Carrie

Carrie is a remake of a classic horror film adapted from the novel written by Stephen King, and was originally directed by Brian De Palma. this remake is directed by Kimberly Peirce in the year 2013 and was a surprisingly good film in an age where tasteless remakes flooded the movie market. while it does succeed on many levels it never quite matches up with the original. it is difficult to review a remake without drawing comparisons to it's source material, I will try to not linger on comparisons and be as brief as possible in that department.

in technical terms this film sits just a few pegs below the original. De Palma's Carrie had some of the most beautiful cinematography ever filmed for a horror movie. while the camera work in this movie is definitely astounding it never quite lives up to what De Palma could do behind the camera. also the original did a much better job at making the climactic prom scene more surprising and horrific. De Palma slowly built up to that scene with great restraint. where this film showed a lot less restraint in the sense that it uses the powers Carrie has much more frequently and to a greater extent. Sissy Spacek (1976 version) is also much better in the role of Carrie, but Julianne Moore (2013 version) is much better in the role of carrie's mother.

on it's own though this movie stands tall in the departments of acting, sound design, cinematography, lighting and also does a great job of modernizing the story for this generation. Chloe Grace Moretz does an excellent job as Carrie and really allows us to sympathize with her character. being so repressed (both sexually and in the general sense)and controlled while also having to deal with constant bullying and teenage torment. Moretz telegraphs this internal torment and builds it into the unstable and exhausted Carrie that we see after the prom scene perfectly. Julianna Moore really knocks it out of the park as carrier's mother. delivering an amazing performance as the parental figure with insecurities that she chooses to not face by hiding behind her religious beliefs, causing Carrie to suffer. when it comes to the writing not much was changed with regards to the plot, mainly we just get the "benefit" of modern effects. but these effects for the most part fall flat. while yes they look kind of impressive it is far to over the top. Carrie becomes comparable to a superhero. it was more so flashy than horrific. this is where the movie loses major points. the prom scene as well as everything after it ended up being fairly underwhelming.

to top off the review ill say that while the film was definitely a very good and well made movie, key aspects of what made the original so horrific are missing and replaced with over the top CGI, weaker acting (with the exception of Julianne Moore) and weaker cinematography. definitely worth a watch and by all means it is a good movie, (better than just good actually) but it pales in comparison to the masterpiece that is the original film.

the verdict: 7/10