Carrie (2013 film)

Carrie

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Kimberly Peirce
Produced by Kevin Misher
Screenplay by Lawrence D. Cohen
Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
Based on Carrie 
by Stephen King
Starring Chloë Grace Moretz
Judy Greer
Portia Doubleday
Alex Russell
Gabriella Wilde
Ansel Elgort
Julianne Moore
Music by Marco Beltrami
Cinematography Steve Yedlin
Edited by Lee Percy
Production
company
Misher Films
Distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Screen Gems
Release dates
  • October 18, 2013
Running time
 99 minutes[1]
Country United States
Language English
Budget $30 million[2]
Box office $85,039,284[3]

Carrie is a 2013 American supernatural horror film. It is the third film adaptation of Stephen King's 1974 novel of the same name, though Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Screen Gems, who produced the film, employed a script that was reportedly more faithful to King's original novel. The film stars Chloë Grace Moretz as the titular Carrie White, and Julianne Moore as Carrie's mother, Margaret White.

Following the initial announcement of March 15, 2013 as the release date, the film's public launch was later postponed to October 18, 2013.

Plot

Alone in her home, Margaret White (Julianne Moore) gives birth to a baby girl. She at first intends to kill the infant, but changes her mind. As a teenager, her daughter Carrie (Chloë Grace Moretz), is a shy, lonely girl, who nears her graduation from Ewen High School in Maine.

While showering after gym class at school, Carrie experiences her first menstrual period. She naively thinks she is bleeding to death. The other girls ridicule her, and school bully Chris Hargensen (Portia Doubleday) records the event on her smartphone and uploads it to YouTube. Gym teacher Miss Desjardin (Judy Greer) comforts Carrie and sends her home with Margaret, who believes menstruation is a sin. Margaret demands that Carrie abstain from showering with the other girls. When Carrie refuses, Margaret hits her with a Bible and locks her in her "prayer closet". As Carrie screams to be let out, a crack appears on the door, and the crucifix in the closet begins to bleed.

Miss Desjardin informs the girls who teased Carrie that they will endure boot-camp style detention for their behavior. When Chris refuses, she is suspended from school and banned from the prom. She storms out, vowing revenge.

Carrie learns that she has the ability to move things with her mind. She researches her abilities, learning to harness them. Sue Snell (Gabriella Wilde) attempts to make amends to Carrie by asking her boyfriend, Tommy Ross (Ansel Elgort), to take Carrie to the prom. Carrie accepts Tommy's invitation. When she tells her mother, Margaret forbids Carrie to attend. Asking her mother to relent, Carrie manifests her telekinesis. Margaret believes this power comes from the Devil.

Chris, her boyfriend Billy Nolan (Alex Russell), and his friends plan revenge on Carrie. They kill a pig and drain its blood into a bucket. Margaret tries to prevent Carrie from going to the prom, but Carrie uses her powers to lock her mother in the closet. At the prom, Carrie is nervous and shy, but Tommy kindly puts her at ease. As part of Chris and Billy's plan, Chris's friend, Tina Blake (Zoë Belkin), slips fake ballots into the voting box, which name Carrie and Tommy prom queen and king.

At home, Sue receives a text from Chris taunting her about her revenge on Carrie. Sue drives to the prom, arriving just as Carrie and Tommy are about to be crowned. Sue sees a bucket of pig's blood dangling above Carrie but, before she can warn anyone, Miss Desjardin hustles her out, suspecting that Sue is planning to humiliate Carrie.

Chris dumps the bucket of pig's blood onto Carrie and Tommy. Chris' shower video appears on large screens above the stage, inciting laughter from some in the audience, until the bucket falls onto Tommy's head, killing him. Enraged, Carrie takes her revenge telekinetically, killing dozens of people. A fire breaks out and, as the school burns to the ground, Carrie walks away, leaving a trail of fire and destruction in her wake. Chris and Billy attempt to flee in Billy's car. Chris urges Billy to run Carrie over, but Carrie flips the car into a gas station, killing them.

