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Carrie Review - Spoiler Free

Starring: Chloe Grace Moretz, Julianne Moore, Gabriella Wilde
Director: Kimberly Peirce
Genre: Horror
Running time: 100 minutes
Certificate: 15


In all honesty, if you have seen the 1976 Brian DePalma directed Carrie, then there is really no need to watch this remake. As remakes go it is very good, but it follows the original very closely. Where this version does stray it makes very little difference to the overall film. For those who have not seen either version Carrie tells the tale of Carrie White (Chloe Grace Moretz), a high school student in her senior year who is horribly tormented at school and lives with a maniacally religious mother. However, Carrie is starting to realise that she might be more powerful than she once thought.

Carrie has a good pedigree as it is adapted from the novel of the same name by Stephen King. Moreover, this version has the acting skills of Chloe Grace Moretz as Carrie and Julianne Moore as Margaret White, Carrie's mother. Both Moretz and Moore are very good in their respective roles. As a fan of Moretz, her acting ability is not in question, but when Spacek took the role in 1976 there was a physical fragility about her that adds to the character and this is something that Moretz simply does not have. Julianne Moore is intense as the scary Mrs White, and the remake is as entertaining and heartbreaking as the DePalma version. However, watching an almost identical remake does seem a redundant exercise. With Spike Lee's remake of the cult classic Chan-Wook Park film Oldboy due to hit the cinemas soon, it is time to ask:
why have remakes at all? But that is a question for another day. If you have not had a chance to catch the DePalma version it is highly recommended and a three and a half star movie. Alternatively, if you are a horror fan, you haven't managed to watch the DePalma version, or you have an aversion to films made before 1980, then catch this while it is at the cinema and you probably won't be disappointed.

Three stars. Well made, well performed and entertaining, but not quite up to DePalma's classic.

For more information on Carrie visit here.

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