Carrie (2013) Review
THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
It’s hard to redo something special to maintain an interest generations later. Best example is when MGM brought Stephen King’s Carrie back to the big screen.
PLOT
The 2013 adaptation follows the same beats of what was done first in 1976, but is given a 21st century update so bear with me as I recap some familiar moments. Teenager Carrie White has grown up living with her frantically religious mother Margaret. She is a loner at high school and after PE class does she have her first menstrual period. The experience would be traumatizing for her as she never learned of menstruation before. When begging her classmates for help, they instead make fun of her for it by throwing tampons at her and Chris Hargensen records the whole thing on her cellphone. When the PE teacher Miss Rita Desjardin comforts her, she sends her home and excuses her from class for the rest of the week. Carrie would Margaret for never explaining female puberty to her, but her mom claims that menstruation is a sin of its own. She tries to punish her daughter by sending her to the prayer closet, but she discovers her telekinesis as she cracks the door. Desjardin punishes all the girls involved in bullying Carrie, but Chris refuses to take accountability even after posting the incident online, resulting in her suspension that prevents her from going to prom night. The one who regrets it most is Sue Snell who goes out of her way to make things right by having her boyfriend Tommy Ross go out with her on prom night. Although Carrie suspects it to be a prank, Miss Desjardin is able to confirm from Sue & Tommy that it’s not their intention to make things worse. Carrie then stands up to her mom that she is going whether she likes it or not. She even makes her own dress to prepare for a good night before even locking her in the prayer closet as she departs. What she doesn’t know is that Chris plotted with her boyfriend Billy Nolan to drop pig blood on her from the ceiling. They are able to make this happen by having her friends Tina & Jackie slip fake ballots in the voting box for Tommy & Carrie to be prom king & queen. Sue would show up after when getting a text from Chris teasing what she intended to do. By the time she gets there, Desjardin locks her out of the gym due to suspicion. Once the bucket drops on Carrie as planned, Tina plays the same period incident Chris recorded on multiple screens around the gym and everyone except Miss Desjardin laughs. When the bucket fatally strikes Tommy, Carrie uses her powers to kill everyone except her favorite teacher. A fire would break out once an electrical wire merges with leaking water, causing the school to burn. As that happens, Billy tries to run Carrie over before leaving town, but she throws the car at a gas station, killing him and Chris. Once she returns home to bathe herself from the blood, she tearfully tells Margaret what had happened. This gives reason for her mom to reveal she was born of rape and has lived to believe she is a living sin to deal with. She stabs her from behind with a knife, but her daughter defends herself by using her powers to pin her to the door with house tools. This kills Carrie’s mom and as Sue arrives to apologize for what’s happened to her, she lifts her but ultimately pushes her out of the house when sensing her to be pregnant with Tommy’s baby. As her heartache remains hysterical, stones start raining from the sky and she sinks with the house. The film would end in a time jump showing Sue visit Carrie’s grave after giving her testimony of what happened on prom night, but as she leaves, her gravestone starts cracking and screams are emerging from it, alluding of her survival.
