Carrie (2002)

Very Cool!!!

Gripping story with well-crafted characters

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

Going through a mortifying experience at school, a lonely teenager hounded by her overly religious mother finds her growing telekinetic powers are able to help her seek revenge on the rest of her classmates when they humiliate her at the high school prom.While it's not as significant as the original, this is a rather fun remake that manages to really entertain when it tries. One of the best features is that the film is set-up investigating after-the- fact and questioning individuals about the incidents which are then played out as the recollections described. This allows the film a lot of leeway in keeping this moving since it can switch out perspectives to keep the film on-pace which is a fresh feel that differs from the original and adds a level of realism as it's conducted using questions to prompt the flashbacks of what happened and makes the film somewhat enjoyable, even as the slow-realization that he was wrong all along and is then forced into trying to get the truth about the matter. Another good plus is the fact that the film decides to keep in the key sequence from the original, the dawning of the feminine changes that are played for purely traumatic effect, as it's done here with the incident being caught by the entire locker room which brings the trauma even more, and the follow-ups are just as good. The main thing with this one, though, is that the prom at a lot of fun, and they make up most of what makes it so good. The prank itself is handled-well, with the full-on humiliation of the incident coming across as needed and makes for appropriate retaliation, as well as giving some striking visuals at times. The deaths and destruction come about during the chaos, and these are quite fun seeing all the tables flying everywhere and debris littering the floor, along with the internal damage caused that makes for some really good times throughout when it puts them into action, all capped off with the spectacular shot of the entire structure collapsing whilst still in flames. The last plus to this is a really good action-packed finale, where she's on the loose and rampaging through town, generally causing havoc in a never-ending series of spectacular scenes that are just all-out fun to watch. These here are the film's good points as there was some flaws to this one. One of the biggest ones is that this one certainly does feel it's length, even though there's a rather nice idea of the detective premise. The fact that this one is well-over two hours is certainly obvious, and a lot of this is due to the finale, which is somewhat problematic and the film's last big flaw. Frankly, as much fun as the rampage through town is, the destruction of the gym makes for a much more satisfying conclusion as the revenge is carried out and she is still loose with them unsure of what to make of the situation. That makes for a much-more satisfying conclusion, and what's worse, they also manage to include the final confrontation with the mother that no one could know for sure how it went down since none of the key principles recall the experience and the one who does discovers it after-the-fact, messing around the whole situation even further. These here are the film's problems.Rated Unrated/PG-13: Violence, Language, Nudity and mild animal violence.

Carrie White (Angela Bettis) is an outcast in school with an overly religious mother Margaret White (Patricia Clarkson). Only Miss Desjarden (Rena Sofer) and Tommy Ross (Tobias Mehler) try to defend her. When Carrie is visited by Anut Flow, Chris Hargensen (Emilie de Ravin) and Tina Blake (Katharine Isabelle) are relentless in picking on her. Their friend Sue Snell (Kandyse McClure) starts to take pity on Carrie. Chris refuses detention with Desjarden, and is suspended and banned from the prom with Billy Nolan. Meanwhile Carrie is gaining in her telekinetic powers. Detective John Mulchaey (David Keith) is investigating the prom incident during flashforward scenes.The production is weak. It's a lot of poor looking practical effects and the CGI is bad even for its time. The question for this movie is why attempt this if it has no chance of adding anything new or be better than the original. Angela Bettis is alright as Carrie but she doesn't have the thing that makes her pop on the screen. Generally, I have no problems with any of the actors in this. It's really the pointlessness of this remake if the production is so poor. Also the change in ending strips it of poetry and finality.

