Carrie (2013) Movie review

I know that some hard core horror fans have chosen not to see this movie, I will throw my self on this film so other may live. Enjoy my review. 

Carrie - 100min – R

Carrie is a classic movie, so someone was bound to come along and want to do this movie again -- be it homage, or updating the story, or taking things in a new direction altogether. The 2013 remake of this movie falls into the homage category. They did not change any of the major parts of this film but they did enhance a few sections and updated the bullying for the modern age. We have more access to better special effects so the telekinesis scenes were obviously enhanced. This movie gets a Yellow light because this is a good facelift to a beloved film.

Usually a synopsis of the movie goes here but as it was pretty much the same as the 1976 film, I am going to skip it in favor of highlighting the bits that were done well.. Carrie (Chloë Grace Moretz) is an awkward, ignorant young girl with an abusive mother, Margret (Julianne Moore), who is a bag-of-cats crazy. We start off this version witnessing Carrie’s birth, which sets the tone of this film. It was not pretty and we can see Margret was crazy for quite some time.

The use of cell phones to capture the horrific shower bully scene was spot on and a perfect modernization. I enjoyed how Sue (GabriellaWilde) portrayed the regret of her actions. She was the only one who stopped during the bullying scene. I think this was not played well in the original, seeing how a person can have a change of heart in the middle of doing something wrong was great.

Chris (Portia Doubleday) was a complete and total bitch. She did have a spoiled brat mentality and realized she was in over her head but her boyfriend, Billy (Alex Russell), bore a lot of the blame of what happened. We see the blood collection that clearly highlights Billy as an evil person.

I absolutely loved Judy Greer as Ms. Desjardin. She has genuine concern for her students and no nonsense presence all great teachers have. I love how she was not fazed by anything walking around the school with a bloody hand print on her shorts like it’s a part of her outfit. When Chris beings her father in to get her prom privileges reinstated, the way Greer laid down the smack was priceless. We don’t see enough of her. In the final prom scene I am glad she was saved. I think it would have lessened the story for her to die.

Moretz is a great performer with range, but I hope she does not get pigeonholed into these kinds of movies. She will be one of the best young actresses in modern time if she keeps expanding.

Kimberly Peirce is a wonderful director and really relays a great story in this movie. You can learn a lot from her characters, and they provide lessons without feeling like a lecture. For instance, the lessons here could be that even if you are doing something wrong you don’t have to continue to do it. You always have a chance to change things for the better. Evil deeds bring evil rewards. Sometimes there is collateral damage, good people in the wrong place. Broken people should not have kids.

Peirce directed the outstanding movie Boys Don’t Cry, so I have a hard time not measuring her by her own work. This was a fine film and it maintained the cautionary tale theme of what the fruit of bullying can bring. Peirce’s direction style can be felt coming from this story. She does well with brining out the humanity in her characters.

Sue trying to save Carrie at the end was a bit over the top and it was not needed. We already feel for Sue because she had her boyfriend Tommy (Ansel Elgort), take Carrie to the prom. This seemed like a genuine gesture of restitution. Having Sue show up at her house and try and save Carrie was a bit much, even the interaction where Carrie feels the baby growing inside Sue seems way out of place unless you are planning a sequel. Please say you are not planning a sequel.

What was your favorite Stephen King book to movie? And do you think they should redo it if it’s already been done?