Little Miss Horror Nerd’s Little Horror Blog 28

CREEPY CARRIE?  MORE LIKE HOT CARRIE!

The 2013 remake of Carrie was the second remake of the original film Carrie, released in 1976 and  based on the novel by Stephen King. Carrie 2013 was released to theaters on October 18, 2013 and to DVD on January 14, 2014. This adaptation was directed by Kimberly Peirce who also directed the 1999 movie Boys Don’t Cry. Chloe Grace Moretz portrays Carrie White and her mother Margaret is portrayed by Julianne Moore.

The story revolves around Carrie White and her single mother, Margaret. Carrie is an only child. Unfortunately for Carrie, her mother is a religious fanatic and uses this to justify the physical and emotional abuse she heaps on Carrie. Sadly, as a result of Margaret’s horrible parenting Carrie grows up to be a social outcast. She becomes a victim of bullying (Ed Note: #yourfavoriteantibullyingcampaignhere) at school. However, once she discovers her powers of telekinesis everything begins to change for her and not for the better.

I read the novel 20 years ago and it has been years since I have seen the original Carrie but I loved them both. The book is one of my favorite Stephen King novels.  I also saw the 2002 TV remake of Carrie but do not recall any of it so it obviously made no impression on me (Ed Note: Or more like a rant, if you will — this is the reason that remakes do not matter. 99% of them are just there and make no impression on anyone). I could not imagine how the original film with Sissy Spacek as Carrie could be improved upon. My editor will say it couldn’t be.

Although I love Chloe Grace Moretz and have enjoyed her performance in at least one other horror movie I believe she was miscast here. Unfortunately, for the viewers but fortunately for her (Ed Note: And her boyfriend) she is just too hot to be Carrie. Even though they attempted to make her frumpy for the first quarter of the movie they did not try hard enough ( makeup, wardrobe?  HELLO!). If bad hair and bad fashion made women automatically ugly there would be an awful lot of ugly women out there!

Once her powers really start to kick in she goes from scraggly hair/no makeup in the bathroom to blowout and lip gloss in the next scene. Huh? If you have read the novel or seen the 1976 film you know Carrie is weird looking, awkward and pimply even on prom night! It just doesn’t work with Chloe but I give her an “A” for effort.

Julianne Moore as Margaret made more sense and she was effectively creepy. I cringed several times when Margaret was shown cutting up or digging at her arms. In this film, the kids bullying Carrie were not as believable and the situation just didn’t have that sinister vibe that book and 1976 film had. Obviously, no Academy Award nominations for this cast. Despite its flaws the movie was not boring and I really liked the last 20 minutes which includes the gym scene where Carrie is humiliated in front of the whole school.

Overall, I did like the film and really loved the gym scenes.

LITTLE MISS HORROR NERD’S RATING: 3 out of 5

TRIVIA:

— Jodie Foster was considered for the role of Margaret.

— This is the first adaptation in which Carrie is played by teenager. Chloë Grace Moretz was 15 during filming. Sissy Spacek and Angela Bettis, were 26 and 28 when they played Carrie.

— The gas station explosion was done practically and Chloe was inserted into those scenes later.