My Review of Carrie (2013)

 

Written by Lawrence D. Cohen And Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa

Directed by Kimberly Peirce

Sue: "No! Carrie please don't hurt me."

Carrie: "Why not? I've been hurt my whole life."

Last week, I reviewed both The Rage: Carrie 2 and Carrie (2002) and neither of them held a candle to the original. Suffice to say, this one doesn't either. It's also no better or worse I guess. Just rather lacklustre by comparison.

On the plus side, you've got both Chloë Grace Moretz and Julianne Moore as Carrie and Margaret White respectively. Both are well cast and both do their best with the material that's on offer here. Neither are able to elevate it though.

Again, Carrie's a social outcast under the guardianship of her religious mother. She's a figure of ridicule and scorn by the needlessly mean spirited Chris Hargensen (Portia Doubleday) while finding an ally in Sue Snell (Gabrielle Wilde) and Miss Desjardin (Judy Greer). 

As this is the the third film version of this book, events played out as they were expected to play out. Carrie went to the prom with Sue's well meaning boyfriend, Tommy Ross (Ansel Elgort) and then Chris and Billy Nolan (Alex Russell) had to ruin her special night.

The prom scenes and it's aftermath are handled well enough. There's the usual comeuppance for Chris and Billy and a rather dramatic ending for Margaret. Then there's Sue being pregnant, which certainly complicated things between her and Carrie.

The Carrie and Sue plot was a nice twist for this version of the movie. As for Carrie, this one seemed to imply that while everyone else believed her dead, she was actually alive. I didn't mind that for the character.

- An alternative scene included Sue going into labour with Carrie's arm grabbing her. It turned out to be a nightmare.

- This is the only film to actually feature Sue being pregnant. Both 1976;and 2002 versions didn't.

- Standout music: Lord Huron's End Of The Earth.

- Chronology: Set in 2013, Maine.

Carrie (2013) isn't the worst modern day remake of a classic movie. It's on a par with the 2002 effort and both Chloë Grace Moretz and Julianne Moore do a solid job here.

Rating: 6 out of 10