Carrie

Year: 2013

Genre: Horror. 

'You were warned never to push Carrie to the limits. Now you must face the consequences'

Hollywood seems to have an obsession in recent times with remaking some of the horror classics from the 70's and 80's. Sadly, their quality is usually entirely inferior to the original. There are exceptions of course, but in most cases, few have managed to capture the tone of what many regard to be horror's golden years, 1975 - 1985. 

Being a long standing fan of the genre however, and after what seems like an eternity of reviewing big budget Hollywood blockbusters, I thought it was about time I got my teeth back into some low budget horror and caught up on a couple of films I missed out on last year

So here were have the most recent of these remakes, 'Carrie', a modern take on the 1976 Brian de Palma film adaption of Stephen King's first novel that was released around Halloween last year. For those unfamiliar with the story, Chloë Grace Moretz plays Carrie White, a timid 17-year-old teenager who is abused by some unrealistically cruel contemporaries and an obsessively evangelical Mother played by an excellent Julianne Moore. As the story progresses, Carrie gradually discovers she has telekinetic powers, and gets pushed to the limit on the night of her school's prom by a humiliating prank. 

So has Kimberly Peirce improved on the De Palma original? Almost a shot for shot remake, she treads very carefully as not to annoy fans of the book and the core horror enthusiasts alike. Unfortunately, the vast majority of the movie is very low on actual scares, the only real unnerving scenes featuring Moore as Carries's self harming abusive Mother. Consequently, the film predominantly becomes a vehicle for teenage angst, and the dangers of cyberbullying. Is this a bad thing? I suppose we must applaud Peirce for rocketing Carrie into the 21st century (You Tube features in one scene) but she seems to have forgotten this is ultimately a Stephen King story, and when held up against the likes of 'It', 'Misery', and 'Pet Sematary', falls flat on its face when it comes to genuinely scary moments. 

Grace Moretz is also wooden to the point of being robotic in some later scenes, but I suppose you could put this down to acting experience as Sissy Spacek was some five years older than her when she played the character in 1976. 

If you've seen the original, there is no need to sit through Pierce's modern interpretation of 'Carrie'. If however, you've never heard of the character, or were born some twenty years after the release of the 76 version, you may find enjoyment in her story, albeit a not very scary one. 

An unsatisfying 2.5 stars, but probably 3.5 if you're a bit more in the age range of the target audience.