Carrie arrives home and she and Margaret embrace. Margaret tells Carrie about the night of Carrie's conception: Carrie's father "took" Margaret, who enjoyed the experience. Margaret attacks Carrie, who kills her with several sharp tools. Carrie becomes hysterical and makes stones rain from the sky to crush the house. When Sue arrives, a furious Carrie attacks her with her powers, but senses something inside Sue, and tells her that her baby is a girl. Carrie pushes a stunned Sue out of the house to safety as the house collapses and apparently kills the Whites.

As a voice-over gives her testimony in court regarding the prom incident, Sue visits Carrie's grave and places a single white rose by the headstone. As she leaves, the gravestone's surface begins to break.

Blu-ray alternate opening and ending

In the alternate opening, a young Carrie has a discussion with her teenage neighbor, who is sun-bathing, over the fact that Margaret believes that women with breasts are sinful. Margaret catches them in the conversation and believes that the neighbor is offending Carrie, not before the neighbor's mother disagrees with her. Suddenly, stones begin to rain only on the White household. Margaret, believing it is a sign from God, takes shelter as she carries Carrie inside.

The gravestone crack and the court speech are not present in the alternate ending. Sue is in the hospital trying to deliver her baby. When the baby is about to come out, a bloody hand bursts out from her vagina and grabs Sue. She wakes up; screaming in fear and her mother tries to comfort her since the nightmare is over. A subliminal image reveals Carrie, bloody in her prom dress, holding Sue's infant daughter.

Cast

Planning and casting

In May 2011, representatives from MGM and Screen Gems announced that the two companies were producing a film remake of Carrie. The two studios hired Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark playwright Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa to write a screenplay that delivers "a more faithful adaption" of King's novel—Aguirre-Sacasa previously adapted King’s work The Stand into a comic book in 2008.[4]

Upon hearing of the new adaptation, King remarked, "The real question is why, when the original was so good?" He also suggested Lindsay Lohan for the main role and stated that "it [the film] would certainly be fun to cast".[5] Actress Sissy Spacek, who played Carrie in de Palma's adaptation, expressed an opinion on the choice of Lohan for the character of Carrie White, stating that she "was like, 'Oh my God, she's really a beautiful girl' and so I was very flattered that they were casting someone to look like me instead of the real Carrie described in the book. It's gonna be real interesting."[6] In March 2012, the role of Carrie White was offered to Chloë Grace Moretz,[7] who accepted the role.[8]

Kimberly Peirce directed the film,[9] while Moore starred as Margaret White and Gabriella Wilde played Sue Snell.[10] Alex Russell and Ansel Elgort are also members of the main cast,[11] and Judy Greer played the gym teacher Miss Desjardin.[12]

Release

The original release date was March 15, 2013,[13] but in early January 2013 the release date was moved to October 18, 2013.[14][15]

Sony held a "First Look" event at the New York Comic Con on October 13, 2013 that allowed attendees to view the film prior to the release date. The event was followed by a panel session with several members of the cast and crew.[16]

Trailers for the film included a phone number that offered promotions to the caller, as well as a recording of a simulated encounter with characters from the film.[17]

Home video

The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray on January 14, 2014. The Blu-ray features an alternate ending and 9 deleted scenes.

