Carrie (2013) Review

Carrie (2013) stars Chloe Grace Cortez as the film's titular character and Julianne Moore as her deranged Christian-Fundamentalist mother, Margaret.

By now, you may already know her name and the story. If you don't please stop now and pick up the book. Spoilers follow!

She is Carrie, the telekinetic teenager and poster-girl for victim-revenge films. Drenched in pig's blood on her prom night, she unleashes hell on the unsuspecting guests and tormentors and the rest of the town. Her story is iconic. Despite Stephen King's humility towards his writing in that novel, Carrie launched his career. It has been adapted into a blockbuster film (1976), a delightfully disastrous musical (1988), a 1999 film sequel, a 2002 television movie, and an Off-Broadway revival across the nation. This long list now includes yet-another remake.

I fell in love with Carrie the moment I read her book. Thirsty for something I didn't have words for yet, I was moved by Carrie's story. Since then I've seen the play, reread the book countless times, and found and devoured any adaption to Carrie I could find.

Carrie is tragic, because she is so misunderstood like any teenager (insert any disability or psychosocial-economic standing) and finally was gifted with the ability to do something about it.

And that appears to be the problem with any other adaption that comes after the 1976 De Palma directed film (and this is likely the problem with remaking classics as well). Carrie is still misunderstood.

Ms. Cortez is a wonderful chameleon actress, and she provides a modest job as Carrie, but aside from updates in technology, some mentioning of social media and cellphone use, the film feels woefully unnecessary. Despite the gloomy trailer (kudos to songtress Lykke Li's "Will you still love me tomorrow?"), the film doesn't live up to the hype and promise of a re-adapation.

The stock characters remain stock characters. Chris (Portia Doubleday) remains a mean girl and her adrenaline-junkie boyfriend, Billy (Alex Russell), is there for the ride. Tommy Ross (Ansel Elgort) is still the boy following his girlfriend, Sue's (Grabeille Wilde) wishes to take a wallflower instead to the prom. Ms. Desjardin (Judy Greer) still hovers about like a fairy godmother.

Jillian Moore stole the movie for me. We were provided glimpses into her psyche and realize she is just as tortured as Carrie. When she harms herself it is uncomfortable to watch, but also makes the character. Physically plain and tired looking, she actually looked the part. And she didn't need a Southern accent to do it.

I guess that's what remakes and this film fail to understand. There was a perfect opportunity to build upon an cult-classic that King created. The dynamic between mother and daughter should've been explored more than it was in the book and De Palma's film. What really makes Tommy, Chris, Billy, and Sue tick? Modest attempts at exploring these topics were explored in the tv movie, which in my opinion was a stronger remake than this film.

If I had a chance at the script, I would've focused more on the dynamics between parent and child. Margaret and Carrie are co-dependents that desperately need each other to feel worthy, until Carrie realizes her true potential. It would be nice to see Chris' relationship with her over-indulgent dad get some time to form itself. Billy must be some latchkey kid the way he just roams from place to place in bikes and sports cars, or maybe he is a drug addict and his parents are social workers. Sue and Tommy actually dream of running away from their WASP-y lives because Sue is pregnant and Tommy wants to be a poet instead of a a football player. And at the center of all their world waiting for the bucket of blood to drop is the forgotten telekinetic girl who gets bullied for the last time.

Who knows! Anything is possible when you have creative license and respectfully add to the story.
  
If I had to choose, I would rewatch the 1976 classic. Carrie (2013) is a decent remake, but is rather forgettable. It's currently available for viewing on most all VODs sites.