Review: Carrie (Original/2002 remake)

       Well it's October again, and that means more horror movie reviews.  This particular review deserves a little backstory.  A year ago I wanted to do a reboot vs remake of this movie, but Netflix only had the reboot so I had to change the plan.  This year they had the original, but not the reboot.  So this review will be primarily on the original, but with some notes about the reboot as well.  So with that all out of the way here is my review of Carrie.

Plot (Spoiler Section) 

        For the few of you on the planet who don't know the plot, a poor high school girl finds out she has telekinesis, and really wants to fit in with her peers.  But her mother believes that society is evil, and enforces strict control over her daughter, often locking her in a closet until she apologizes for her sins.  She has a very traumatic scene towards the beginning where all of the girls in the locker room torment her.  One of the girls ends up feeling sorry for her and another blames Carrie for not being allowed to go to the prom.  At the prom the girl pulls a prank on her that results with her going into shock and her powers going wild, killing many students/faculty, and destroying a large part of the town.

       I can see how this is considered a classic, but if I'm being honest there are parts I think worked better in the 2002 version.  For example the relationship between Sue Snell and Carrie; in the original Sue felt bad for tormenting Carrie and asked her boyfriend, whom Carrie has a crush on, to take her to prom...that's it.  In the 2002 version Sue actually befriended Carrie and hung out with her.  Another part is the ending, while both were good, I think I preferred the remake, Carrie killed her mother in self defense, and then Sue arrives and resuscitates Carrie, they both run away to find others like her and prevent this tragedy from happening again.  In the original Carrie dies and is made into a cautionary tale, still a great ending, but their is ark for the characters.

End Spoiler section

The Characters

       Carrie has a small handful of major players, their is the titular Carrie, her zealot mother, mean girl Chis, Chris' boyfriend Billy, Repentant tormentor Sue, and Sue's boyfriend/Carrie's love interest Tommy.  In the original most of these characters can be summed up like I just did.  This gives the film a rather simplistic feel that keeps it easy to follow.  The 2002 remake did pretty much the same thing, but the character of Sue Snell is expanded upon.  But the original made a fatal mistake, they got John Travolta, but reduced him to about 2 lines.  The remake had Billy as a future serial killer who was hilariously fun to watch.

       To be honest The characters are the weakest part of the movie.  Followed very closely by it can all be summed up in 2-3 sentences.

Other Observations and Notes

       The first thing I want to point out is that Steven King has a very distinct way of storytelling.  He loves to be over descriptive and make every character summed up in one sentence, often bordering on the ridiculous.  This results in a lot of exposition with a short payoff, with Carrie it works but some of his other work this becomes painfully obvious.  I thoroughly enjoyed the original, but I personally don't understand why the remake gets so much crap when it's basically the same move, just updated.  But hey, following the trend perhaps next year I'll review the New new version.

Final verdict

       As I said before I really liked this version, though it isn't all that scary, and to be honest isn't much of a horror movie.  But it is a great movie that deserves your viewership.  And it is for that reason that I am giving this movie a B+.  The review would have been longer if not for as I said before, the 2002 version is basically the same movie.  feel free to leave a comment below.