Reception

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 49% approval rating with an average rating of 5.4/10 based on 155 reviews. The website's consensus reads, "It boasts a talented cast, but Kimberly Peirce's "reimagining" of Brian De Palma's horror classic finds little new in the Stephen King novel -- and feels woefully unnecessary."[18] On Metacritic, it scored a 53 out of 100 based on 34 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews."[19]

Kevin C. Johnson of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch gave the film a favorable review, saying, "Long before the blood starts spilling, it's clear the new team has mostly nailed it. The reboot is as good a Carrie remake as possible, though it's not truly a scary movie; the film takes its time living up to its R rating."[20] Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle also gave the film a favorable review, remarking: "In a way, the new Carrie is almost too easy to enjoy. Everything discordant and all the nagging weirdness and strange feelings surrounding the original have been smoothed down, and what we're left with is a well-made, highly satisfying and not particularly deep high school revenge movie."[21] Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune gave the film a positive review, stating: "The acting's strong; in addition to Moretz and Moore, Judy Greer is a welcome presence in the Betty Buckley role of the sympathetic gym instructor. But something's missing from this well-made venture. What's there is more than respectable, while staying this side of surprising."[22] Joe Neumaier of the New York Daily News gave it three out of five stars, saying, "With the exception of some appearances by social media, 'Carrie' doesn't try to hip up King's basic, often slow story. And while De Palma's version is fondly recalled as a high-blood-mark of the 1970s, this new take seems to linger a bit more on the bugaboos of overparenting and bullying while underplaying Mama's fanaticism. Peirce only glancingly lets her heroine have a mild discovery-of-powers moment that feels 'X-Men'-ish."[23] In a positive review on Roger Ebert's website, Matt Zoller Seitz awarded the film three out of four stars, praising the portrayal of Carrie and Margaret's relationship and the feelings of sympathy Carrie manages to evoke; although, he criticizes the representation of Chris as "exaggeratedly evil". Seitz ultimately concludes by stating: "The first Carrie was horror. This is tragedy."[24] A. A. Dowd of The A.V. Club gave the film a C- rating, criticizing Moretz's Carrie as "too adjusted, coming across less like the 'very peculiar girl' King described in his novel and more like the stealth babe of some nottie-to-hottie teen romance." Dowd lamented on the film as a whole, "It's a strange thing to say about a movie so obsessed with the red stuff, but this Carrie is bloodless."[25]

A lot of fans were disappointed in the movie and are trying to release an extended director´s cut because of it.[26]

Box office

Sony estimated the revenue for the opening weekend of Carrie as between $16 million and $18 million, while others estimated a bigger margin of $24 million to $28 million due to the Halloween season. However, the final takings totaled $16,101,552 and the film was ranked at number 3 behind Gravity and Captain Philips, both of which were in their second and third weeks, respectively. By the end of the week, the film managed to gross $20,121,355.[27] In week two, the film slipped 62.8% to sixth place with $5,900,000 and 43.2% to ninth place in its third week with $3,400,000.[28][29][30]

At the end of its run, the film has grossed $35,266,619 in North America and $49,524,059 in other countries for a worldwide gross of $84,790,678. It is the 67th highest-grossing film of 2013 in the United States.[31]

Accolades

Year Award Category Recipient(s) Result
2014 People's Choice Awards[32] Favorite Horror Movie Carrie Won
Saturn Awards[33] Best Horror Film Carrie Nominated
Saturn Awards[33] Best Young Actor/Actress Chloë Grace Moretz Won

