Okay, there was one clever update: I laughed when the girl whipped out her cell phone in the shower scene and started making a video of naked, bloody, screaming Carrie on the floor... that was certainly a credible thing for a smug teenager to do in the year 2013. Other than that, this remake fell flat.
The girl who played Carrie had a constant wild, bug-eyed stare as she moved around the high school that was so over-the-top it didn't even pass as acting. No bullied girl looks like that, unless she finds herself walking into an active ambush. Sissy Spacek knew that: she played Carrie almost folded in upon herself, head down, books clutched tight to chest, just trying to get from Point A to Point B without making eye contact with anyone or being noticed at all... a tremendously effective choice.
Julianne Moore as Margaret White was okay, and probably the best actor in the movie, but I missed the wonderful Piper Laurie. The actors playing the other teens were all completely, totally, and immediately forgettable.
There were a few random strange things that didn't track with me. The area around the high school didn't look at all like Maine, but being from Maine I'm used to that. The big climax at the end involved hundreds of round rocks falling down, presumably from the upper stories of the house... which was a frame house. Possibly the rocks were supposed to have come from the skies, but that wasn't made clear and it just looked like the wrong kind of building materials were crashing down.
This movie was a curiosity, nothing more. I watched the original right afterwards to get the bad taste out of my mouth. In addition to the previously-mentioned original cast, Nancy Allen rocked the part of nasty Chris, William Katt was such an appealing Tommy, PJ Soles shone as Norma, and John Travolta was a perfect boneheaded Billy. Personally I think Amy Irving's part could have been played by many other actresses with an equally successful result, but she was okay too.
Skip this one; go to the original.
The girl who played Carrie had a constant wild, bug-eyed stare as she moved around the high school that was so over-the-top it didn't even pass as acting. No bullied girl looks like that, unless she finds herself walking into an active ambush. Sissy Spacek knew that: she played Carrie almost folded in upon herself, head down, books clutched tight to chest, just trying to get from Point A to Point B without making eye contact with anyone or being noticed at all... a tremendously effective choice.
Julianne Moore as Margaret White was okay, and probably the best actor in the movie, but I missed the wonderful Piper Laurie. The actors playing the other teens were all completely, totally, and immediately forgettable.
There were a few random strange things that didn't track with me. The area around the high school didn't look at all like Maine, but being from Maine I'm used to that. The big climax at the end involved hundreds of round rocks falling down, presumably from the upper stories of the house... which was a frame house. Possibly the rocks were supposed to have come from the skies, but that wasn't made clear and it just looked like the wrong kind of building materials were crashing down.
This movie was a curiosity, nothing more. I watched the original right afterwards to get the bad taste out of my mouth. In addition to the previously-mentioned original cast, Nancy Allen rocked the part of nasty Chris, William Katt was such an appealing Tommy, PJ Soles shone as Norma, and John Travolta was a perfect boneheaded Billy. Personally I think Amy Irving's part could have been played by many other actresses with an equally successful result, but she was okay too.
Skip this one; go to the original.