Carrie

Chloe Grace Moretz as Carrie White:

            Before I watched the new version, many people had told me it was going to be extremely difficult or impossible for Chloe to perform a better Carrie than Sissy Spacek (1976). I, having seen the original, also believed these biased remarks, though not to the extent as the others. So yes, going into the movie I already was thinking that she wasn’t going to be very good. I’m glad I did, or else I wouldn’t have been nearly as blown away as I was.

            Chloe was fantastic; the way she showed us how shy and timid her character was good, the growing realization and awareness of her powers was great, the happiness of the dance radiated out of her, and how she cradled her dead mother really pulled at the heartstrings. The fights between her and her mother weren’t as realistic as the original, but that was the only flaw in an otherwise fantastic performance.

Julianne Moore as Margaret White:

            The disturbing yet welcome difference between Julianne and Piper Laurie (1976), is the difference between being an unwell (or close to insane) religious fanatic, and seeming as if you’ve been possessed by a demon. In the new Carrie, the mother appears to be more frightening, mad, and everything a villain should be in a horror movie. The self inflicted cuts on her arm, the intentional stabbing of her own leg, and the scene with the birth of Carrie all show the madness in this woman’s twisted mind. I think the biggest mystery is how she can see the evil in everyone but herself.

Judy Greer as Miss Desjardin:

            There wasn’t as big a difference between Judy and Betty Buckley (1976), except they used the gym teacher’s real name (Miss Desjardin) compared to the 1976 film (Miss Collins). One interesting fact is that in the new movie, Carrie doesn’t kill Miss Desjardin as she does in the original. Both of these changes are make the movie closer to the book.

Portia Doubleday as Chris Hargensen:

            Portia does just a good a job as Nancy Allen (1976), but the new film shows her progression of hatred for Carrie better than the old, particularly when she’s asked to slit the pig’s throat, she does it with such conviction and malice, laughing all the while.

Gabriella Wilde as Sue Snell:

            The new film gives Gabriella more screen time than Amy Irving (1976), which is spent wisely; Gabriella is able to portray the remorse for bullying Carrie much better than Amy, but the ending was twisted. In some ways the new film is more like the book, and in some ways it isn’t; Sue being near Carrie when she dies is accurate, but Carrie is supposed to die of blood loss, not a house collapsing. Also, Sue was supposed to be pregnant, but the implication that Carrie causes her to have a miscarriage isn’t there. Overall, it was a good performance.

Ansel Elgort as Tommy Ross:

            Ansel was better at showing how much he cared for Carrie than William Katt (1976), but not by much. Maybe it’s because I wasn’t a teen in the 70s, but I don’t think William was as smooth and charming as Ansel.

Alex Russell as Billy Nolan:

            The greatest benefit of this movie that I appreciated most was the boring and almost pointless scenes with John Travolta (1976) were given new life, meaning, and greater suspense, such as the bedroom scene and the pig scene.

The writers and directors did a phenomenal job of incorporating the 21^st century into a timeless horror classic, but with the good there also comes the bad. The addition of new electronics was a big plus one. The addition of the computer and Carrie’s lack of knowledge on how to use it was genius, and the phone taking the video of the bathroom scene was of course not in the book, but if Stephen King had written Carrie in this day and age, I believe he would have most certainly done the same.

On the flip side, a negative addition to the movie was, of course, special effects. A good horror movie shouldn’t need too many special effects, and luckily the movie didn’t use too many. The only real upgrade in effects was the killing at the dance, and the wrecking of the car. The dance can be overlooked; in fact, the effects were almost needed compared to the original film, but the worst scene in the entire movie was Chris and Billy trying to escape Carrie in their car. What should have taken 45 seconds took a good 4 minutes. It was plainly obvious that the over doing of special effects for that scene was intended to be just that; over done.

Overall, I think the new movie was a smashing success. It’s sure to attract this generation of teens, as well as the previous generation, despite their narrow minded thinking that the original will be better; you have to watch it and decide.