Carrie, Hollywood English Film Movie review, Johnson Thomas, Rating: * * *
English Film review
Johnson Thomas
Re-vitalised cult horror
Film: Carrie(English)
Cast: Julliane Moore, Chloe Grace Moretz, Judy Greer, Portia Doubleday, Alex Russell, Gabriella Wilde, Ansel Elgort
Director: Kimberly Pierce
Rating: * * *
Reworks the age-old horror hit with a teenage twist and comes-up revitalised, fiery and affecting. Based on the best-selling novel by Stephen King, Carrie is directed by Kimberly Peirce with a screenplay by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa.
A reimagining of the classic horror tale about Carrie White (Chloë Grace Moretz), a shy girl outcast by her peers and sheltered by her deeply religious mother (Julianne Moore), who unleashes telekinetic terror on her small town after being pushed too far at her senior prom.
This Carrie White (played by Chloë Grace Moretz of the "Kick-Ass" films) is more conventionally pretty than the scrawny, big-eyed misfit played by Sissy Spacek in DePalma's classic. She is not as gawky on the outside but the insecurity within is pretty evident. It's a product of her horrid home life, and the knowledge that she has undefined powers that make her different from other kids, and that they're flowering along with the onset of puberty, and that her mother Margaret (Julianne Moore) sees them as signs of evil. Class differences play a part in Carrie's mistreatment; a few early shots establish that Carrie and Margaret live far from the obviously privileged high school, in a modest neighborhood. And as the tale nears its inevitable climax, the tone becomes more despairing. Nothing can stop what's coming.
Where Brian DePalma's 1976 version of Stephen King's novel was a teenage girl's nightmare as seen through the eyes of a straight male voyeur, this one looks through a wider lens. Carrie's mom ,a mentally ill single mom, is eking out a living as a seamstress and dry cleaner. Moore's Margaret is a purely pitable figure who self-harms and finds it difficult to love herself, or her child. That’s the psychological realism of Carrie and Margaret's relationship.
This "Carrie"helmed by one of the only prominent female directors in Hollywood, Kimberly Peirce ("Boys Don't Cry"), appreciates the various female characters as women. And it’s done with a seriousness that is missing from the De Palma original. The movie captures the tender, tortured mother-daughter conflict quite beautifully, aided by vivid performances from Chloe Grace Moretz and Julianne Moore. The movie looks polished and is well paced, with Marco Beltrami’s lush score etching out every scary moment as a resounding accolade!
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