If there ever was a remake/reboot/re-adaptation of source material that felt unnecessary from the get go it has to be 2013’s Carrie. Originally a Stephen King novel turned into horror film staple by Brian De Palma, Kimberly Peirce took another stab at the material with a rising star attached to it. Chloe Grace Moretz is an interesting choice for the role, of course, but the new version of Carrie takes the same premise as De Palma’s film and does very little with it.
The premise is the same. Carrie (Moretz) is a teenager who’s the profound victim of bullies in high school. She’s also a telekinetic, able to move things with her mind, and comes from an abusive household. Her mother (Julianne Moore) is a religious nut who believes Carrie is possessed by demons. What follows is the ultimate in revenge stories as a young and troubled girl winds up taking revenge on all those who have wronged her in one singularly powerful moment.
The problem is that while the film is a faithful adaptation of the novel, taking the spirit of it and making some changes from the 1976 adaptation, it doesn’t really give us anything new or insightful into the story. There’s so much more that could be discussed, especially with the nature of the way we view childhood and bullying these days, that doesn’t get touched upon.
The story of Carrie hasn’t changed but the way we view it has.
There’s so many different things that could be done with this and all that’s given is a fairly perfunctory telling of a story several decades old, updated just enough to make it contemporary but adding nothing new to it. It’s the equivalent to Gus Van Sant’s Psycho remake: perfunctory and visually stimulating but soulless on most levels.
There’s a commentary track from Peirce, a number of EPK pieces and an alternate ending that doesn’t do much. A number of deleted/alternate scenes are included as well.
MGM presents Carrie. Directed by Kimberly Peirce. Written by Lawrence D. Cohen and Robert Aguirre, based on the novel “Carrie” by Stephen King. Starring Chloe Grace Moretz, Julianne Moore, Gabriella Wilde, Portia Doubleday, Ansel Elgort, Judy Greerz. Running time: 100 minutes. Rated R. Released: January 14, 2014.
