Carrie. A would-be sympathizer, Sue (Amy Irving), has convinced her boyfriend to take Carrie to the prom out of pity and the relationship grows to more than anyone expected.

When the dirty trick spoils her Cinderella night, Carrie, who has since discovered she has telekinetic powers (the ability to move things with her mind) decides to take some awful vengeance of her own.

She single-handedly destroys the gym and all the people in it and leaves, dripping in blood, for home. her mother, having discovered Carrie's abilities and thinking her a witch, is waiting for her with a butcher knife.

From here on out it gets rougher, so we'll stop before we give too much away. A word to the wise, however -- don't start breathing easy too soon. You'll be in for a shock.

DePalma's use of religious symbolism in the conclusion gets a bit contrived and his build-up of the romantic scene between Carrie and William Katt seems stretched too far. There is argument for the latter point, however, since proper motivation for such unholy violence needs to be established.

There are generally good performances from Spacek, Katt, Irving, Laurie and others. The suspense is at times nearly unbearable.

DePalma set out to scare us silly with this one and if he misses at any time during the first two hours, he'll get you with the end.