Review: ‘Carrie’

Did you see the 1976 “Carrie?” Then you’ve pretty much seen the 2013 “Carrie,” as neither movie diverges much from the original Stephen King novel anyway, so the remake only offers updated effects and a contemporary setting. But they might as well have set the story in the 70’s, it’s all the same thing anyway. So if you liked the first one, this shouldn’t disappoint.

In “Carrie 2K13,” after a birth scene in which the mother(Julianne Moore) behaves as if she doesn’t know what childbirth even is, we jump straight to awkward Carrie White (Chloë Grace Moretz) in high school, getting her first period in the girl’s locker room after gym class and mistaking it for something much worse, and then getting teased and bullied by the other girls in the class, who all throw sanitary napkins at her and call her names and, here’s the 2013 twist-a-roo, take cell phone video of her freaking out (see what they did there? Updating that shit yo!). This starts a chain reaction of events that ends with a prank gone wrong at the school prom that causes Carrie to freak out and use her telekinetic powers to kill everyone.

Oh yeah, Carrie has telekinetic powers.

So it’s a good movie, definitely entertaining, though in the end I am not sure it even needed to be made. It’s not like they added that much more this time around. And this is just as much a remake of the ’76 film as it is a new version of the story based on the book, as this version of “Carrie” actually uses the ending that Brian De Palma wanted to use originally in his film but couldn’t because of budget limitations, as opposed to going with the ending as presented in King’s book.

So all the same stuff is in there. There is the school bullying, which seems more relevant now as it has been something that people are actually more aware of these days and are actively trying to snuff out. And there is the religious zealotry, as Carrie’s mother is religious to the point of nuttiness, with the religion becoming dangerous instead of helpful to the family, and of course there are the old themes of redemption and forgiveness and vengeance, what with mean girl Chris (Portia Doubleday) setting up the prank that ends up getting everyone killed and Sue (Gabriella Wilde) seeking to make good after engaging in behavior she was not proud of and which she wanted to fix.

I do like how this “Carrie” continues the tradition of using mostly 20-year olds to play high school kids. That’s old school.

Of course Chloë Grace Moretz is pretty great as Carrie, but she seems to be quite good in everything she does so this isn’t a surprise.

This movie also managed to pump up the violence a little bit, so look forward to seeing a slow motion face smashing against a steering wheel, as well as a slow motion face breaking through a windshield. Not pretty stuff. And also as a bit of homage to the De Palma film, this time around they got to blow up a gas station, which De Palma wanted to do but couldn’t due to the lack of funds.

So there you have it. If you liked “Carrie,” then you’ll like “Carrie.” If you have not seen the original for whatever reason, just see this one I guess. Or read the book. People don’t read enough these days.