'CARRIE'

'CARRIE' (R) (3 STARS)

Written by Lawrence D. Cohen and Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
Directed by Kimberly Peirce
Actors: Chloe Grace Moretz, Julianne Moore, Judy Greer, Portia Doubleday.

Let me get this straight right off the bat. No one can ever do a remake of the original "Carrie" with the same amount of surprise, scares and grisly shock scenes. Brian DePalma's 1976 horror classic "Carrie" is one of my ten favorite horror movies of all time. I don't get really scared often but I still can't watch the original movie without getting nerves and goosebumps. No movie as a child has haunted me more than DePalma's gritty horror movie. Piper Laurie as Carrie's mother is one of the most frightening performances I have seen in a horror picture. The performance by Sissy Spacek put her on the map and no one can touch her as Carrie except maybe the remake's Chloe Grace Moretz who is the only reason I am fully endorsing this movie. Sometimes a performance is so captivating it can make a so so movie become a solid experience.

The original "Carrie" has a lot more power than the remake because of the type of film making. The remake is glossier, less grittier and too polished. The original had grit, a better, spookier house for it's location and Carrie's mother Margaret is scarier and more effective in the original. It is funny but the original didn't have CGI and the visual technology that movies have today but the prom scenes in the original are much more effective in the blood and shock category. I also don't see the supporting actors becoming stars like Travolta, Nancy Allen and Amy Irving became, the actors here are a little flat. I remember DePalma getting great flak by critics and even Stephen King, DePalma has received more hate than any director ever has in the history of movies by critics, but now critics call "Carrie" a masterpiece. That is funny and also a reason I don't pattern myself after movie critics.

I should not like this movie because it in no way measures up to the original but the performance by Chloe Grace Moretz is equal in power to Spacek's. Moretz is one of our finest young actresses and she nails the sweetness, fragility and naivety of Carrie perfectly. It is a graceful, subtle and beautiful performance. The other aspects of this movie might not be as effective but Moretz grounds this movie and her performance made me follow this remake even though the horror scenes and scares just don't touch the original's and didn't impress me a lot. Kimberly Peirce is a great director, "Boys Don't Cry", but I expected more from her. The screenwriters do a decent job of giving us a fragile Carrie who has to emerge from her shell and deal with bullying and ridicule from her peers. I like the use of modern touches like facebook and other social media aspects and how more despicable bullying is today. I just wasn't scared or jolted and man did the original scare the crap out of me!

I did love Chloe Grace Moretz though and she turns a fairly effective horror movie into something much more. Because of Moretz I was able to be somewhat affected by her battles with her mother and her tormentors with the final scenes. I do love Julianne Moore a lot and she is good here but her performance can't possibly match Piper Laurie's. Also DePalma is one of my favorite directors, I despise the hate he receives by critics, and his direction of the original movie is singular, scary as hell and gut wrenching. The way the original was filmed brings in my head thoughts of visceral masterpiece, auteur and a groundbreaking horror movie. The remake can't possibly touch the original's genius and on it's own it needed more oomph but Moretz is the real deal. A star and a future Oscar winning actress has emerged!