Review by Tracey Barrientos
If you’ve got a taste for terror…take Carrie to the Prom.”
Chloe Grace Moretz plays Carrie, an extremely shy outcast who is bullied by her peers for being “strange” and “different”. Her mother Margaret White (Julian Moore) is an overprotective and a religious extremist who uses her strange beliefs in the form of abuse on her daughter Carrie. Like all teens, Carrie would very much like to be normal and fit in. Her mothers crazy religious beliefs keeps her from teaching Carrie the basics of becoming a woman in the hopes that she will be kept “pure”.
The schools gym teacher Mrs Desjardin (Judy Greer) takes a liking to Carrie and tries to keep her protected from popular mean girls, Chris Hargenson (Portia Doubleday) who is the “leader of the pack” and Sue Snell (Gabrielle Wilde). Sue soon regrets her actions towards Carrie and though Chris does not, Sue devises a plan to be able to make it up to Carrie. Sue asks her boyfriend Tommy Ross (Ansel Elgort) to do her a favor by taking Carrie to the prom and showing her a magical night. When Carrie is pushed too far by her peers she unleashes telekinetic powers over all who have hurt her.
Most fans of horror know all too well about Carrie. This could be the fact that the film itself has been reimagined twice . The 1976 version won an Oscar Nomination for Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie. It was well deserved then and may be well deserved now for the young Chloe who has been making great strides in her acting career since the Amityvile horror. She does a great job at embodying the archetypal superhero kind of character. Julian Moore is perfect in the role of Carrie’s mom, adding more creepiness to the character. This adaption by director Kimberly Pierce (Stop Loss, Boys Don’t Cry) is kept closer to Mr. King’s novel. Pierce makes the audience fall in love with Carrie and wants to see her succeed in her power and in herself.
Though the movie stays closer to the novel it still doesn’t stray far from it’s two predecessors. Pierce’ is my preferred version as she uses more modern effects and we can now visually see Carrie’s powers come to life instead of just burrowing eyes hinting towards powers that are being used. This film is perfect for any horror fan and those that like a great vengeful story about a girl who wanted to just be normal.
4 out of 5 gallons of blood!
Second Review by
Gabbie Colageo
Based on best-selling author Stephen King’s novel of the same name, here comes a theatrical reboot of Carrie. In this remake of the 1976 movie classic, just like the original, the story focuses on Carrie White (Chloë Grace Moretz), a socially deprived young outcast who was raised by an extremely religious and overprotective mother, Margaret White (Julianne Moore).
The movie starts when mean girl Chris Hargensen (Portia Doubleday) films a video in the girls’ locker rooms that involved Chris and her friends bullying Carrie. Luckily Ms. Desjardin (Judy Geer) steps in to tell the girls to leave Carrie alone. Even Su Snell (Gabrielle Wilde) Chris’ right-hand girl, feels extreme guilty and asks her boyfriend Tommy Ross ( Ansel Elgort) to take Carrie to prom to make up for the bullying incident.
While Carrie goes though the torment at school she is slowly finding out she has telekinetic powers and begins to research and practice them. This all leads up to Chris posting the video of the bullying online, for which Chris gets her prom privileges taken away. Unfortunately Chris doesn’t like the outcome of her punishment and decides to make sure Carrie White gets what she deserves. Little does Chris know that Carrie is about to snap and when she does, chaos and destruction follow.
As remakes go this movie was just okay. I expected it to be a little scarier but it wasn’t a total bust. There were some pretty intense scenes and some of the scarier bits were more psychological than gory. As for the storyline it pretty much follows the same story line as the original but it has its differences. The effects in this movie were really well done; all the scenes where Carrie would practice her powers were very seamless and looked believable.
The acting in the movie was solid as well. The pacing drew the moviegoer in the beginning. Sadly the spell waned. Also while the scenes were seamless, when Carrie used her powers her movements appeared awkward and a bit uncomfortable. Still, if you are in the mood for a retold story that’s loyal to the original, I would recommend this movie because it was entertaining. If you’re expecting gore or a scary thriller, this would not be that movie.
2.5/5 stars
