Will CARRIE be a worthwhile remake?

Oh here we are once again with the age-old question: why must they remake everything?  The answer is that Hollywood is sadly out of ideas, and they would rather do crappy re-dos of older (and usually better) films to make bank on a title, rather than give jobs to worthy writers.  We are at a sad point in time, where there are remakes of remakes now.  I am not kidding.  I don’t care what anyone says, but THE THING from 2011 is a remake, and not a prequel, and now there are rumors surfacing about another remake of HALLOWEEN.  What kind of world is this?  I will say this is not a blog that will be ranting about remakes…in fact, I only want to discuss one upcoming remake and that is CARRIE, the remake of the 1976 De Palma classic.

The original CARRIE set a new ground for horror films and is considered by many to be one of the finest horror films out there.  It’s a great flick, but in my opinion, I could use a remake for it.  I’ll let you get all your gasps out.  I welcome a remake of CARRIE.  While, yes, the original film is good, I never thought it was the classic many made it out to be.  Sissy Spacek was phenomenal and the directing and music was great…but I found the movie to be quite dated and to have a mostly-weak final act (except for the final confrontation between mother and daughter).  This is just one man’s opinion, so I know many won’t agree with me here.  One issue is that I read the book first, and the book was fantastic, and oh-so different from the movie.  Here is an example of how different the book is, Carrie destroys a lot more than just the school.

There was a TV remake in 2002, starring the great Angela Bettis, but that wasn’t very good.  It tried to stay closer to the book, but be hip at the same time.  The acting was fantastic from Bettis, but that is honestly the only thing I can recommend about that movie.  In 2013, we will be getting a theatrical remake, directed by Kimberly Peirce.  When it comes to remakes of movies based on books, that doesn’t bother me because the original movie wasn’t the original source.  It was an adaptation of another person’s work.  Peirce’s remake seems to be going in a different direction from the 1976 movie.  It helps that Peirce is a talented director, so the movie is already heading in the right direction.

Not only is the director talented, but so is the cast.  In the title role, we have Chloe Grace Moretz, who is in my opinion the best young actress working today.  I’ve never seen her give less than a stellar performance so I think she has the ability to be as good as Spacek (maybe even better?).  The other main performer is Julianne Moore as the crazy Carrie’s crazy mom.  Like Moretz, Moore is a great actress and I know she will sell the role.  Then you have Judy Greer as the nice gym teacher.  I love her casting because Greer is mostly known for comedy, and I notice one thing about many comedic actors: they are brilliant dramatic actors (Examples: Robin Williams, Whoopi Goldberg, Jim Carrey).  The rest of the cast is made up of unknowns, which is the best way to go.  A star-studded cast would distract you, and most of the actors look like real high school teens (it certainly helps that many of them are teenagers, with Moretz being only 15!).

If I have any worries, it is the fact that we live in a digital age.  I am a believer in practical effects (with may be some, and I stress some, help from CGI).  Many directors these days use only CGI, and a lot of times it comes off looking hokey.  I’m hoping that CARRIE (2013) goes the practical way, with maybe some help from CGI.

I’ve been paying attention to the entire making process of CARRIE so far, and it really seems that the makers are staying close to the novel.  Could this be the CARRIE I’ve been waiting for all along.  I honestly believe this movie has the chance to be one of the best remakes ever made.