CARRIE Movie Review - Julianne Moore Will Stab Your Soul!
I'm not the biggest fan of remakes, but there are a few of them that have been made over the years that have been just as good or better than the original. I was pretty disappointed when I learned that Stephen King's Carrie was going to get a remake. I grew up on the original Brian De Palma film, and it scared the hell out of me when I was a kid -- and no, I don't know why, but my parents let me watch these kinds of rated R movies while growing up. I wasn't really familiar with the director of the film, Kimberly Peirce, but she managed to cast a group of very talented actors led by Julianne Moore and Chloe Grace Moretz, who were both awesome in the movie!
Moore absolutely stole the show as Carrie's insane religious mother. She was scary as hell, and gave an incredible performance, one that I think is actually award worthy. I don't know if she'll get nominated because it's a horror film, but damn she was creepy. She just had this look in her eyes that can stab a person's soul. She's the type of person you wouldn't want to piss off. Then there was Moretz in the title role, who pulled it off flawlessly. She was perfectly cast for this role, and had an actual sweetness about her that made you really care about what happened to her, which is one of the things I really liked about this movie. I cared more about the character in this movie than in the original. In the original, Carrie was more of a scary type person, and she was harder to relate to. In this newer film, I think people were able to connect with the character a little more, and it really sucked when things didn't work out for her the way she and the audience wanted it to. You knew what was coming at the end, but you still really wanted to see this poor girl have a happy ending.
The other thing about the casting in this movie was that all of the characters felt like they were actually real high school students. If you recall in the original version, they all looked like 30-year-olds playing high school kids. So that aspect of it made it feel a little more believable. And most of everyone they cast in these secondary roles did a solid job bringing their characters to life.
This is actually one of those rare moments where I will say that a remake was better than the original. Now I love the original, and there's a nostalgia about it that this remake will never have. But, in terms of filmmaking, this one was an all around better movie. I was pleasantly surprised by how it turned out, and it seemed like the audience I saw it with enjoyed it as well. It was a very satisfying horror movie, and if you haven't already seen it yet, I suggest that you do! After all, it's the Halloween season, and for those of you itching to see a really well made horror movie, this one might fulfill that need for you.