Blood Red
7.75 out of 10 | Rental
Rated: R Bloody violence, disturbing images. language and some sexual content
Release Date: October 18, 2013
Runtime: 1 hour 39 minutes
Release Date: October 18, 2013
Runtime: 1 hour 39 minutes
Director: Kimberly Peirce
Writers: Lawrence D. Cohen, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, based on the book by Stephen King
Cast: Chloe Grace Moretz, Julianne Moore, Gabriella Wilde, Portia Doubleday, Ansel Elgort, Alex Russell, Judy Greer
Writers: Lawrence D. Cohen, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, based on the book by Stephen King
Cast: Chloe Grace Moretz, Julianne Moore, Gabriella Wilde, Portia Doubleday, Ansel Elgort, Alex Russell, Judy Greer
SYNOPSIS: A reimagining of the classic horror tale about Carrie White, a shy girl outcast by her peers and sheltered by her deeply religious mother, who unleashes telekinetic terror on her small town after being pushed too far at her senior prom.
REVIEW: Kimberly Peirce, director of the acclaimed 1999 Boys Don't Cry, takes on the daunting task of remaking and re-imagining the classic tale from horror master Stephen King and the 1976 film with Piper Laurie and Sissy Spacek. Based on the screenplay by Lawrence D. Cohen, a longtime Stephen King story adapter, and Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (Dark Matters), Peirce tries to bring new life to a bloody tale of bullying and revenge.
Carrie White (Chloe Grace Moretz, Kick-Ass 2) is a shy and quiet outcast trying to survive her high school experience. Raised and home schooled by her religious zealot of a mother Margaret (Julianne Moore, Crazy, Stupid, Love.) Carrie faces sneers and ridicule from her classmates, desperate to fit in and be a normal teenage girl. When Carrie experiences her first period in the girls' locker room, she is belittled and mocked by the other girls, led by mean girl Chris Hargensen (Portia Doubeday, Youth in Revolt). Fellow classmate Sue Snell (Gabriella Wilde, The Three Musketeers), trying to make amends for her part in Carrie's bullying, asks her boyfriend Tommy (Ansel Elgort) to ask Carrie to Prom. When Carrie accepts Tommy's invitation and starts enjoying her first social dance she finds herself the butt of another prank perpetrated by Chris and her boyfriend Billy (Alex Russell, Chronicle). After being pushed too far, Carrie unleashes her full vengeful telekinetic fury against the students, teachers and town.
In 1976 Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie embodied the unwieldy and strange relationship between a mother and her daughter - dreamed up and put to page by Stephen King. Should such an iconic film be remade for a new audience? If a new film is just a retread of the original, is it necessary to make at all? Director Peirce takes the original material and updates its in the right spots. Cyber bullying is included as an added insult. The story takes a moment more to explain how Margaret and Carrie come to have such an odd co-dependent relationship. And Carrie, played by Moretz, takes the character to the appropriate angst-ridden age.
When Sissy Spacek played the role of the teenage Carrie White, she was well into her twenties. She played the role with both an air of naive innocence and pent up anger. Chloe plays the age closer to age, still in her teens. She brings a fresh real perspective to the role, rivaling what Sissy portrayed. Piper Laurie, who dominated and put the fear of God into most of us as Margaret White, is given a run for her biblical money by the very talented Julianne Moore. The villains, in the form of Portia Doubleday and Alex Russell, bring modern day snark to Chris and Billy. Gabriella Wilde and Ansel Elgort bring more understated study to the desperate to do good Sue Snell and Tommy Ross. Judy Greer does gym teacher Mrs. Desjardin justice with an edge of her own.
Performances aside, the story follows a more modern version of the same tale brought to screen years ago. Most of the major plot points are the same as they were before, or twisted just a little bit to be just a little bit different. Peirce does bring a little more of the original source material back, but doesn't take enough license to make the iconic pop culture story something truly her own. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
In 1976 Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie embodied the unwieldy and strange relationship between a mother and her daughter - dreamed up and put to page by Stephen King. Should such an iconic film be remade for a new audience? If a new film is just a retread of the original, is it necessary to make at all? Director Peirce takes the original material and updates its in the right spots. Cyber bullying is included as an added insult. The story takes a moment more to explain how Margaret and Carrie come to have such an odd co-dependent relationship. And Carrie, played by Moretz, takes the character to the appropriate angst-ridden age.
When Sissy Spacek played the role of the teenage Carrie White, she was well into her twenties. She played the role with both an air of naive innocence and pent up anger. Chloe plays the age closer to age, still in her teens. She brings a fresh real perspective to the role, rivaling what Sissy portrayed. Piper Laurie, who dominated and put the fear of God into most of us as Margaret White, is given a run for her biblical money by the very talented Julianne Moore. The villains, in the form of Portia Doubleday and Alex Russell, bring modern day snark to Chris and Billy. Gabriella Wilde and Ansel Elgort bring more understated study to the desperate to do good Sue Snell and Tommy Ross. Judy Greer does gym teacher Mrs. Desjardin justice with an edge of her own.
Performances aside, the story follows a more modern version of the same tale brought to screen years ago. Most of the major plot points are the same as they were before, or twisted just a little bit to be just a little bit different. Peirce does bring a little more of the original source material back, but doesn't take enough license to make the iconic pop culture story something truly her own. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
