Carrie (2013) - no mercy...

WOW. This by far, is one of the best horrors I have seen in a long time! Believe it or not, I'm reviewing this masterpiece with no knowledge on the original film in 1976, and so perhaps the original may be better? You tell me! As you can see, it gets very decent ratings (well for a modern horror film anyway):-

• IMDB - 6/10
• Rotten Tomatoes - 49%
• Metacritic - 53%

For me, Rotten Tomatoes were harsh on this film. I felt IMDB gave Carrie an appropriate score, since it was a very successful remake to me. There were plenty of thrilling moments, and the film revolved around a brilliant story of Carrie being bullied at school.
There were several moments where I actually felt sympathy for her, and this made me become evil since I loved how she brutally crushed everyone in the end!

This stunner of a film is directed by Kimberly Peirce and lasts quite a lengthy run time of 100 minutes which is good for today's horrors! Basically, the outcast teenager Carrie White (Chloë Grace Moretz) is bullied by her mates at high-school. Her mother Margaret White (Julianne Moore) is a pious and paranoid woman that sees sin everywhere and the need of self-inflict punishment. When Carrie has her first period, she does not understand what is happening to her and her mates humiliate her in the changing room. The spiteful Chris Hargensen (Julianne Moore) videotapes Carrie with her cell phone and posts in Internet. Their teacher Ms. Desjardin (Judy Greer) punishes the students and Chris challenges her and is suspended and consequently she cannot go to the prom. Meanwhile Carrie discovers that she has telekinesis and leans how to control her ability. The popular Sue Snell (Gabriella Wilde) feels bad with her attitude towards Carrie and asks her boyfriend Tommy Ross (Ansel Elgort) to invite Carrie to go with him to the prom to make up for what she did to Carrie. But Chris and her boyfriend Billy Nolan plot an evil prank with her friends to seek vengeance for Carrie with tragic consequences.

Oh yes indeed, the prank at the end has very destructive, tragic consequences. For the majority of the movie we watch helpless, innocent little Carrie being humiliated by her peers at school through her misunderstanding of her period. I feel the film is very successful in building up to the final half hour of the film where Carrie completely loses it. I mean as soon as the bucket of pig blood splats down on her as she is having her moment of fame, she doesn't care about revealing her powers. The eerie silence at this moment is absolutely pivotal to the screen as the rest of her year look at her in shock, until they burst into laughter. This, being the climax of the film, is when Carrie completely unleashes her rage through telekinesis. For me, the conclusion in this film is absolutely exceptional, and is one of the best endings in horror history! I mean she completely loses it - at this moment she has no mercy for anyone. Not even Ms. Desjardin who helped to guide her through her humiliation. She merely strangles her and scatters her over to the side. I could genuinely describe the final scene for the full day as it is complete chaos! Table and chairs and people flying about everyone - hundreds dead. I was delighted to see Carrie persecute Chris in the end as she intimidates her by following her, until making her car crash to see her face fly right into the front window - until the car explodes! C'mon, she did deserve it...

I cannot think of many ways at all that I can criticise this film. You could argue that the film took too long to get violent and thrilling, but I believe the length we watch before the ending is crucial to the strength of the final half hour. It builds momentum, intensity and pressure on Carrie - even on ourselves as we feel that Carrie must have a good time or something bad is going to happen! I honestly cannot think of any other way to criticize this film.

For me, this is a must watch horror masterpiece, and I believe it will be known as a "classic" in about 10-20 years time. It consists of a very thrilling story line, followed by the perfect idea of a poor innocent girl to be granted with special powers to wipe out almost her entire year. I remember actually watching the prom scene a couple of times because I thought it was phenomenal. Definitely one of the best conclusions I have seen to a film, since our sympathy for Carrie grows and grows - which causes us to be evil at the end of the film.

Overall Rating:- 7.6/10