Disc-ussion: Stephen King’s début shocker (and one of the most iconic horror flicks of the 70s) gets a glossy but pointless big screen update from the director of Boys Don’t Cry.
Poor Carrie White. Abused by a fervently religious mother and labelled a freak weirdo by her peers, king’s most tragic character strikes a deep chord with any misfit who’s ever felt left out and misunderstood. But unlike the rest of us, Carrie discovers she has a very special way of fighting back…
Whichever way you look at it, its inevitable that this is going to be compared to Brian De Palma’s dreamlike, fairytale presentation of the tale, and negatively so. Much has been made of the fact of having a female director for a story so driven by feminine power, but Peirce’s vision is oddly lifeless; with the main characters lightly drawn and serving only to propel the story towards its bloody conclusion with little regard for what lies beneath the surface.
In that respect, you may as well start watching from about an hour in – just as the fateful prom gets under way. Its not that itsbad, rather that the whole is just a little bland, with an attractive cast getting an oddly toned-down and modestly-dressed thrashing to appease the 15 certificate while the carnage promised by the trailer (and demanded by the audience) largely fails to materialize.
For what its worth, the acting from the leads is fine, though the desire not to emulate the iconic Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie is painfully obvious. Julianne Moore goes through all the right crazy motions as Carrie’s just-a-bit loony Mother, though doesn’t even start to approach terrifying. Chloe Moretz perfectly captures the awkward adolescent loneliness of a teenage lost soul, but both her performance and the film fall short when portraying the depth of Carrie’s sense of betrayal and the tragic monster within.
Carrie is released Friday 29 November, rated 15.
By: Versais Demauve
