So I saw the midnight screening of this film with my friend last week, and although we were super drowsy and we slept in the car while waiting for the clock to strike half past eleven, once the popcorn was in my mouth, I became super excited. Like, super. I know this movie was a remake of the 1976 version and was also based on Stephen King's eponymous novel, so there wasn't any surprises or anything. I know about the pig's blood, the prom, the fire, and if I didn't, the trailer was basically a wrap up of the entire film. Trailers these days, huh?
Let's get to it:
Spoiler Alert.
The movie tells the tale of Carrie White (Chloe Moretz), a timid high school senior who is misinformed about life due to her upbringing. Case in point, she didn't know she had her period, and ended up screaming for help in the girls locker room, so all the girls started throwing tampons/pads at her. Her mother, Margaret White (Julianne Moore), is a pious woman, and that's an understatement. She's mad religious, like 1+2 = Jesus religious. The girls who were mean to Carrie are punished by Ms. Desjardin (Judy Greer), the gym teacher, who promptly made the girls do a lot of running (suicides were the death of me back then, too) to make up for their bitchiness. A popular and promiscuous girl, Chris Hargensen (Portia Doubleday), decides that they didn't do anything wrong to Carrie and refuses to run. So Ms. Desjardin bans her from prom, and Chris runs off, seemingly defeated. Meanwhile, Carrie realizes that when she concentrates hard enough, she can make things move. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, she has telekinesis. She starts reading up about it and practicing it until she could lift up her own bed. Then, another popular girl, Sue Snell (Gabriella Wilde), who's genuinely nice, pleads for her prom date, Tommy Ross (Ansel Elgort) to ask Carrie to prom instead. Reluctantly, Tommy says yes, and Carrie agrees, albeit apprehensively. When Carrie is about to leave for prom, her mother refuses to let her go, and Carrie has to lock her mother in the praying closet and locks her in there with her telekinetic abilities. Carrie goes to prom with Tommy, they both have a great time, and are voted prom King and Queen. But when they're on stage, Carrie gets doused with pig's blood, and the bucket falls on Tommy's head and renders him unconscious. Chris and her boyfriend, who pulled the rope that connects to the bucket, runs off in his car. Inside the school gym, Carrie burns everyone with her powers. Everyone except Ms. Desjardin and a few other people. Sue Snell, who got a text message from Chris before the fiasco, witnesses the entire thing from a distance when she tried to warn Carrie. Carrie hovers out of the school and kills Chris and her boyfriend in his car. She then walks home, bathes, and apologizes to her mother, who has escaped from the closet by clawing her way out (well, shit). Her mother asks for Carrie to pray with her, and this time, Carrie agrees wholeheartedly. But not before her mother stabs her in the back with a large knife. But before she could stab her again, Carrie uses her powers to stab her mother with kitchen knives, pinning her to the wall. When she realizes what she's done, Carrie takes the knives out from her mother, and holds her mother's dead body in her arms, crying. Sue runs in, wanting to help, but before Carrie could kill her, she realizes that Sue is pregnant, so she softly pushes Sue out of the house with her powers where she lands softly on the ground. Using her amazing telekinetic abilities, Carrie buries the entire house to the ground, killing herself and her mother.
The movie tells the tale of Carrie White (Chloe Moretz), a timid high school senior who is misinformed about life due to her upbringing. Case in point, she didn't know she had her period, and ended up screaming for help in the girls locker room, so all the girls started throwing tampons/pads at her. Her mother, Margaret White (Julianne Moore), is a pious woman, and that's an understatement. She's mad religious, like 1+2 = Jesus religious. The girls who were mean to Carrie are punished by Ms. Desjardin (Judy Greer), the gym teacher, who promptly made the girls do a lot of running (suicides were the death of me back then, too) to make up for their bitchiness. A popular and promiscuous girl, Chris Hargensen (Portia Doubleday), decides that they didn't do anything wrong to Carrie and refuses to run. So Ms. Desjardin bans her from prom, and Chris runs off, seemingly defeated. Meanwhile, Carrie realizes that when she concentrates hard enough, she can make things move. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, she has telekinesis. She starts reading up about it and practicing it until she could lift up her own bed. Then, another popular girl, Sue Snell (Gabriella Wilde), who's genuinely nice, pleads for her prom date, Tommy Ross (Ansel Elgort) to ask Carrie to prom instead. Reluctantly, Tommy says yes, and Carrie agrees, albeit apprehensively. When Carrie is about to leave for prom, her mother refuses to let her go, and Carrie has to lock her mother in the praying closet and locks her in there with her telekinetic abilities. Carrie goes to prom with Tommy, they both have a great time, and are voted prom King and Queen. But when they're on stage, Carrie gets doused with pig's blood, and the bucket falls on Tommy's head and renders him unconscious. Chris and her boyfriend, who pulled the rope that connects to the bucket, runs off in his car. Inside the school gym, Carrie burns everyone with her powers. Everyone except Ms. Desjardin and a few other people. Sue Snell, who got a text message from Chris before the fiasco, witnesses the entire thing from a distance when she tried to warn Carrie. Carrie hovers out of the school and kills Chris and her boyfriend in his car. She then walks home, bathes, and apologizes to her mother, who has escaped from the closet by clawing her way out (well, shit). Her mother asks for Carrie to pray with her, and this time, Carrie agrees wholeheartedly. But not before her mother stabs her in the back with a large knife. But before she could stab her again, Carrie uses her powers to stab her mother with kitchen knives, pinning her to the wall. When she realizes what she's done, Carrie takes the knives out from her mother, and holds her mother's dead body in her arms, crying. Sue runs in, wanting to help, but before Carrie could kill her, she realizes that Sue is pregnant, so she softly pushes Sue out of the house with her powers where she lands softly on the ground. Using her amazing telekinetic abilities, Carrie buries the entire house to the ground, killing herself and her mother.
