“What has Carrie White ever done to you?”
Carrie, a 2013 remake of the 1976 film starring Sissy Spacek, is adapted from a novel written by the legendary Stephen King. The novel tells the story of a uniquely gifted young teenager with a troubled home life who is constantly bullied at her high school.
Carrie’s mother, Margaret White, (Julianne Moore) became pregnant through premarital sex and believes that Carrie is the devil’s work. She becomes a religious freak who essentially tortures Carrie (and the audience) until the child shares her beliefs. Carrie develops telekinetic powers, fully convincing her mother that she is the work of the devil himself.
One day after gym class, Carrie hits the showers and discovers that she is bleeding. She calls for help from the other girls, frightened and confused. However, the other girls simply laugh and throw feminine products at her and begin a chant encouraging her to “plug it up”. Naturally, Chris (played by Portia Doubleday) pulls out her iPhone and records the entire thing. The gym teacher, Miss Collins (played by Betty Buckley), steps in and stops the chaos.
Miss Collins forces Carrie’s tormentors to attend a boot-camp style detention. Chris does not accept the punishment, and she is suspended. As a result, she can not attend senior prom. Chris’s friend Sue Snell (played by Gabriella Wilde) regrets what she did to Carrie and does not follow Chris in rebellion. Sue is so genuinely sorry for her actions that she gives up not only her senior prom but her lacrosse star boyfriend Tommy Ross (played by Ansel Egort) who asks to escort Carrie to prom.
Can Carrie, a strange girl with such extraordinary powers, ever fit in with the high school crowd? How does Chris plan to get back at Carrie and the entire school for losing her prom privileges?
Will Carrie’s mother overcome her religious frenzy and allow Carrie to live her life as a normal human being, or will she continue to attempt to control her? Can Carrie even control herself?
In my opinion, Carrie was more of a tragedy about a victim of high school bullying and home abuse than an horror movie. I was expecting to be more scared and less depressed for Carrie. The 1976 film was more of a horror movie than this recent remake, and I believe that was how Stephen King intended it to be portrayed. The effects were unrealistic and almost comical, especially toward the end. Overall, I don’t think it was worth seeing in theaters and I thought that it had more potential than what was produced.
