Carrie (2002 film)

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Carrie

Promotional poster
Directed by David Carson
Produced by David Carson
Bryan Fuller
Written by Stephen King
Bryan Fuller
Starring Angela Bettis
Patricia Clarkson
Rena Sofer
Kandyse McClure
Emilie de Ravin
Tobias Mehler
Katharine Isabelle
Music by Laura Karpman
Cinematography Victor Goss
Editing by Anthony A. Lewis
Distributed by NBC
MGM Television
Release date(s) November 4, 2002
Running time 132 min.
Country Flag of the United States
Language English
Official website
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Carrie is a 2002 TV movie remake of the 1976 film which adheres more closely to the plot of the novel by Stephen King.[citation needed] Originally intended as a pilot for a TV series in which Carrie moves to Florida to help others suffering telekinetic problems, it is the sole survivor of that project.

Contents

[edit] Plot

Carrie White (Angela Bettis) is a shy and lonely high school senior. In the showers after a P.E. lesson and begins to panic, fearing she is dying, as she finds her hands covered in blood, unaware that her bleeding is the onset of her first period. Lead by Chris Hargensen (Emilie de Ravin), the girls in the locker room begin taunting her by chanting, "Period". When Miss Desjarden (Rena Sofer) comes in to investigate, she is shocked to learn that Carrie has no idea of what is happening to her, lying in a fetal position in the shower. Miss Desjarden takes Carrie's side, and lets her take study hall instead. Confronting the other girls while they are changing in the locker room, Chris fights with Desjarden, refusing to present in their detention, thus her prom ticket becomes null and void. Her father John Hargensen (a lawyer) threatens to sue the school, but principal Morton promises to counter-sue on behalf of Carrie and several other girls Chris has harassed. The famed lawyer gives up.

Carrie knocks down a boy with a bicycle teasing her and finds her desk cracked and her metal ruler twisted after watching girls in the classroom passing notes teasing her. After this, Carrie gradually discovers her telekinetic abilities. Her over-religious zealot mother Margaret (Patricia Clarkson) believes Carrie’s period is caused by sinful thoughts and locks her in the closet, forcing her to pray for forgiveness. One of the girls teasing Carrie in the shower, Sue Snell (Kandyse McClure), feels guilty for what she did, and so asks her boyfriend Tommy (Tobias Mehler) to take Carrie to the prom. Tommy hesitates, but Sue talks him into it. The next day, Tommy finds Carrie in the library and asks her to prom. At first she declines, but Tommy eventually talks her into going with him. She leaves as Tina Blake (Katharine Isabelle) and her crew begin to come closer to her, questioning her conversation with Tommy.

When Carrie announces her mother about the prom, Margaret decides against it and tries to leave the room, not wanting to discuss further. After Carrie shuts the door slum and sends a table toppling onto another doorway, she informs her that there will be changes around there. However, Margaret reacts to her daughter’s newfound power as a possession of the Devil. Meanwhile, Chris is enraged about her entrance to the prom been forbidden, and blames Carrie for it. When her gal-pal Tina hands her a copy of the nominee ballot for king and queen at the prom, while Sue and her friend Helen Shyres (Chelan Simmons) are decorating for the gym, and discovers that Tommy and Carrie are written on it. She decides to take revenge, so she and her homicidal boyfriend Billy Nolan (Jesse Cadotte), along with Tina’s boyfriend Kenny Garson and Jackie Talbot (Malcolm Scott) enter the Henty farmhouse late at night and slaughter pigs and collect their blood. It is part of her plan.

