A Tale of Two Carries

A Tale of Two Carries

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Carrie is a lot more assertive with her mother and self-assured even though she is a loner and demure. The modernization of the film I’ll take as a fact of life in these kinds of films.

I also like how they make her a bit more human in this film although they do it more externally

The progression seemed pretty natural to me and I liked how they did it

Sue was really nice. I enjoyed how she faced Chris and gave her a piece of her mind, and easily.

I liked how Carrie actually could fly and that she emotions regarding Tommy’s death. We really didn’t see that much in the original because maybe she’s just had enough that she didn’t notice that Tommy died

 

Dislikes

Was Carrie slaughtering people or using a touch screen to do it in her prom scene? I didn’t like the physicality of Goretz’s Carrie. It was more like she was a conductor.  Someone said she’s a telekenetics whiz but I say that she’s a novice. Telekenesis is about your brain, not your hands. That’s like a puppet master where you can see the strings, it ruins the allure for me

No slaps: I’m sorry but that was missing and I didn’t like it that much. That was the only physicality I liked. Why? Because Chris deserved it! She was a bitch in the original one and I couldn’t tell if she was plotting and going through with the revenge or an unwilling participant at times  

Goretz’s  Carrie seemed to enjoy the killing. I’m not sure whether Spacek’s character in my opinion got pisssed off and opened a whole can of telekinetic whoop ass. I like how she got the ones who she was sure were in on the prank in this one, but I like how only a few survived in the original. Again, I don’t count Carrie 2: The Rage

I also didn’t care as much about Goretz’s Carrie as I did about Spacek’s. For me Goretz’s was like a gorgeous woman frumped up but still gorgeous enough to not be as sorry or as relateable. Spacek looked to me more like a plain young woman that could be from a small town as that Bates High School would’ve been in. Ewen High School just seemed more like it should’ve been home to a Degrassi cast. More pretty white kids with problems I’ll never relate to. I wonder if Goretz was doing some penance by going out and playing this outcast who was ugly

Some of the special effects were I think unnecessary like seeing Chris’s face get smashed through the glass when she crashes into the gas station

One from the original that I kinda liked: The red hat….I liked Norma with the red hat and I missed it. Even though the prom scene in the original shouldn’t have come with it

Julianne Moore handles the role well but she doesn’t creep me out as much as Piper Laurie did especially when we see her explaining to Carrie why she’s so sex negative and never told her about her period. Piper Laurie’s was a cool, calm, collected, conniving and calculating. Like Momma from Mother’s Day, the creepy factor was always on

Ms. Collins’ influence as a mentor to Carrie is largely removed. Ms. Collins was a vital part in the 1976 movie and I expected to see more of her but they upped Julianne Moore’s screen time at Collins expense

 

 

Let me also tell you about a 2002 movie that showed Carrie making her mother’s heart stop and it was a wild surprise when I found out this woman played Margaret White (picture) she was Ruth’s sister from Six Feet Under. Also, the 2002 version followed the book a lot closer but in this one Carrie survived and Sue helped her leave town where no one knew who she was

I have to say that I liked that ending. Also I loved how the endings were open where you didn’t know whether she died or not. I believe in the book it was much more definite that she died I’m not entirely sure if that’s the case.

One of the things I loved about Spacek’s Carrie is the music, at times it may clue us in but it fits with the film.

Let me get to the two Carries

Spacek nailed the character but while Goretz made it her own she did it all externally. What made Spacek’s stand out was her subtlety. Goretz didn’t do that as much that’s a big drawback from the strength of this role

Also, after seeing Angela Bettis play Carrie also I’m more inclined since that followed the book more closely to believe that Spacek’s came closer to the book than Goretz but again….this is partially important as I see the 2002 Carrie as an extension of the first film as opposed to another work since I hear it followed the book.

Prom Scene

No matter what other prom scenes and Carrie renditions there will be, not one of them will ever come close to the original’s but I think I’ll show you here. The kaleidoscopic view and the voices layered and broken promises…that makes us hear and see what makes her snap. According to one person in the production, Mrs Collins wasn't laughing but it was in Carrie's mind. The whole scene puts knots in my stomach. No other scene neither the 2002 TV version nor the 2013 version have this. This sets it far apart from either of the three. I didn’t get any sense of foreboding or terror in the other two movies…it was just…ok she’s gonna kill a lot of people. The original version set it up just perfectly

Also, difference with Chris. 76 version she died quickly, 02 TV version she died quickly as well as actually RUNNING INTO CARRIE. In the Goretz version she tortured them a little now I think that’s just a bloodlust thing in the 13 version as she enjoys her revenge.

Now the book: Town is leveled, movie just the school

The book explores the explanation for Carrie’s telekinesis and has a telepathic connection with Sue whereas the movie omits most of this, I’d like to read the book for more of it. The Bettis TV version shows that in a scene toward the end when Sue convinces her to leave the house as its collapsing

Let me also say that the music in the Spacek version flowed a bit better and neither of the two other versions have that to it. I liked the orchestral music to the Spacek version because it just fit so well.

So with the 3 I’m partial to the 1976 version with calling the 2002 TV version a complement to the original film.

The 2013 version was pretty good and did as well as I think it could with the modernizations and all but I really think that it fell flat compared to the original. I thought they’d do something else original with it but for the most part it was just like the Romeo & Juliet with Leo DiCarprio except they updated everything but the language.

If I were to rate this out of 5 stars I’d give it a 2, fair because of what it attempts to do but it falls flat on us. At least Goretz got the bloodlust part down but I don’t think Carrie was really one for bloodlust, I think she was just pushed too far. I believe the original wanted to show us that and maybe the book wanted to make it a tossup, I’m not sure at all