CARRIE

 Carrie Movie Review

This is a 2002 T.V. Movie remake of the 1976 horror classic. First off I will say I am a fan of the original. When watching this remake it is kind of hard to compare it to the original for many reasons. First, it is a TV movie, so obviously it lacked budget and worked within many limitations as far as what they could and could not show and say. Also they bring the story to modern times (well, 2002 anyway), so it includes things like cell phones and the Internet. It does follow the basic story (Carrie gets picked on, crazy mother, guy she has crush on takes her to prom, the big moment at the end) but it also has enough original stuff to separate it from the 1976 classic. Angela Bettis is very strong as Carrie White. She brings a lot more personality to the character, a lot more crazy, but also more humor. She also makes the character a lot more likable, which actually makes you feel a lot worse for her.

It's about to hit the fan

Katharine Isabelle (Freddy vs Jason, Ginger Snaps series) and Chelan Simmons also put in good performances. Patricia Clarkson as Carrie’s mom is a bit odd as she reminded me a lot of Lillith from Frasier. The casting of the two main villains was awful, with the guy playing the bully looking like somebody who himself would be picked on and beat up on a regular basis. Another setback for this movie is the special effects towards the end. This is of course typical of made for television movies though, so you really shouldn't expect anything more. I have read that this is actually closer to the book than the original as well. There are some really fantastic scenes here, including an exchange between the school principal and a lawyer that resulted in me actually cheering out loud--classic. I would recommend this movie given that 1) you understand this is not going to be JUST LIKE the original and 2) you keep in mind this was a made for television movie.

On A Scale Of One To Ten: 7

Carrie Movie Trailer