After Carrie sews her own prom gown and meets Sue at the mall (who helps her pick out what lipstick she should wear), prom night arrives. Dressed and ready for Tommy to arrive, Margaret interrupts her and says to her not to go, asking her to burn her dress and pray for forgiveness. Carrie becomes frustrated, and uses her power to send Margaret sliding across the room and out of the door. Margaret then leaves the house. 7:35 PM rolls around and Carrie begins anticipating Tommy's arrival (he was supposed to be there at 7:30). In her anxiety, she begins to subconsciously levitate objects, beginning with the table and ending with a small cross. Startled when Tommy shows up at the door, Carrie drops everything she was levitating with a crash. In an effort to hide her power, she claims that her ceiling collapsed. They both enter the limousine Tommy has brought, as her mother stealthily watches from the bushes. They arrive at the prom and everyone is surprised to see her there. They meet up with Helen (who tries to be kind to Carrie) and her boyfriend Roy Evarts (Steve Byers), who ask them to sit with them. After compliments from senior president Norma Watson (Meghan Black) and a brief friendly talk with Miss Desjarden, Carrie romantically dances with Tommy –her first dance. Sitting with Helen and Roy, Tina begins handing nominating ballots and Carrie is surprised to see her name and Tommy’s on it. Helen says she is voting for Carrie, rather than herself. Tina collects the ballots (but switches them with fake ones) and Norma announces that Tommy and Carrie have won. Everyone is shocked at first, but they begin to applaud. King and Queen get on stage and are crowned, with Chris and Billy somewhere near, ready to pull the cord connected with the bucket of blood above Carrie’s head. Carrie has a brief fantasy of her and Tommy dancing and kissing, but she wakes up when a drop of blood falls onto her hand. Looking up, Chris pulls the cord and Carrie is splattered in blood.

The crowd shocked (along with Tommy, who angrily throws down his scepter and crown) and Chris and Billy flee, letting the cord go and the bucket falls onto Tommy’s head, knocking him unconscious. Then, the crowd begins slowly to laugh, lead by Kenny and Tina, who chant "Sooey! Piggy piggy piggy!". Helen angrily slaps him before she, Roy and Miss Desjardin walk on stage to help Carrie and Tommy. Suddenly, a shockwave of telekinetic energy issues from Carrie, rippling through the crowd. Tina and Kenny try to make an exit, but Carrie has slipped into another trance and slams the doors shut with her mind, jamming Kenny's arm between them. Lights fall from the ceiling, sending showers of sparks flying and setting the mural on fire. People start to panic and try to run, banging on the locked doors. Tina knocks down a boy from her stress, and Carrie sends the basketball board slamming her to death onto the floor. The fire sprinklers turn on, raining water on everything and everyone. The principal runs onstage and grabs the microphone to calm everyone down, but is electrocuted when the water hits the wires. Carrie cracks open a water pipe on the wall: the sprinklers die down, the water instead gushing onto the floor from the broken pipe.

Miss Desjarden, along with Norma hurry some students and open a vent as an escape rout, with Roy and Helen carrying Tommy. Carrie tries to throw the electrical basketball scoreboard using a pair of lights against it. Miss Desjarden realizes what is going to happen if the scoreboard falls onto the water-soaked floor. She screams for everyone to get off the floor, before climbing a chair to the vent but falls and struggles to hold away from the water. The scoreboard falls and a wave of electricity is sent through the floor. As Carrie walks through the room (the water being spread away from her), more students fall dead from electrocuting. She calmly walks out as the gym roof collapses. Walking through the town, she causes chaos: unhooking gas pumps and spilling gasoline on the ground, bringing down live wires, stabbing parked cars with broken fence posts. The gasoline ignites and explodes, starting fires throughout Chamberlain. After a visit from Jackie telling them what happened, Billy and Chris drive through the town and meet Carrie at the road. They try to hit her with his truck, but Carrie sends them crashing onto a tree, killing them.

Carrie enters her home and, still wearing her blood-soaked dress, gets into her water-filled bathtub. Carrie wakes from her trance and Margaret steps in. She has a tender moment with her daughter, praying together, before attempting to drown her in the water. When Carrie seemingly dies, Margaret stops, but Carrie reveals to be alive when she responds to her mother by stopping her mother’s heart, killing her. Sue tells the police that she found Carrie dead in the water and left her. But what really happened, was that she found Carrie laying unconscious in the bathtub and took her out, reviving her with CPR. After hiding her from the police, they visit the graves of her victims –including her own mother. Sue decides to drive Carrie away from the authorities, as far as Florida. While traveling in car, Carrie is haunted by the visions of her mother and Chris.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Production

The film doubled as a pilot for a TV series in which Carrie moves to Florida to help others suffering telekinetic problems. In February 2003, star Angela Bettis revealed that she had been offered an extension on her contract[1] but alluded to the fact they hadn't offered her enough money to take on the chore of starring in a weekly show. Ultimately a television series never materialized.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Quint Interviews The Star of the Great Horror Film, MAY, here'sssss Angela Bettis!!!. Ain't It Cool News (2003-02-03). Retrieved on 2008-02-27.

[edit] External links

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Carrie (by Stephen King)
Novel
Films
Carrie (1976) | The Rage: Carrie 2 | Carrie (2002 film)
Theatre
Characters
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