This marks the 2nd cinematic take on Stephen King’s novel, Carrie (1976, with a sequel in 1999 and a TV movie in 2002). With the brilliant Chloe Grace Moretz in the title role, this tale of telepathic revenge has a lot going for it (how cool is that poster? Great idea).

I’ve seen parts of the 1976 Carrie and have been meaning to read the book for ages (I’m well overdue to dipping my toes back into King’s waters) so I go into this knowing the basics and don’t know what was changed from the book. The most obvious is bringing the story closer to present day with cell phone use. Despite seeing iPhones and such in the hands of teenagers, the time period of the movie felt like it was taking place sometime in the 1990’s.

It’s a really straight forward movie. Carrie White is an outsider at her school because of her mother (home schooling, super religious). She doesn’t have any friends and does come off as bit weird (she does have telekinetic powers, but no one knows it and she’s just trying to understand them herself). But she is a good girl. She wants to belong and just be a normal kid. After a humiliating experience in the showers after gym class, Carrie is at her lowest. Sue, who was part of the mob mentality in the showers, regrets what she did and wants to make up for it. She decides she’s going to skip prom, asking her boyfriend to take Carrie instead. Show her a good time, make a positive memory from her high school days. Carrie’s mother is completely against it (to say the least) and tries to stop Carrie from going. In the infamous prom scene, Carrie is humiliated again by one of her classmates. She snaps, cleaning house in the process.

I think this is promoted as a horror movie (and Carrie does obliterate quite a few people), but I didn’t find this scary at all. It is really sad. Carrie is a girl who never got a fair shake at life. It’s easy to paint her mother, Margaret (Julianne Moore) as the villain, but her past is wrought with tragedy as well. The real problem is Chris. That girl is grade A lunatic. The movie ends on a total downer to boot.

I think the weakest part of the movie is that it feels a little thin. Small glimpses at character backgrounds and Chris is such a nutter it’s hard to believe she does what she does. They insinuate she’s a spoiled brat, but the murderous glee she shows is something else. Aside from that, it’s a well made movie. Chloe keeps knocking her roles out of the park, she’s such a great actress. Really believable, she’s a major asset to any movie she chooses to work on. It’s well shot (aside from one camera shot/edit during a fight with Carrie and her mother that I’m pretty sure makes no sense physically) and the special effects are really good. Lots of practical work mixed in with CG and the deaths in the final act are  creative and well done.

While I think they hit all the right marks…was this reboot necessary? Aside from adding social networking to the bullying angle, it’s really no different. I’d say it’s worth a watch if you are interested.