AN EERIE PAST

MOVIE REVIEW:

CARRIE (2013)

By:

G.P. Manalo

Starring:

Chloe Grace Moretz

Julianne Moore

Gabriella Wilde

 

Carrie has been released the same year with 2 horror-remakes and it happens to be both good (Fede Alvarez’s “Evil Dead”) while the other being terrible that it shouldn’t even be referenced ever again (“Texas Chainsaw 3D”). I am happy to report that this film is definitely not like the case of Texas Chainsaw 3D. Though it does seem to be an unnecessary move to re-visit property, due to the fact that the 1976 original cult classic has already done the job of doing not only a faithful remake but also being one of the best horror films of all time. Kimberly Peirce’s version of Carrie does suffer the horror re-make situation where it didn’t really do much of a job for it to separate itself from the original and all it ever did was update the story in modern times with “state of the art” special effects.

Carrie is based on the novel by Stephen King with the same name and it is about a tormented girl named Carrie White (Chloe Grace Moretz) who is raised by an (extremely) religiously devoted mother (Julianne Moore) who is seen as an insane woman by the community as well and the very existence of her daughter and everything she does is seen as a sin.  Carrie only has a few weeks left till the end of her senior year with prom and graduation on the way. Carrie is the definition of an outcast, day after day she is easily bullied by the entire school and even the neighborhood. But little do they know that she is blessed with the gift of Telekinetic powers. After one incident in the girl’s shower room, one of the girls who were part of the incident had a change of heart and ends up helping Carrie. One of her good acts was making her boyfriend, Tommy invite Carrie to prom for one night that she will definitely remember. But the other girl, Tina who was suspended for the same incident has plotted her revenge.

I wasn’t really looking forward to Carrie due to the fact that it is rather unnecessary to re-make this movie. The film does follow the story very well from both the original film and the book. Fans of the book will be happy that it is a very faithful adaptation (though the ending could be a bit of a love-hate relationship for you). They did follow the themes and the significant events were done justice. But I left the theater going, what is the point anyways when there is already a movie that did do the same thing and have done better.

As re-makes come and go, Carrie does stay true to the source material and somewhat lives up to Brian De Palma’s original film. There were some strokes in the film that made this movie feel fresh and it is the setting. The modern setting does help this movie a lot than it being an exact copy of the old one. Bullying has evolved throughout the years through different ways than shouting names and punching someone silly now with the existence of modern technology and social media, and this film does show the extremes of modern-day bullying. That certain element does make this film very relevant for the audiences now. Because of the setting and the situations being displayed in the film, the amount of emotionality really does live up very well and it became very powerful scenes in the movie (up to the point where it is rather disturbing to watch for the most part). Other than that, the film still isn’t different than the original. As I reflect on the thought of it being taken place in modern times it does condescend itself quite a bit, since if she was bullied like that and the video going viral in the internet. We could’ve seen people in this movie be walking around in t-shirts that say #SaveCarrie as some sort of online campaign.

With special effects taking over mainstream movies nowadays it has become one of the excuses to re-make a film that didn’t really have the kind of technology it had back then; updating the film with special effects doesn’t necessarily better the film from the original. That being said the special effects of the film does bring a lot to this movie, in the famous prom scene when Carrie clicked she really clicked, the scenes of her punishing the bullies made DePalma’s version look like movie for kids. The special effects in this film were very good, though it does take away the grit and believability quite a bit in most scenes. The film was entertaining especially the film’s big finale that does feature Carrie using her powers in creative yet cruel ways.

The film is actually well acted and it is because of the two leads of Julianne Moore and Chloe Grace Moretz. Granted, Chloe Moretz is no Sissy Spacek as she goes into the role of Carrie White Though she (Chloe) does bring enough to the role for it to be a good performance, going back to the modern setting of this film, the writing was able to give the film a lot of sympathy for the character. But the one who really stood out was Julianne Moore as Carrie’s mother Julianne Moore brought a terrifying performance in this role; she has a haunting presence throughout the film. People have complained about the bullies being too extreme, I never really heard them say that they have read the book but Stephen King shows no difference when it comes to writing his antagonists, his antagonists are as extreme as the bullies are in this film (so there’s that).

Nonetheless Carrie is a very decent and entertaining enough re-make of De Palma’s classic, maybe not as great of a re-make as this year’s Evil Dead (Kim Pierce’s Carrie doesn’t really offer much as a re-make; granted, it does have great performances, a faithful adaptation of the Stephen King novel and some entertaining special effect sequences but as a re-make there should be more than that. The film recreates too much of the 1976 classic, and that is the reason why this film suffers heavily, it may have been taken place in the year 2013 but the film felt like it was still living in the past (like having a mind of a 54 year old man in a body of a 4-year old). I would recommend you see this version before seeing the classic; it will ruin your experience as you watch this version. 

MY RATING:
NOT THAT BAD, NOT THAT GOOD! - 3/5