Horror films return in New Year!

Saw the trailer for this and it looks appealing. Plus, it has a certain character making a surprise cameo, one of my favourite characters from Paranormal Activity 2.

October's Horror movie watched List

My list of Horror movies I watched leading up to Halloween.

1. The Devil's Backbone
2. Devil
3. The Ring (remake of Ringu) 
4. The Innkeepers
5. The Grudge (remake of Ju-on)
6. The Conjuring
7. The Hand that Rocked the Cradle
8. The Haunting (remake of 1960s version)
9. Paranorman
10. Curse of Chucky
11. Trick R' Treat
12. Coraline
13. Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (remake of 1970s version)
14. Texas Chainsaw  (sequel to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre) 
15. Scream
16. Fright Night (remake of 1980s version) 
17. Drag Me to Hell 
18. Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters 
19. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

Carrie Remake

One remake I have really been anticipating is Carrie. Like The Thing the Carrie remake was set to be released back in April/March then the studio decided it would be better fitted to be released in October.  Now the wait is over, how'd I find this new Carrie.

Well, for starters the cast is phenomenal. Julianne Moore makes for a terrifying version of Mrs. White and gives the character an interesting emotional heft. Unlike Piper Laurie's version of Mrs. White, psycho crazy, Julianne's version is less outrageous and more bubbling beneath the surface. Chloe Mortez is solid in the role of Carrie. She doesn't real add anything too new to the character but still overall she does an excellent job at playing the part, she especially is terrific when leaving the prom, acting very crazy/spooky. Judy Greer also stars, I was very excited to see her in this and I love her bit. The coach, thankfully, never hits any of her students and it made me cheer for her more seeing as really she just said some things which weren't nice and could easily be forgiven, at least thats my thinking.

 Story wise the movie delves deeper into Mrs. White. We see how Carrie is born, similar in a way to how Leatherface was born (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning) We, the audience, then see that she does truly love her daughter but becomes truly fearful when she discovers she has some sort of abilities. The visuals here are not terrible. Visual effects wise, nothing is overdone. I loved the prom scene, the deaths were well put together, its what followed after the prom and Carrie's development that bugged me.

For one thing, Carrie seems to only be after people who hurt her, the coach did still hit her (true I said she didn't) I found this to be against character. In the book the character of Carrie started to hate everyone, its what drove her to destroy half the town. We do see some destruction of the town, fire explosions from the sewers, the crushing of asphalt. But no one else dies besides the ones who hurt Carrie. And when she gets home we loose the momentum and things slow to a trudge. I really would

have preferred the book's ending more. The film, in the end, does include the confrontation between Carrie White and Sue Snell (Gabriella Wilde) and then the court room drama that followed. I enjoyed those parts but from the good pace after the prom (Carrie's rage across town) to the slow build of her home's destruction did feel a little underwhelming and the pacing of the scene towards the ending just felt all over the place from slow then suddenly speeding up. It felt rushed.

What I think would have benefited this adaptation is if they followed the book to the t. Including everything from the original ending, to the intercuts of the police interviews. I enjoyed the film, loved the cast, the visuals and the deaths but it was just too short. I like, love, long horror films (The Shining) and if a horror film is not going to be long quicken the pace bait, make for more exciting moments. How the ending could have been fixed is Carrie simply not taking a bath. She seeks her mother out, finds her, they talk, she stabs her after telling her the truth about where and how she was born (her father raped her mother) and then Carrie kills her. Carrie then leaves to head to the place where she was born/created. Doesn't make it, Sue followed. Confrontation. Mental transfer. Truth revealed to Carrie about Sue. Carrie dies. Not in the house caused by her own destruction but by the mere exhaustion of her abilities on her body. Thats what also felt out of place, she seemly was able to do all this and not feel any effects?

While is was defiantly not a disappointment, I did find it to be a better adaptation than the 1970s take, 2013's Carrie will seem like nothing much new. If you know the story and loved the original, it may be best to skip this. I have read the book and own the original but I found I enjoyed the remake more. I just find that with original films done in the 70s/90s that involve teenagers they don't seem to look like teens. Thats one thing they got right with the Carrie remake. The kids in the movie looked like kids, while back then everyone seemed like an adult attending high school.

2013's Carrie is a bit of a retread but it has an excellent cast, terrific visuals and some new little twists.