Helen Shyres

Helen Shyres is a secondary villain that has appeared in the novel and the movies of Carrie.

Novel
According to the novel, Helen Shyres was a member of the Mortimer Snerds. She bullied Carrie during the locker room incident by making throw-up gestures at her. She was also the best friend of Sue Snell and the girlfriend of Roy Evarts. She didn't object to Sue's intentions to bring Carrie to the Prom, because she herself had also become afraid of her own behavior regarding Carrie White. It is unknown, if Helen escaped or not. However, her mother, Mrs. Shyres, dies and there's no mention of Helen surviving, which implies, she must have died, too.

1976 movie
Helen Shyres was portrayed by Edie McClurg in the 1976 movie.

She is fat, wears glasses, and is one of Carrie's bullies. In this version, she is not Sue Snell's best friend at all and a lot meaner, wicked, sinister, sadistic, cruel, nastier, and malicious than her novel counterpart. She is present during the shower scene and during Miss Collins' detention. She also gets ready for prom with Norma Watson and they pick on Carrie (Sissy Spacek) after Norma (P.J. Soles) announces that Tommy (William Katt) is taking Carrie to prom. Helen jokingly asks Norma, if Carrie is going to wear a sack cloth or something like that and they begin laughing hysterically. During the prom, Helen is seen hanging around Ruth Gogan and when the prank is pulled she is standing on a table with her. She begins laughing hysterically, although it is unknown if this is really a hallucination or not. But when Carrie loses her temper and sanity by unleashes her telekinetic powers, Ruth and Helen cowardly attempt to escape together with their lives in order to find another exit door. But Helen is knocked over a table before they can. Ruth and another guy can be seen attending to her body but it appears to be too late. Helen's corpse burns along with the others as the building crumbles and burns to the ground.

2002 remake
Helen Shyres was portrayed by Chelan Simmons in the 2002 movie.

She is a beautiful young and blonde girl, who also takes part in bullying Carrie in the shower. In the prom sequence, her role is a synthesis of her own character, Frieda Jason and Sue Snell. Helen is seen chatting with Sue, while they decorate for prom. She sympathizes with Carrie and complimented her dress like Frieda in the 1976 movie. She finds the behavior of Tina Blake suspicious and follows her look and that of Kenny "Kenneth" Garson go to the ceiling, where she sees the bucket. Contrary to Sue in the previous movie, she does not try to warn Rita Desjarden (Rena Sofer), because she does not know what to expect, but when Carrie is humbled, Helen, very shocked, doesn't hesitate to slap Kenny in the face, the first one to laugh and the most passionate in doing it and to go to help with Roy and Rita to help Tommy "Thomas" Ross, who was knocked out by the bucket and tent to reassure Carrie. During the brutal prom massacre, Helen and Roy attempt to escape with their lives, holding hands, as they run through the chaos in order to find another exit door, but, as Carrie drops the basketball scoreboard into the water, Helen and Roy are electrocuted to death, killing both of them in the process.

Trivia

 * Helen (along with Norma Watson and Ruth Gogan) doesn't physically appeared in the 2013 film adaption.