Review
‘Carrie’ remake fails to impress horror movie audience
October 24, 2013
The month of Halloween has graced us with another horror film remake with the release of “Carrie.” The film is intended to be relevant, but comes across as unnecessary.
Carrie White is no ordinary girl and is shunned and hated for it. She is gifted with an amazing power that is feared by her mother and beaten down into her. When another student asks her to prom, she thinks things are looking up. But terrible events are set in place, Carrie is getting stronger with her powers, and, if all goes as planned, it will be a night no one will forget or escape from.
Right off the bat, “Carrie” did not seem right to me because horror film remakes tend to not do well. Usually a monster is made sympathetic and loses its scare, or directors never understand what makes good horror. “Carrie” is a mediocre film with a mixture of these kinds of mistakes.
It is hard to say what “Carrie” does best as it borrows a lot of original plot and dialogue. Since not much changed, some parts do still stand up. While some bits of dialogue do not stand well, some lines made people laugh. The movie does at least acknowledge time has passed and does an OK job of updating things for the present.
The one thing that still stifles my liking of the film is that none of the changes make it worth the effort to be remade. Usually, when a film is remade, something special is added to make it relevant for current times, like a theme change or sharper direction than the original. “Carrie” unfortunately does not do any of that and, therefore, suffers.
The direction of the film is also less superior to the original and tends to succumb to some of the common direction of other films today. There were not many artistic elements in the film. As a result, the film was less daring because it did not go outside its boundaries or rating.
Despite all of this, the movie did have enough to keep me interested. For the most part, the acting was good, with Chloe Grave Mortez as Carrie, and Julliane Moore as Margaret White, Carrie’s mother. Many other actors and actresses were average, but the horror movie trope of bad acting is prevalent in some areas.
Plenty of the scenes were satisfactory, however, due to the director’s choices. The ending also had a certain punch that made me feel like the movie is somewhat worthwhile.
However, if you want a good fill of “Carrie,” watch the original movie. It has more of an artistic experience and much better direction. It also still holds up well today.
As for the remake, I am glad to say it is better than most remakes I have heard of, but still feels unneeded.
Ryan Funes is a lover of all things movie, TV, video games and stories and wants to become a television writer someday. In his spare time he enjoys hanging with friends, tapping into his imagination, and watching cartoons of all kinds.