Carrie (2002)

I really don't know why they remade this at all. They didn't improve on the original at all. Patricia Clarkson is a less scary villain, the plot makes less sense, all the schoolgirls are flatter and Angela Bettis is horrible in this. I did like the way Sue voluntarily forfeited her prom ticket and how Tommy genuinely treated Carrie nicely, and Rena Sofer created a better and more believable Miss Desjardins. But the addition of the flashback storytelling and the extraneous headgames that Sue seems to be trying to play with the detective seemed out of place. This is a movie with no imagination.

I think everyone knows the story of Carrie. The strange innocent misfit who's teased mercilessly and maliciously by a few of her school peers. and develops her telekinetic powers to protect herself after a particularly cruel and humiliating prank is pulled on her. Well, I think I enjoyed this because it put a different spin on the original story. That is, the story is told after the fact in a series of interviews conducted by the police. The movie has a good cast and the script is good. The special effects, while used to good effect, aren't particularly 'special', but the camera work, particularly in the ballroom scene when everyone is panicking, is deplorable. I've taken better home movies. Still, if you can ignore that.... Overall I really enjoyed this telemovie and would recommend it to anyone who wants a bit of a scare and to be entertained, and not I'll probably be burned at the stake for this too, but I preferred Angela Bettis charactisation of Carrie to Sissy Spaceks in the original.