Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Carrie (2013)

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Posted by Stu Jamieson (Member # 4626) on 12-07-2013, 04:58 PM:

Stephen King's tale of alienation and retribution gets a long-awaited facelift from non-prolific director, Kimberly Peirce. As the director of Boys Don't Cry Peirce knows a thing or two about alienation and social persecution and is a good choice. Peirce delivers a film that is the equal of Brian De Palma's 1976 entry, effectively copying both strengths and it's flaws.

Both films are brilliant depictions of alienation and bullying in the school yard. The tragic figure of Carrie connects with us at a very personal level especially when the outcast achieves a degree of acceptance amongst her peers. Like the 1976 film, however, this edition suffers from an overblown ending. The bloodbath finale bluntly severs the tender connection we have made with Carrie and both films are poorer for it. A smaller scale, lower key ending would better suit this story but given the commercial success of the '76 film, they're hardly going to change the formula here.

The new film has all the tropes of modern horror with all it's unsubtlety and predictability. The introduction of Carrie's powers is handled clunkily; there's no easing into them, it seems she just has them one day for no apparent reason. But the film hits mostly the right notes and predictability is hardly a critical problem in a remake.

Chloë Moretz is wonderful in the titular role even if she's too pretty for it; lacking the unique otherworldly quality which subsequently made Sissy Spacek the poster girl for alienation. Moretz carries the weight of the movie with ease.

Judy Greer is also great as Carrie's sympathetic gym teacher providing welcome compassionate relief from Carrie's horrid day to day toils. She is the audience's proxy in the film, providing the comfort and support to Carrie that we yearn to give her ourselves. Julianne Moore is a little too crazy, however, even for this film; she's Piper Laurie turned up to 15 and it would be nice if we could at least relate to her concerns for her daughter.

Carrie (1976) was always one of the better Stephen King adaptations and, commendably, Peirce's remake is at least it's equal.

7.5 out of 10

Posted by Terry Lynn-Stevens (Member # 7349) on 02-16-2014, 07:01 PM:

I was not interested in watching this in theatres, I just did not find it appealing in anyway. I had never seen the original.

I picked up the DVD and I was pleasantly surprised. It is a much better movie that I thought it would be. I am not sure if today's generation really cares for a storyline like this but Carrie did gross $90 million worldwide on a $30 million budget.

Most of the actors in this movie won't likely go on to anything relevant, sad as it is. But overall the acting was pretty good.