Carrie 2013

 Usually I'm not a big fan of remakes of older films.  Sometimes they are better than the original but they are few and far between.  So after saying that we have this remake of a 1974 film which based on the novel by Stephen King.  This version does not claim to be based on the novel but rather claims it is a re-imagining of the novel.  I am a huge King fan and I really liked the first film version starring Sissy Spacek and John Travolta.  Here we have Chloe-Grace Moretz as the title character with Julianne Moore playing her troubled and religious fanatic mother.  Also starring is Judy Greer as Carrie's teacher who takes a liking to the odd student after a bunch of girls tease her when Carrie has her period during gym class.  Rounding out the cast is Gabriella Wilde is Sue Snell who feels guilty as she was one of the girls teasing Carrie and tries to make amends by having her boyfriend take Carrie to the prom.  Ansel Elgort plays Tommy, Sue's boyfriend who takes Carrie to the prom in an attempt to make Carrie feel accepted.  If you know the story you already know things don't go well.

 Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (Glee, Riverdale) wrote the screenplay while Kimberly Peirce (Boys Don't Cry, Stop-Loss) handled the directing.  Everyone had their work cut out for them with this one.  When you are redoing a film that in my opinion didn't need a remake you are walking in dangerous territory.  Surprisingly everyone does their job and while the film doesn't have any blaring issues it's just not as good as the original.  It's not particular bad it's just not memorable and it doesn't change any of the story enough to make it stand out on it's own.  I have to put this one is the category of a film that is actually lesser than all of it's parts. 

Moore and Greer are the two actresses that really stand out for me in this one and while I am a fan of Moretz, she just didn't do it for me as Carrie here.  She was OK just not as good as Spacek's version and whenever you are watching an actor or actress play a role made famous by someone else it's hard not to wish you were watching the '74 version.  It just never gets over that hump for me.  The Horror Honey and I both gave this one 3 and a half Buckets of Pig Blood out of 5.  We also had Auntie Grizelda on hand for this one.  She is also a huge King fan and she was very critical of this one and she only gave it 3 out of 5.  She's a tough one folks!