By Tiernan O’Neill – Web Writer
Just in time for Halloween, the modern adaption of the classic 1976 film Carrie has been released.
Prom has a new theme this year, murder. On Oct. 18, the latest adaptation of Stephen King’s novel, Carrie, was released. The film is an update of Brian De Palma’s 1976 version of the novel.
In the remake, directed by Kimberly Peirce, Chloë Grace Moretz plays the film’s namesake, Carrie White, a telekinetic high school senior. Carrie’s social ineptitude stems from her relationship with her mother, Margaret (Julianne Moore), a fringe evangelist, who verbally and physically abuses Carrie.
Carrie is an outcast at school and is bullied by her peers. The catalyst of the story is when Carrie has her first period in the girl’s locker room showers. Carrie, not knowing about the female menstrual cycle, freaks out and assumes she is dying. Instead of helping, her classmates, led by Sue Snell (Gabriella Wilde) and Chris Hargensen (Portia Doubleday) taunt her by throwing tampons and yelling “Plug it up!”
Sue feels remorseful about how she treated Carrie in the locker rooms and decides to have her boyfriend, Tommy Ross (Ansel Elgort) take Carrie to prom. Even though Carrie accepts Tommy’s invitation, her mother forbids her to attend the dance. A frustrated Carrie lashes out against her mother, locking her in the notorious prayer closet using her telekinetic powers.
At prom Carrie is the victim of a horrible prank. In the iconic scene, Chris rigs the homecoming queen elections causing to Carrie win. An elated Carrie walks onto the stage only to have a bucket of pig blood pourn on her. The pig’s blood is the final straw for Carrie who is sent into a bloody rampage murdering her fellow students and teachers alike, regardless of their treatment of her.
Even though Peirce’s script stayed relatively the same as that of De Palma’s, she still made some appropriate modifications to the plot. Peirce modernized the movie by adding the element of cyberbullying to the film, but she did not attempt to make the film relevant. In an age where school shootings fueled by revenge are not uncommon and anti-bullying legislation is being passed across the nation, Peirce failed to make adjustments fit for 2013.
The biggest difference between Peirce’s version and De Palma’s version is Carrie herself. Cholë Grace Moretz’s portrayal of the titular character is more softcore than Sissy Spacek’s character in the original film. The main reason being that Moretz is too conventionally pretty to match Spacek’s ghoulish representation of Carrie, the more recent adaptation portrays Margaret White (Julianne Moore) as much scarier than the original (Piper Laurie). Moore took Laurie’s character to an edgier and realistic place.
The overall feel of Carrie (2013) is that of mediocrity. Peirce’s film is a pale comparison to the original and is an unnecessary remake of a classic movie. The reason being, the latter movie is just not scary. Not once is the audience shocked or surprised by the plot. It’s almost as if movie-goers are three steps ahead of the actors. For this girl, she should have remained buried.