The movie was a classical horror film. After all, it was written back in 1974. I thought that Julianne Moore nailed the part. Hands down, she was the star of the film. She possessed that kind of dementedness (which is a word, I had to check) that was irrevocably creepy. No, seriously, I cannot look at her the same way anymore. Her beautiful red hair became a frizzy mane, as if she was constantly touching a Van de Graaff generator. But you know how some actresses have become just that? Actresses? Like, you can't look at them as that character they're playing but as Julianne Moore playing Emily Weaver (Crazy, Stupid, Love) or Linda Patridge (Magnolia). Well, in this role, I totally saw her as Margaret White. Sure, at first it was Julianne Moore playing Margaret White, but after awhile she seamless blended into that character. And holy cow was she spot on playing the creepy Christian fanatic mother. I only wonder if that's what my extra-Christian high school teachers do when they're at home. A moment of silence for their kids who have to pray in a tiny closet.
Now, moving on to Chloe Grace Moretz. Ah Chloe! I first saw her in The Amityville Horror as the cute little daughter of Ryan Gosling, and then as Rachel in (500) Days of Summer, then Hit Girl (Kick-Ass) and then Abby (Let Me In), Luli (Hick), and Isabelle (Hugo). I'm a big fan of Chloe. I think she's amazing, and don't tell me that you didn't have a huge crush on Hit Girl. I know a lot of my guy friends felt a little pedophilic when they found out she was still 12. Now, with all my love for Chloe, I didn't think she was a good fit for Carrie. She was great in it, good acting and all, but physically? Chloe is way too cute and charming. Even when she was walking around with her shoulders hunched and her hair all frizzy, she still looked stunning. She didn't have that eeriness that Sissy Spacek inherently had back in the 1976 film.
Speaking of the original film, I just watched the old Carrie film after a suggestion from my colleague. And by "just" I mean, I just finished watching it not half an hour ago. I was pleasantly surprised at the similarities between the two films. I believe that the original 1976 film's remake was pretty close to the book. I think back in the old days, when they want to make a film adaptation, they don't fuck around and they stick it to the book. But now, screenwriters think they can add little quips here and there, make a scene more dramatic, more special effects, all that fluff that you really don't need. Screenwriters are feeding the audience with bullshit nowadays and I'm not saying that because I'm a film major and I've had the pleasure of watching a buttload of Criterion Collection films, but because it's true. Okay, maybe it is because I'm a film major. But what can I do? I can't not be a snob. Bring on the hipster glasses and red scarf! There. *sticks nose up in the air*
I thought the modern Carrie would be very loosely adapted from the book, but man, they stuck to it. See, nearly all of lines from the modern Carrie were verbatim with the original one (which means it's exactly like the novel). Even some of the shots were exactly the same! I couldn't believe it. Both films were so similar in terms of the screenplay, which was refreshing, I guess, to see a film so close to the book. I hope that The Fault In Our Stars will be very closely adapted from the book or else I will lose my shit. Speaking of The Fault In Our Stars, Ansel Elgort who will play Augustus Waters is also in this film as the handsome Tommy Ross. Needless to say I fell in love with Ansel.
Anyway, in the original Carrie, Sissy Spacek played Carrie, and Piper Laurie played Margaret White. I thought Sissy hit it out of the park. She was amazing playing the awkward teenager. She was beautiful in that unconventional way. She was a believable oddball, unlike Chloe. But I thought Julianne played Margaret White better than Piper. Okay, don't kill me, all you film snobs. But I think that Julianne and Sissy would make a great team. Piper had those neotenic traits that didn't suit the part, and it was hard to take her seriously. Her face lacked the enervation and the only thing she got going on for her was the creepy timbre of her voice. She was good, don't get me wrong, but Julianne did a better job.
All in all, it was a 6.9/10 for me. There were hits and misses. Technical aspects were good, but the casting wasn't quite right. The wrong casting for the lead character? Yeah, major mistake. My fellow colleague slash film aficionado agreed with me, so I guess it's not just me.
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