The original 1976 Carrie is one of my favourite movies, period. i recently watched the remake with Chloe Moretz but I had a lot of issues with that, namely that they simply got the script of the original and did a technology update with it. I watched this movie and... While I can't praise it as a good movie this is not without some benefits.Based on the knowledge I'll assume you have of the DePalma film, this one is not a complete rehash. I prefer remakes when they are like this because they can offer a different interpretation on a story that has been told already. This one actually does a decent job of it in some areas while in others it fails miserably.To explain in detail, Carrie's telekinesis when she was a child brought down a dozen meteorites on her house in this version. It's over the top and it only gets uttered ONCE after that. You would think that even one meteorite would interest the authorities, a dozen on the exact same few square feet of land at the exact same time would arouse a lot of interest because I see that as nigh on impossible and I know f#ck all about astronomy. You have a few scenes like that which really dampens the movie.Another big problem is that none of the supposed High School kids look like High School kids. They look like College kids if they're a part of any schooling system. Don't get me wrong some of them do throw in a decent performance now and then while others do go a little bit over the top.Now with that said they do a few things better than the 2013 remake. For example, Angela Bettis looks and acts just like someone going through a lot of abuse. She isn't anything on Sissy Spacek but she is miles above Chloe Moretz. With that said She doesn't look all that threatening in the prom massacre scene.One interesting touch to this movie is the fact that it's all told out like a series of police interrogations. That could actually work and it does bring this movie a certain style to it. If there was any complaint with this it's that some of what they say they can't possibly know.I also liked the ending of this (well not like, more find it interesting), the point of Carrie in my eyes is that a monster is created in an abused girl by the environment that she lives in only to die with her mother out of regret. Here I kind of like the idea of Carrie surviving. Usually something like this would have me flip tables but here, I kind of wanted to see where they were going with it.With some of the scene re-enactments in this version... They're weird, that's all I can say. The shower scene where Carrie starts menstruating in the other 2 versions kind of made sense as to why they were bullying her about it, because she thought she was dying and at age 17, that kind of seems ridiculous. Here? They just bully her because she's menstruating. ??? ...So out of the Carrie remakes I have seen is this finally one worth watching? Maybe. I like that it was trying to be it's own thing, I liked the idea of the changed ending and the people handling the way Carrie looked did a marvelous job to name a few complimentary things. But it drags, a lot. The over-the-top scenes are far in-between to watch for a laugh, some of the scene re-enactments are weird and the High Schoolers look old enough to be in College. If you want to see how someone handles the project of adapting Stephen King's novel differently (the key word being differently), check it out of curiosity.

2 points before I start.Firstly I would like to start this review by saying I really love the 1976 version of Carrie. I think it is one of the the best horror movies ever made. It is also one of the saddest horrors ever made.Secondly I don't see why people are bad mouthing this TV version from 2002. It may not be a classic but it is a very good remake that is more faithful to the source novel than the original film.In My opinion the 2002 version of Carrie is one of the best TV adaptations of a Stephen King novel, up there with IT and the 1979 version of Salems Lot. All the actors play there parts very well. Plus anyone who has read Carrie will realise how close to the novel this version is, well apart from the ending. This was changed due to the fact that this version was originally intended as a pilot for a series.The film starts with the survivors of prom giving evidence to the police. This comes directly from the novel and the story is told in flash back. Angela Bettis makes for an interesting Carrie White. Unlike Sissy Spacek Carrie who comes a cross as a deer in headlights, Bettis Carrie isn't as naive or scared of her tormentors and in a couple of scenes she actually verbally fights back,(Reminding Sue Schell that the only reason she speaking to her in a shop is that none of her friends are around to see). Carrie in this version is fully aware that Tommy was asked to take her to the prom by Sue.This In-fact this is the major difference between the two films. In many ways Carrie is more street wise than her 1976 counterpart. The original Carrie is purposely slick and overplayed, where as this version is subtler and more realistic.This really shows in the the way Carrie is bullied by the other girls and there general reactions to Carrie in general its very realistically played out, making they're nastiness all the more shocking.Patricia Clarkson interpretation of Margret White is one of quiet insanity. It actually makes her performance all the more unnerving.Rena Sofers ,Miss Desjarden is actually a lot better than the original Betty Buckleys, Miss Collins (the gym teacher). This mainly to do with the fact that the role is actually better written than in the original 1976 version. The scene at the prom where she reminds Carrie that High Schools isn't the be all and end all is brilliantly played out.She also shares a great scene where she and the headmaster are confronted by Chris Hargensen father.(This comes directly from Stephen Kings book). The rest of the cast are very good and many have gone on to bigger things. Emilie de Ravin went on to appear in LOST and Kandyse McClure became part of the cast of the New Battlestar Galactica not to mention the always excellent Katharine Isabelle (a real bitch in this version) who has become a cult star of indie horror movies. This adaptation of Carrie only really fails on 2 points. The first is that some of its digital Special Effects don't always work. This was mainly to do with budget restraints. The second is its look. It just looks too made for TV, Its flatly directed and has no real grandeur. This probably why some the reviews have been bad. Also i would like to point out that many of the negative reviews come from people who have never read the book. I really liked this adaptation of Carrie and have watched almost as many times as the original. I'm aware that I've compared the two films in this review but I hope people reading this will not be put off especially as a new version of Carrie is on its way. I hope this version will not be forgotten as its only real flaw was that it was a TV movie.