Originally written October 19, 2013

A remake of Carrie is just one of those things I don’t quite understand why it was done, aside from the obvious modernization. Still, Brian De Palma’s original film adaptation of Carrie in 1976 was an excellent horror film, one that I never thought needed a remake. This 2013 update was originally said to follow the Stephen King book more than remaking the movie, but instead what we got was a movie that follows almost all of the same steps as the original movie did.

For the few that might not be familiar with the story, it follows a teenage girl named Carrie, birthed by a psycho-religious mother that thinks the whole world are sinners and tries to shelter Carrie. Carrie winds up being “the weird girl” at school, and after an embarrassing opening scene in the girl’s locker room where Carrie has her first period in the shower and doesn’t know what it is, she is humiliated in front of the entire school. As if she wasn’t enough of an outcast, Carrie also discovers she possesses telekinetic powers. One girl, Sue, feels bad about what she’s done to Carrie, and to make up for it convinces her boyfriend to take Carrie to prom and show her a good time. However, other girls have it out for Carrie, and needless to say if you aren’t familiar with the famous prom scene, there are extremely disastrous results.

This remake follows all of the same story beats, and so I think the only reason this remake was made was to modernize it. Modern technology gives new ways for the girls to bully Carrie, such as recording her having her period on their phones and posting it on YouTube, stuff that wasn’t around in the 70s. That stuff does give it a little bit of freshness, but not much. I think the big reason director Kimberly Peirce wanted to make this was to show the crazy ending with modern special effects. That’s one area where you can argue the original feels dated, and for this reason we do at least get some very cool looking kills in this remake. It’s awesome to see Carrie flip out in the end using effects not possible before.

Still, in the end I don’t feel like I can say this is a bad movie by any stretch. I actually enjoyed it. Chloë Grace Moretz continues to prove why she’s such a rising young star by giving us her fantastic interpretation on the character of Carrie. She does wonderful in the role, and she alone was the reason I wanted to see this movie. Julianne Moore also does well as Carrie’s mother, although it’s a much different kind of portrayal, and I prefer Piper Laurie in the role so much more. This remake pulls off everything it needs to, as it follows the story well. Its biggest problem is just comparing it to the original, because it falls short. If you’ve never seen the original though, this could be a really great experience for you. It’s just a very safe remake, and didn’t feel like it needed to be updated much, especially since I’d argue this generation’s Carrie was 2012’s Chronicle. Still, despite being unnecessary, this remake wasn’t too bad. I liked it.

3.5/5