So, I read Stephen King’s debut novel, Carrie, earlier this year, and after reading it I thought it would be fun to watch all of the different movie adaptations of it. There have been three main movie adaptations of the story so far: the original 1976 version, a 2002 remake, and a 2013 remake. I had already previously seen the 1976 and 2013 versions, but I hadn’t seen this 2002 version ever, so I didn’t know what to expect going into it. The thing about this version that you’re going to want to know is that it’s a TV movie, so we’re dealing with a much smaller budget, and as a result much worse effects.

And that really is what’s most jarring about this version of Carrie when you start it. It looks so much like a TV movie, and so I kind of had this weird disconnect starting out with it. Even in the opening of the movie, there’s a shot of the title on screen with CGI meteors falling from the sky, and the CGI looks so terrible that it’s hard to believe anyone let this be released. And for what it’s worth, I think that this is easily the worst thing about this version of Carrie. The special effects and cinematography probably didn’t even look good at the time, but they definitely don’t hold up well at all nowadays. Everything looks fake and ugly, and until you get used to the overall aesthetic of the movie, it’s hard to get into. However, I can personally forgive all of this since I’m aware it was made for TV. It’s just definitely something that drags the movie down.

Past that, though…if I’m being honest, I liked this version way more than I expected to. For anyone that’s a fan of the Carrie book, I think one of the movie’s biggest strengths is that it’s most true to the book (at least until the ending, which unfortunately deviates heavily). This version includes many things that the original 1976 movie left out, such as flashback scenes of Carrie as a child, and aftermath interview scenes about what happened at prom. And while I wish I could have seen this done in a movie with better special effects, this version shows the full scale of Carrie’s destruction more than any of the others, with scenes of her actually tearing apart the town. If you’re a book purist, this is the definitive version of the story.

The other thing that really surprised me was how much I loved Angela Bettis’s performance as Carrie. I really haven’t seen this actress in much else, with the only thing that I truly remember her being in as a very minor role in the TV series Dexter. However, with no disrespect to Sissy Spacek’s original amazing portrayal of the character, I think Angela Bettis might be the best person to ever take on this role. Bettis is so believable as someone that would be the weird social outcast, and who would become unhinged enough to snap and kill everyone. I’ll admit that a lot of the rest of the cast leaves a little bit to be desired with their performances, but Angela Bettis did a really amazing job playing Carrie in this.

Some people won’t be able to get past the made-for-TV nature of this version of Carrie, and I can definitely understand that. I thought the movie was going to be really bad a few minutes into it. However, once I got sucked into it, I thought it was really well done. I still think that the original 1976 version is an overall better movie, but I was surprised that there were certain elements of this 2002 version that I thought were actually done better. In the end, I think that if you only care enough about the story to watch one version of the movie, I still think you should go watch the original instead, but for anyone that’s already done that and is willing to see another interpretation of it, I think this one is worth checking out.

4/5