Carrie

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. (12/01/2014)

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. (08/15/2014)

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 (01/03/2014)

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. (01/15/2021)

Yes, the bar was high and it has remained high, but I like this modern Carrie as well. Above all, it is clear that it was made by a woman, and so the film approaches the characters of the White's daughter and mother in particular in a slightly different, more sensitive and perceptive way, showing their relationship in a slightly different light. What was clear about Margaret (played perfectly by Julianne Moore) this time was that she really wants to protect Carrie from the world first and foremost, no matter what it takes. And Carrie (Chloë Grace Moretz, who I too initially thought was too pretty, only I had no idea that incredulous stares and an uncertain slouched gait would be enough to turn her into an outsider - how simple) actually likes Margaret too. Or at least she is trying to. I also liked the use of modern technology, where the video taken at the beginning of the film was used quite cleverly at the end, and the apocalyptic finale closer to the original (including the falling rocks) thrilled me. Unfortunately, it was worse with the "pre-bubble" ball scene, which I had to compare with De Palma and which unfortunately has not even a hint of the much needed enchantment and dream come true, and the last shot was complete stupidity. Three and a half stars.___P.S. Great music by Beltrami. (10/18/2015)