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Helen Shyres is a major character in Carrie. She is a student at Ewen High School in Chamberlain, Maine and takes part in bullying Carrie White. Helen is a girl with a good conscience and is the girlfriend of Roy Evarts and the best friend of Sue Snell and Jeanne Gault.

Physical Appearance[]

In the novel, Helen’s appearance is not mentioned but it can be assumed that she is very pretty due to being a candidate for Prom Queen.

In the 1976 film, Helen has shoulder-length Auburn hair, Blue eyes and wears large, round glasses. Though she is slim, she is not as thin as her friends.

In the 2002 film, she is very pretty with long Blonde hair, Blue eyes and an athletic figure.

Novel[]

According to the novel, Helen is a member of The Mortimer Snerds and one of the girls who were running for Prom Queen. She bullies Carrie White, during the shower incident by making throwing-up gestures and throwing tampons at her.

She also helped in decorating for the coming Prom, along with Sue Snell and did not object to the idea of Tommy Ross taking Carrie to the Prom because she herself implied that they had behaved wrongly. However, Sue suspected that she knew something was going to happen to Carrie and was hiding secrets from her.

At the Prom, Helen burst into tears of laughter when Carrie became the victim of the evil prank. It is unknown if she survived The Black Prom.

1976 Film[]

Helen Shyres is portrayed by Edie McClurg in the 1976 film and is a bully of Carrie White, a member of The Mortimer Snerds and the best friend of Chris Hargensen, Sue Snell and Norma Watson.

She is present during the shower incident and also at Miss Collins' detention. During the boot camp-style detention, Helen is seen making a very nasty face, because of her being in Miss Collins' detention and not in another teacher's detention. Helen is then seen getting her hair done for the prom along with Norma and laughing about Tommy Ross taking Carrie to the prom. She is later seen for a split-second helping Frieda Jason and Sue in the decorations, she then attends the prom only to serve drinks along with Ruth Gogan. During the prank, Helen is very shocked and speechless, but in Carrie's hallucination, she is seen laughing at her. When Carrie starts to close and lock all the exit doors with her telekinetic powers, Helen quickly freaks out and starting to get scared. Then, when the massacre begins, Helen tries to a find another exit door with Ruth, but fails miserably and is killed when she is knocked over roughly by one of the tables, hard.

Ruth and another guy can be seen attending to her body, but it appears to be too late. Unfortunately, her body burns along with all the other students and teachers as the building crumbles to the ground, when Carrie leaves the burning gym.

Trivia[]

  • Edie McClurg originally had no dialogue in any part of the film, so she decided to improvise instead.
  • In the original script, Helen is shown giggling and snickering in the corner with fear, when Tommy Ross gets hit in the head by the bucket.
  • During the detention, Miss Collins mistakenly called her "Katie".
  • Many fans thought she was a reformed character, but she turned out to be a bully because she enjoyed throwing tampons at Carrie, making her a pure evil-type character.
  • A lot of fans also thought she turned nicer and friendly later on because of her reaction to the prank, but this turns out to be false all along.

1988 Episode[]

2002 Remake[]

Helen was portrayed by Chelan Simmons in this version. In the prom sequence, her role is a synthesis of her own character, Frieda Jason and Sue Snell. Helen also takes part in throwing tampons at Carrie. Helen is seen chatting with Sue while they decorate for the prom. She sympathizes with Carrie, and complimented her dress like Freida in the 1976 movie.

She finds the behavior of Tina Blake to be suspicious, and follows her look (and that of Kenny Garson) going up to the ceiling, where she sees the bucket. Unlike Sue in the previous movie, she does not attempt to warn Rita Desjarden, because she does not know what to expect. But when Carrie gets the pig's blood dumped on her, Helen looks shocked; however, without hesitation, she angrily slaps Kenny across the face (which made him stop laughing), thus showing that she didn't like the prank on Carrie and him laughing at Carrie's humiliation. Afterwards, she heads over to the stage, along with Roy and Rita, in order to help Tommy Ross (who was knocked out by the bucket) and attempt to reassure Carrie.

During the prom massacre, Helen and Roy are seen to be running away from Carrie at this point in fear only for Carrie to drop the basketball score board onto the floor, killing her and Roy by electrocution. Their bodies are left to burn in the school building.

2012 Musical[]

2013 Remake[]

Helen2013

Helen and Don's name.

Helen is a student at Ewen High School. She is dating Don Farnham and is possibly a bully of Carrie White. She is also nominated for Prom Queen but loses to Carrie. Although Helen is a character she is not seen, but her name can be seen on the prom King and Queen ballot. In the background of a deleted scene, a reporter announces the names of the deceased we then hear her say a blurry noised name that sounds like "Helen".

Gallery[]

Helen Shyres (1976)[]

Appearances[]

Trivia[]

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