Upon hearing that there was a remake of Stephen King’s Carrie coming out later this year, I felt the strange desire within myself to go back and watch the original. As a young teen, I was a huge King fan, although I never ended up reading Carrie for some reason. The movie, at least as far as my memory served, was a scary film and it lurked in the back of my mind as some sort of horror classic. Now that I've gone back and rewatched it, I realize that I have been under a serious delusion all these years.
Fans of the original will no doubt take offense to what I am about to say, since I’m really about ready to rip holes in this old flick. If the opinions at Rotten Tomatoes are to be believed, the 1976 Carrie sits firmly at 91 percent (that’s three percent more than they give the original Alien, btw). Aside from a few highlights, however, I can’t understand how this film could have scored so high other than from a sense of nostalgia.
The film, if you’re unfamiliar with it, revolves around the tale of a girl who is an outcast at school. Her mother is a crazy religious nut who even keeps the knowledge that women have periods from her, leading to some very uncomfortable results for the titular character. It isn't long, however, before Carrie realizes that she has an ability that others do not - the power to move things with her mind. Using her telekinesis, Carrie begins to take control of her own life, sometimes in very aggressive ways.
As the story unfolds, Carrie gets invited to the prom by one of the dreamiest hunks in school. This is set up by a girl who feels guilty about the way most of the other girls treat Carrie and wants to help her have a good time for once. Unfortunately, there is another girl plotting and she plans on making the prom the worst experience in Carrie’s life. Carrie subsequently goes nuts and uses her powers to tear up the town (and kill more than a few people).
First I will start with the movie’s high points. Sissy Spacek does an absolutely amazing job as Carrie. There really could have been no one better. She plays both the outsider and the aggressor with equal skill and her performance culminates when the madness fully sets in. She is a scary woman, for sure. There’s a reason that Spacek got an Academy Award nomination for this role.
Her mother, played by Piper Laurie, also received an award nom, though I have to wonder why. She does an amazing job with the final scene, though through most of the film she seems very lukewarm. I’m not sure exactly how crazy this woman is because she never goes outside of a certain range. It could have something to do with the rest of the film, particularly the editing, but it’s hard to tell. I wasn’t impressed. The rest of the acting crew does a decent job, some better and some worse.
As for the directing, courtesy of Brian De Palma (Scarface), it just doesn’t work. He goes from great scenes of character interaction to seemingly random 3-5 second scenes that feel like they have nothing to do with the film. The character progression of Carrie from shy girl to power-mad girl is so abrupt that it’s almost as if there’s a good 20 minutes left out of the middle of the film. Considering how amazing Scarface was, I have to wonder whether De Palma needed an extra hour to make this film properly.
As it stands, it is way too reminiscent of the typical B-horror film that was prevalent during the early 70s. Perhaps the reason it got such good reviews is because it did take the time to develop Carrie as a character at least a little. But I was still left feeling like I had to grind through repeated 5-minute stretches of pointless movie bits to reach the actual story.
Being as how it’s been nearly 30 years now, the people in Hollywood have deemed it a good time to produce a remake, which will be arriving in theaters come October 18th of this year. Considering that the original 1976 really didn’t impress me, I’m going to head down to buy my ticket eagerly. If they stick closer to King’s novel, as has been promised, we may get a better rendition. Although, even though I love Chloe Grace Moretz as a rising actress, I don’t think she has a chance in hell of beating out Spacek’s performance. Let’s hope the rest of the film makes up for that.
Check out the trailer for the remake below and see what you think:
Carrie TRAILER 1 (2013) - Chloe Moretz, Julianne Moore Horror Remake HD
Carrie poster courtesy of cafepress.com
Carrie (2013) trailer courtesy of MovieclipsCOMINGSOON
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