Carrie: Movie Review

Brian De Palma’s 1976 adaptation of Stephen King’s “Carrie” is a horror classic, thanks in part to his direction and Sissy Spacek.  The 2013 remake from director Kimberly Peirce is as pointless as most remakes.  If it wasn’t for stars  Chloë Grace Moretz and Julianne More, sitting through “Carrie” would have been a chore.

Carrie White (Moretz) is a shy outcast who spent most of her childhood being home schooled by her mother Margaret (Moore).  Just like in the original, Carrie gets teased by the popular girls and her fear and anger force her to discover the telekinetic that she inherited from her grandfather. 

The biggest problem with the remake is that it seems to rush through the bullying.  We get a group of girls laughing, chanting, & throwing tampons at Carrie while she is going through her first menstrual cycle. Carrie’s mother never explained to her about a young woman’s development.  As terrible as that is, that is really the extent of what happens to “Carrie”, until prom that is.  The prom sequence is the only time “Carrie” seems to have any life in it.

Moore and Moretz are both great, especially in their scenes together.  I just the writers and Peirce would have strayed away from the book and the original film a bit more to give us a truly fresh take.

By: Marc Ferman