We can all agree that being a high school student is tough. It is hard enough dealing with relationships, schoolwork, and finding your own identity. Then throw in telekinetic powers, a vengeful queen bee, and a religious fanatic for a mother and you have entered the world of Carrie White (Chloe Grace Moretz).
As a fan of horror movies, I was disappointed with this updated version of Stephen King’s novel “Carrie” which has been transported from the seventies to today’s society.
Director Kimberly Peirce said in an article from The New York Times that she “wanted to get inside this girl’s journey. And particularly her bond with her mother, which was huge for me.”
However, there are weird camera angles that made certain scenes appear, for a lack of a better word, awkward and brought me out as a viewer. For example, there are multiple times when the camera is facing upward, getting a lovely shot of Carrie’s nostrils instead of her face during key moments when she is breaking ground in her character development. Those points were made to be point-of-view to create the fly-on-the wall effect, but it did not achieve that goal.
Overall the plot moved at a decent pace. There were some stagnant scenes that were not featured in the original, which helped the plot move fluidly. However, most of the film seemed a little too light-hearted leading up to a few gory moments that left me nauseous, more than they left me on the edge of my seat. The comedic scenes did break up the little suspense the film had, but this movie felt more like a sequel to “Mean Girls” than a horror flick.
There was not much tension built up. There were key scenes that could have been emphasized more in the story. In the original version, when Sissy Spacek gets the pig blood poured on her, the crowd goes silent, and red lights are shone on the actress’s face. There is dead silence with the exception of the buzzing red lights, emphasizing her enraged crystal blue eyes as the camera comes in for a close up. That image, when first I saw it at age thirteen, gave me nightmares for a week. There was nothing of that intensity or suspense in this version.
However, there is one aspect that was highly improved from the original movie. In the 1976 version, the characters seemed one-dimensional. Chris was simply the mean girl, Carrie was the bullied outcast, Margaret was the crazy, strict religious mother, and Sue was the hero to the rescue. In this newer version, each has their own story to tell to explain their actions, each portraying the good and bad.
In the article from the Times, Julianne Moore mentions that “No one is a villain in their own story…One of Kim’s great strengths as a person and a director is that she gets that.” Peirce does translate that on-screen with her choice of cast.
Chloe Grace Mortez did an adequate job as the scared, naïve outcast just looking for a place to belong. She maintained a sweetness about her that kept me rooting for her as she dealt with different situations between her home and personal life.
Her co-star Julianne Moore, did a fantastic job playing the role of Carrie’s extremely strict and religious mother. The intensity she brings on screen with her personal torment and outlandish actions kept me wondering in suspense of what might happen next.
Judy Greer also did well playing the character of Ms. Desjardin, who is Carrie’s gym teacher and later confidant.
This version of “Carrie” would earn a B- as a scary film, which was rated R for scenes of graphic gore and adult content. If you want to see something for Halloween without needing to sleep with all your lights on for a week, then this might a good pick.
PHOTO TAKEN from facebook.com/CarrieMovie
