It perhaps isn’t even worth mentioning the remake trend, especially with horror films. We all know about it, it has been around for years and shows no signs of going away. This was a trend during the early days of cinema, and perhaps then it was a bit more accepted and understandable, now though it just feels like no one wants to come up with new ideas. But in the case of CARRIE, it is in a way a remake but it is also another film based on the book. Did we really need a new take on Stephen King’s book or an update on the film? Based on what I have seen here, no we didn’t.
The story here is about Carrie (here played by Chloë Grace Moretz), an outcast at her High School because of her sheltered life. Sheltered because her mother Margaret (Julianne Moore) has kept her that way, due to her own crazed religious beliefs. The other girls and boys at school just don’t like the weird Carrie and especially the girls led by Chris (Portia Doubleday) who just love to torture Carrie. During an incident after gym class, Carrie gets traumatised and embarrassed by the girls, it gets filmed and posted online. During this time Carrie learns that she has the power of telekinesis and everything is about to get a lot crazier as her button gets pushed far too much between her mother and Chris.
It really is the same story as the original film, a few changes here and there but essentially you have seen it before and done much better. I never felt a sense of true meaning here, like I did with the original film. It perhaps isn’t fair to compare them but with so many similarities that it felt more remake than a fresh take on the book, I honestly can’t help it. The original felt more like a cautionary tale on bullying and the consequences of treating your own children poorly and forcing your own beliefs upon them. It actually had something to say and here it just didn’t, Carrie doesn’t feel like she should be that much of an outcast and the hatred towards her is never really explained that well. It is there to move the plot forward and that’s it. Margaret White never feels like a real person either, at least originally there was something there and the performance was just perfect because it wasn’t entirely serious but it wasn’t entirely comical. Here it was just missing something, it never felt right. The third act as well just doesn’t ring right either, it happens for whatever reason and Carrie loses it and it just seems weird. It was well handled and such but it just felt wrong in a way.
The casting here is also a major problem for the most part, Chloë Grace Moretz is a fantastic actress, no doubt about that. However she has been horribly miscast as Carrie, it just does not suit at all. She never feels like a misunderstood outcast, she doesn’t look innocent. Compared to Sissy Spacek, well it doesn’t compare actually, one worked and the other doesn’t. Moretz perhaps would have been more suited to Sue Snell, and it is funny that on paper she seemed like the right choice. Her facial expressions were funny and they shouldn’t have been, as she explored her powers the faces she made actually made me face palm and that isn’t the correct reaction. Julianne Moore as well was miscast. As much as I love and adore her, she is one of my all time favourite actresses, she wasn’t Margaret, not at all. It was way too silly, I could not believe for a second anything she said. Piper Laurie though, you believed her, you believed she was bat shit insane to put it lightly. With Julianne Moore, it was more because the plot said so, and for all the talents both Moore and Moretz have, being miscast with a so-so script, it can’t always be saved. Perhaps the only well cast person was Judy Greer as Ms. Desjardin the Gym Teacher. She felt genuine and very caring for Carrie and her students and certainly could not and would not condone the bullying towards Carrie and herself.
Could this film have worked with a cast that suited their roles? Maybe, but the script just wasn’t that good and for a director like Kimberly Peirce who gave us BOYS DON’T CRY, this is shocking. Honestly I felt like I was watching a post TWILIGHT Catherine Hardwicke film, not a Kimberly Peirce film. With so much potential, it just was thrown away. This could have been a meaningful film, but it really did fail on many levels. Disappointing and pointless.
Rating:
The Super Network 