Carrie

Well, now I could be thinking that I’ve gone mad since I’m giving four-star rating to a remake. But this one was just really fun. It’s a teen variation on a modern superhero, but with a different story flow and a different ending. In any case, it all clicked in the end and I couldn’t wait for the ending. I haven’t seen such a suspense in a movie in a long time. Maybe if Chloë Grace Moretz wasn’t so pretty, I’d believe her bully role much more. But Julianne Moore made up for it all masterfully. She was outright enjoying herself in this role. I can’t say that her monologues didn’t scare me, it was probably the scariest thing about the entire movie. PS: After a year, I watched the original movie and I have to take away one star. The original Carrie is after all a lot better. (15/08/2014)

A derivative, bland and sterile remake with an unfortunate casting in the main role. I don’t have anything against Moretz in general, and here she tries hard, but she’s not able to convincingly portray an ugly duckling marred by her upbringing, and her looks bear much of the blame. I also didn’t like the lazy special effects, the unsatisfactory climax and the sad fact that in its most important moments the film balances on the edge of cringe and ridiculousness (the birth, the ball, and the key confrontations with the mother). Though there’s no reason to hate it (like, for instance, last year’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre), I have no reason to be more generous. 5/10 (04/01/2014)

A well done remake! The new Carrie is in the same vein as the original, but I found it brisker, more entertaining and the finale is much more intense and gritty. My only complaint might be with Moretz, who was not right for the role of the shy and ugly little girl, but on the other hand I don't know any ugly, famous and teenage actress, so no hard feelings. For me it's more of a family horror tale for teens that I had a decent time with.70% (05/01/2014)

I think "Carrie" was the first King book I read, and as such, it hit me hard. The fascination with blood, the mother being a religious fanatic, and the text written like a report after a disaster all fit together nicely. In contrast, the original adaptation with Sissy Spacek is rather unnecessarily brutal and nowadays you can't even appreciate the youthful Travolta. The new Carrie is very much a fairy tale again, at least in terms of Carrie's ability and understanding of telekinesis, while Julianne Moore feels like she’s out of another movie, but she's very nimble on her own. The result is nonetheless entertaining, but the ending is purely for effect. So if I had to pick one Carrie that is the one, paradoxically, the TV version with Angela Bettis is still the best. (02/12/2014)

Let me start with the negatives of Carrie 2.0. The film is basically a carbon copy of the 1976 film, onto which the creators grafted several new scenes (mostly unnecessary). The added childbirth opening scene was probably supposed to be shocking, but things like that could only upset religious American housewives nowadays. Similarly, the longer prom scene brought only more violence, but did not affect the bland atmosphere and didn’t make it any more thrilling. The fact that the film is a copy of its predecessor turns out to be kind of a benefit, meaning that the film didn’t completely butcher the original novel either. (15/01/2021)