Carrie is the film adaptation of the critically acclaimed Stephen King novel of the same name. Chloe Grace Moretz stars as Carrie White, a sheltered and bullied teenager who learns of her latent, telekinetic powers. Julianne Moore plays Carrie’s mother, Margaret White. Margaret is a devoutly, religious fanatic who has systematically sheltered Carrie from a normal childhood.
Kimberly Pierce directed this adaptation. Pierce wonderfully adopts the various new means of bullying of today’s teenage society into the film. It was a welcomed update to the famed novel. For example, during an early scene in the girl’s bathroom Carrie believes she is dying when she spots blood dripping down her legs, not realizing she was getting her “period.” The main antagonist throws tampons at her, while filming the entire event. She then incredulously posts it online and the video goes viral. The bullying exhibited in the film is very reminiscent of the real-life stories in recent news (i.e. Amanda Todd and Rehtaeh Parsons).
Sissy Spacek starred in the original 1976 adaptation. Unlike Spacek who was 27 at the time, Moretz is a teenager herself at only 16 years of age; Chloe’s performance in the film is thus more believable. Moretz and Moore performed very well in the movie. I appreciated the nuances of the mother-daughter relationship. The religious invocations only added a much-needed dimension to the remake.
While I deeply wanted to write this was an admirable remake of a classic movie, I sadly cannot honestly say the movie fits that description. I found the film rather average. It was entirely too simplistic at several points. It probably could have used more scenes to better develop the complicated relationship between Carrie and the main antagonist. It never really is understood why this girl hates her so much.
I felt the movie at times felt more like a procedural horror movie. Many parts were clichéd. I was hoping for some more originality, despite the fact it was an adaptation of a book. The visual and graphic animations were pretty neat. I don’t think they explored the psychic breakdown long enough. It would have been interesting to see more mayhem, similarly to last year’s Chronicle. I wasn’t scared at any point. This really isn’t a horror movie, which is a disappointment since King is known for dark and twisted scenes.
Overall I think you should probably save on watching this at the theaters. The movie has rental written all over it. It certainly is worth that. Maybe I didn’t appreciate the movie as much because I had seen the original.
Let me know what you think of this adaptation.
Running Time: 99 minutes
MPAA Rating: R (bloody violence, disturbing images, language and some sexual content)
My Grade: C+
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