This Review is by no means a Plagiarised Work as it was Originally Written for Neon Maniacs by myself
Light your torches and grab your Pitchforks. Hollywood is
once again remaking its past with yet another retelling of Stephen King’s
classic tale of High School Terror Carrie. With three adaptations
already in the ether - including the classic 1976 film Directed by Brian
DePalma - it’s hard not to ponder the question of why bother remaking it at
all? Unfortunately, that is the million-dollar question for which Director
Kimberly Pierce cannot justify with an answer.
A painfully shy teenage girl outcast and bullied without
mercy by her peers is Carrie White. One day, while showering after Gym Class,
Carrie has her very first menstrual period. Oblivious to the fact, she breaks
into hysterics believing she is bleeding to death. In her moment of hysteria,
her unsympathetic classmates further humiliate her by throwing unused tampons
at her.
Domestic life isn’t much better for Carrie as her
overbearing mother routinely preaches the word of god down upon her. Frequently
locking Carrie in a dark damp closet as routine punishment. Such pressure in
life leaves Carrie dangling on the brink of insanity. Helping to offset the
pain, Carrie discovers an ace up her sleeve thanks to an uncanny telekinetic
ability for which she possesses. Meanwhile, Carrie’s tormenters seek to further
humiliate her on the eve of prom. One ill-timed prank leaves a distressed and
humiliated Carrie to reap a destructive blaze of vengeance.
The titular role has been passed down from a natural
otherworldly Sissy Spacek to Chloe Grace Moretz of Kick-Ass fame.
Unfortunately, Moretz has been terribly miscast. Moretz naturally exudes a
self-assured confidence in her own acting ability. That same confidence is the
exact fibre for which Carrie should lack. The role of Carrie requires an
actress to bring conveyance of battered vulnerability. As it is loosely
described in the book, she is the ugly duckling turned beautiful swan type.
Moretz is blossoming into a fine young woman. In an attempt
to downplay her natural beauty: Moretz sports a pale complexion, bags under her
eyes, unkempt hair and a loose fitting tomboy wardrobe, yet even under this
bare minimum of alteration her natural beauty still radiates. It ultimately
denies the film of its powerful moment where the Ugly Duckling turns into the
Beautiful Swan. Meanwhile, the screenplay gives Chloe little to work with in
terms of building a persona. Chloe’s performance boils down to hunching her
shoulders and constantly looking wounded. Despite her best efforts, Moretz
doesn’t quite live up to what is expected of the role.
Despite initial claims that this version would be a brand
new take on Stephen King’s sporadic source material; the screenplay manages to
invoke a beat for beat familiarity to DePalma’s original film. Lawrence D.
Cohen’s screenplay does attempt to alter events just a little. His screenplay
modernizes the bullying, by throwing in a notion of Cyber Bullying courtesy of
a humiliating viral video. The depiction of Carrie’s mother has also been
altered; played by an under utilized Julianne Moore. Carrie’s mother shows
signs of Schizophrenia as she frequently cuts herself in the name of god, but
her self-mutilation is a moot point designed only to remind of her mental
incapacities. On paper, these new additions could have made for a welcome
change of pace, but in execution they are nothing more then a means to an end.
The biggest departure it takes is the way in which D.
Cohen’s screenplay treats the telekinetic abilities. What DePalma’s version
achieved so wonderfully well was to encapsulate that sense of unbridled teenage
rage at its most fragile. DePalma presented the concluding tragedy as an
involuntary and spontaneous combustion of manifested rage. It was a metaphor
for puberty at its most fragile and uncontrolled. The imparting moral was
simple; cruel torment lashed out without thought of ramifications could
potentially face disastrous uncalled for consequences. A point, which is still
entirely relevant to this date if you factor in countless school related
tragedies of the past few years.
D. Cohen’s screenplay opts for something a little different,
by employing the telekinesis as a form of empowerment. Carrie’s abilities serve
as a major driving force throughout the film. Director Kimberly Pierce spends a
fair chunk of time observing Carrie as she harnesses her newfound abilities for
her own benefit. As Carrie learns how to manipulate her surroundings, it’s
evident that she takes joy in this newfound power. The wrath of vengeance is
now entirely manipulated by her free will. As such, it simplifies the moral a
little. The moral is now reduced to saying ‘the evil will pay for their wicked
sins while the wholesome will be spared with mercy’. It downplays the sense of
tragedy as it lends this version of Carrie a sociopathic edge at the reduced
cost of some empathy.
Director Kimberly Pierce’s visual eye is appropriately
glossy yet not entirely unfamiliar. She is not above paying homage to the
original film as she borrows familiar shot compositions while adding a few of
her own flourishes. Including an excellent use of slow motion as pig’s blood
levitates from Carrie’s being. Thanks to modern day technology the scale of
Carrie’s wrath is bigger and better then ever before. Pierce does an amiable
job in staging an appropriate level of suspense and thrills needed for such a
pay off, but still it’s no match for the Split Screen techniques employed in
the original film.
Despite its efforts, this new version of Carrie
never elevates above thoroughly unremarkable. It’s a sanitized version designed
for the same audience that watches the CW Network. It is far too content to
rehash all of the same old beats while never truly finding a voice of its own.
Supposing you’re of the millennial generation and you refuse to watch films made
before your time, then this glossier version may appeal to you. For the rest of
us, well it’s a case of been there and done all of that long before.
THE VERDICT: ** out of *****
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