THOUGHTS
When I was becoming a teenager, I was totally intrigued of Stephen King’s bibliography turned filmography as it came to show what a beloved versatile writer he’s been to the entertainment industry. When watching the ‘76 classic, I was impressed and did not mind a remake at all. Having also seen past credits from director Kimberly Peirce, I was very optimistic on what the end result would be. Sadly, I didn’t feel super impressed the way I would with Andy Muschietti’s iteration of IT. I think the reason I can’t click with it is because the modernization isn’t enough to impress me. And since it is a remake, there’s not much to change because if it were, it likely would’ve been more infuriating to tolerate. If anything, the stakes felt raised a little bit more off of the use of cyber bullying which is sadly quite common in this climate. But apart from the visual effects making it appear all the more graphic, it’s not as interesting leading up to it. At this point, it’s really the cast that carries this remake to a tea and embraces the theme on how there are consequences to deny empathy and be high on cruelty. Chloe Grace Moretz actually gives a strong performance as the titular lead and what she does differently from Sissy Spacek is seemingly being quicker in going from withdrawn to resilient. Even when you know what’s coming, you can’t help rooting for her in wanting to fit in and having to stick up for herself before things get out of hand. Julianne Moore is also a whole other level of frightening because what she does different from Piper Laurie is how she’s far more unhinged due to how she commits self harm to make her daughter feel bad of herself. Being assaulted has mentally broken her and taking it out on her daughter has not done anything to heal her from the pain not that it ever would. I mean you know she’s diabolical if she actually wanted to kill her the moment she was born before having second thoughts. You still want to believe her death would put her out of misery, yet you still wish they had the chance to heal together. Bullies remain a big aspect of King’s stories and Chris is one of the worst which is no exception here because Portia Doubleday antes it up being so shameless of what she’s doing. For someone so calculating in relishing off of the torment, she’s not really the brightest because she’ll actually say aloud she’s done nothing wrong when everyone knows she fucked up. She sounds stupid the more she denies accountability which is the point and it works because it makes you anticipate her demise all the same. She made no sense claiming Carrie was asking for it since sixth grade when it’s very obvious they’ve never spoken to each other. I don’t even think there was any point of her to text Sue if she didn’t want to get caught. That was dumber than claiming her dad would still sue the principal when the proof of her actions are still out there. She’s screwed either way because had she survived, that text would’ve made her a suspect. I can definitely point out her prank would’ve not happened had the gym been full of surveillance cameras, but she was even dumber to not delete the incident from her phone if she wanted to cover up her tracks. Having an intense boyfriend like Billy played by Alex Russell, you just know she wasn’t gonna regret her actions until it’s too late. The way her face is sticking out of the windshield felt poetic to me because at that point, she understood how scared and vulnerable Carrie was when she panicked of her first period. Moving on, I loved Judy Greer as Miss Desjardin. Her protectiveness towards her was so pleasing because it never feels like we get enough teachers like that. She doesn’t put her hands on Chris this time, yet she still holds her ground on calling her out most on how out of line she was. If she didn’t say anything, Sue would’ve not came around. Speaking of which, Gabriella Wilde was great as Snell because she is first to accept her involvement with Chris was not worth committing. The fact she gives up prom night to make it up to her proves she can make a sacrifice for the greater good. What she wasn’t prepared for was a greater loss that would come from it. In his film debut, Ansel Elgort was as just as great playing Tommy as it’s clear he shares the same opinion Carrie deserves better. He even stands up to a rude teacher that dismissed her reading a John Milton poem. As much as he wanted to have the perfect night with Sue, he too knew Carrie deserved one night to feel good for once. I don’t even know how he or Sue knew where she lived, but that’s enough proof to express how much they care. I just wished Tommy moved or looked up to see the bucket because he could’ve spotted Chris had he done so. Him not doing that bothered me more than how he joked of spiked punch in front of Desjardin. There is an alternate ending of Sue having nightmares of Carrie coming after her when giving birth to her daughter and I honestly think that’s a way better ending than the theatric cliffhanger because there’s no reason to try teasing of going past the source material and sequel bait us when there is no true direction for it at that point. The alternate ending has a fluent jump scare that is great homage to what was done in ‘76 and it’s ideal for Sue to still have nightmares when regretting what had transpired, while also mirroring Margaret’ opening birth sequence. With all that’s happened, I’m sure she’ll still try to be a better mother than Margaret to avoid another Carrie or another Chris in her generation. If you can ignore all said flaws, then you can say 2013’s Carrie is an ideal reboot that gives enough of a balance to bring new audiences in for an iconic story, while still struggling to be different enough to have a stronger interest. Whichever kind of fan you are for this particular Stephen King story, I hope it gives you some satisfaction. If it doesn’t, then stick with the new Prime Video series.
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