References

  1. ↑ "CARRIE (15)". Columbia Pictures. British Board of Film Classification. October 14, 2013. Retrieved October 14, 2013.
  2. ↑ "Carrie (2013)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved October 17, 2013.
  3. ↑ http://pro.boxoffice.com/statistics/movies/carrie-2013. Retrieved October 18, 2013.
  4. ↑ Kit, Borys (May 19, 2011). "MGM, Screen Gems Team for 'Carrie' Remake". The Hollywood Reporter.
  5. ↑ Labrecque, Jeff (May 20, 2011). "Stephen King sounds off on new 'Carrie' remake -- EXCLUSIVE". Entertainment Weekly.
  6. ↑ "LiLo in 'Carrie' remake? Sissy Spacek can see it". CNN. July 12, 2011.
  7. ↑ Fleming, Mike (March 27, 2012). "MGM Formally Offers Lead Remake Of Stephen King’s 'Carrie' To Chloe Moretz". Deadline Hollywood.
  8. ↑ "Chloe Grace Moretz celebrates 16th birthday with star-studded bash". WMAR-TV-ABC News.
  9. ↑ Fleming, Mike (January 4, 2012). "MGM/Screen Gems Eye Kimberly Peirce to Direct Remake of Stephen King’s ‘Carrie’". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved March 29, 2012.
  10. ↑ Littlejohn, Georgina (2012-05-14). "Julianne Moore And Gabriella Wilde Board Carrie Remake". London: CinemaBlend.com.
  11. ↑ Ge, Linda (May 15, 2012). "'Chronicle' star Alex Russell and Broadway actor Ansel Elgort join "Carrie" remake opposite Chloe Moretz". Up and Comers.
  12. ↑ Rich, Katey (May 25, 2012). "UPDATE: Judy Greer HAS NOT Signed On To The Carrie Remake As The Gym Teacher". CinemaBlend.com.
  13. ↑ Sitterson, Aubrey (April 13, 2012). "'Carrie' remake gets Spring 2013 release date". IFC. Retrieved July 30, 2012.
  14. ↑ "'Carrie' Has Been Shifted All The Way To October". Bloody Disgusting. January 2, 2013. Retrieved January 4, 2013.
  15. ↑ Staskiewicz, Keith (January 3, 2013). "'Carrie' remake gets pushed back to October". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved January 4, 2013.
  16. ↑ "Sony to Debut First Looks at Carrie and Evil Dead at NYCC". comingsoon.net. CraveOnline Media, LLC, an Evolve Media, LLC company. 19 September 2012. Retrieved 18 April 2013.
  17. ↑ Barton, Steve (October 15, 2012). "Carrie called. Messages left. Listen now." Dread Central. Retrieved April 6, 2013.
  18. ↑ "Carrie (2013)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 15 April 2014.
  19. ↑ "Carrie". Metacritic. Retrieved October 19, 2013.
  20. ↑ Johnson, Kevin C. (October 17, 2013). "'Carrie' remake is a bloody good time". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Retrieved October 19, 2013.
  21. ↑ Mick LaSalle (October 17, 2013). "'Carrie' review: less searing than the original". Fandango. Retrieved October 19, 2013.
  22. ↑ Phillips, Michael (October 17, 2013). "'Carrie' remake is a bloody good time". Fandango. Retrieved October 19, 2013.
  23. ↑ Joe Neumaier (October 17, 2013). "'Carrie': movie review". Daily News. Retrieved October 19, 2013.
  24. ↑ Matt Zoller Seitz (18 October 2013). "CARRIE". RogerEbert.com. Ebert Digital LLC. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
  25. ↑ A.A. Dowd (October 17, 2013). "'Carrie': movie review". Retrieved 5 March 2014.
  26. ↑ CARRIE 2013: RELEASE THE EXTENDED DIRECTOR'S CUT ON DVD/BLU-RAY
  27. ↑ "Carrie (2013)". Box Office Mojo. MDb.com, Inc. 3 November 2013. Retrieved 4 November 2013.
  28. ↑ Golum, Rob (2013-10-28). "U.S. Movie Box Office Grosses for Oct. 25 - Oct. 27". Bloomberg. Retrieved 2014-01-23.
  29. ↑ "Weekend Box Office Results for January 17-19, 2014". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2014-01-23.
  30. ↑ "Weekend Box Office Results for October 25-27, 2013". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2014-01-23.
  31. ↑ Matt Zoller Seitz (18 October 2013). "Carrie (2013) (2013)". Boxofficemojo.com. Ebert Digital LLC. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
  32. ↑ Lewis, Dave (November 5, 2013). "'Game of Thrones' vs. 'Iron Man': This year's People's Choice Awards nominees". HitFix. Retrieved January 9, 2014.
  33. ↑ 33.0 33.1 "Gravity, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Lead Saturn Awards Noms"

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