By Kyle Osborne
For once, my fading memory serves me well–thanks to my aging gray matter, combined with the many intervening years since I last saw the 1976 original “Carrie,” directed by Brian DePalma, I am able to review director Kimberly Peirce’s re-make as a stand-alone film. I can judge it on its own merits, rather than spend paragraphs comparing and contrasting. After all, the question is not how well Peirce has adapted DePalma’s previous work, but rather how good a film she has made on her own–this year–for this time. The answer is that Peirce and her writers have artfully realized Stephen King’s story with great skill. This is not your father’s ‘Carrie.’ It’s your daughter’s.
You’ll recall that Carrie White is the outcast, weird ugly duckling whose schoolmates love to bully. Her mother is the batshit crazy, religious loon who is certain that her daughter was sent as punishment from God. Between the bullies at school and the over-bearing Mom at home, poor Carrie can’t catch a break. She is often sent to a closet under the stairs to pray. She knows her verses verbatim, but we can she that she hasn’t bought into the whole apocalyptic view of the sin-filled world.
Now, I do remember how completely freaky Piper Laurie was in the original film, playing Mom–it was a performance that, like other parts of the ’76 film, bordered on camp. The great Julianne Moore is just as effective, but plays the part with naturalistic touches–you believe that this person could (and probably does) exist in the real world. We believe that she could kiss her child one moment, and wish her dead the next. Her clothes, her older sedan–all perfect character details.
Carrie gets her first period while showering in the locker room. Distraught and unsure what’s happening, she can only crouch and cry generic viagra online while the other girls point and shoot–yep, this being 2013, the mean girls record and post the video to youtube. It’s an unbearable humiliation. But Carrie will have her revenge. She discovers that she not only has telekinetic powers–she can fine tune those powers and move objects–sometimes using them as weapons, sometimes just throwing things while having tantrums.And here I’ll simply say that, if you know the story, you know that it’s really just a slow build until the climactic scene when a bucket of blood is poured on our unsuspecting heroine at the prom.It’s a mean move that unleashes her fury and sets in motion (pun intended) a torrent of flying bodies, tables, chairs and anything else that isn’t tied down. She has all she can stand, and it’s time for her to break some shit and have some control over her life.
I have mixed feelings about Chloë Grace Moretz, a phenomenal actress who is always great in her roles. On one hand, she seems too pretty, too ‘together’ to be a victim for so long. Sissy Spacek, and please forgive me for saying this, looked weird back then–kinda spooky. Spacek didn’t look like anyone you would’ve known in real life. Of course, she also didn’t look like a 17 year old kid in high school. Moretz, on the other hand, is much more believable as a young girl who would be flattered to have a cute boy ask her to the prom.
But there I go making comparisons. I don’t know if this new ‘Carrie’ is a film for the ages, but I do know that it’s a film for this time. And way better than the naysayers have predicted for a year. To them I say, “Shut up and watch. And enjoy.”
‘Carrie’ is rated “R” It gets Three out of Four Stars
Sorry, Kyle, but this one is a mediocre re-make that does update but also includes some new items that are pointless (and I’m guessing gave up on trying to re-create the ending).
Watch the original again and see if it is not superior ( “A” vs “B-“).
There you go again making an astute observation in a great review. I recall the first one in the theater too and your recollections are spot on an I will admit I wanted to hate on this for the simple reason that it was another mindless remake. (dramatic sigh)
But I am secretly pleased that it at least pays proper homage to the story and I think in the end that is what matters most. Thanks for the insight.