A week ago I bought myself Brian De Palma's Carrie on blu-ray. I hadn't seen it since my teenage years and somehow I decided along the way to not see it again until I could handle the subjects. I was bullied all through school - from name-calling to violence against me. It made me hate school and I've avoided every kind of class reunion travesty so far - and I will never, never, got back to spend time with those idiots. Carrie deals with bullying - and while it's quite different from me - she's a extremely closed religious wacko and I was a quite nice fatso (and still is) - it felt too much in my heart and soul to watch it. And I decided "never again". Until now of course.
De Palma's Carrie is perfection. It's one of the most powerful horror movies ever, from the script and acting to the visuals. Everything is there, everything has a point. It's a big, bold poem set in a fucked-up school-world where The Prom is everything and humans are nothing. Nowadays when it's extra hip to whine about the 2013 version of Carrie almost everyone seems to have forgotten that there was an official sequel in 1999, The Rage: Carrie 2 (not to forget the OTHER remake from 2002, starring Angela Bettis as Carrie!). The "fans" whine for the sake of whining. But we all know that.
Did they whine a lot when Carrie 2 came out? I have no idea, I didn't care. I watched it on tape and loved it. Do I love it today? No, but it's not really a bad movie. Just very nineties!
One thing you can say about The Rage: Carrie 2 is that it effectivly proofs that there wasn't any beautiful people in the nineties. The whole cast here is a turn-off, even the so-called beautiful people look like bums with plastic surgery. Not their fault of course, it's the curse of the nineties. Another curse is the slick, post-Scream look - the references (including one big one to Wes Craven's Scream!), the almost music video aesthetics (cue black and white suddenly, wild camera angles - directly from Parker Lewis Can't Loose) and the ugly actors... yeah, sorry. I've already brought up that problem. Emily Bergl as the new girl, Rachel, looks like a troll with that hair cut - and Mena Suvari looks like a cartoon.
But hey, that's okay. Emily Bergl makes a fine a fine performance as Rachel, even if she have to struggle with a very underwritten and not so problematic character. This time she's living with her step-parents, white trash - alcholics, an abusive stepfather - but that's it. She's a bit emo, but she's not bullied in any way really. At least that's what we feel. Nothing seems serious enough, even if she having sex with her boyfriend is filmed and shown during the final party makes her really sad it's never powerful. Probably because she as a character is way too sure of herself, too strong, to actually be affected by this stupidity. In real life she would just kick the guilty parties in the nuts and leave the place.
Amy Irving is also back. Awesome, I love her. But it almost seems like that character just was meant to be a new Miss Collins from the first movie. Maybe the producers thought it was a good idea to rewrite it slightly to make Sue Snell come back?
Still, even if the movie is greatly flawed it has tons and tons of fun. The Scream-reference is actually also a wink to New York Ripper, which is cool, and during the last 20 minutes there's enough fun gore and creative kills for everyone to be happy. This could be the second nineties movie to show a person be killed by flying compact discs for example! It's a good final, bloody and spectacular and kind saves the film from being just a normal mid-quality horror sequel.
And I really adore the tattoo-effect. Wonderful idea.
But don't expect it to be a masterpiece. There's only one masterpiece here, and you know which one that is. Thanks De Palma for directing such a brilliant piece of cinema. And Thanks Tabitha King from saving your husbands manuscript from the trash can. I'm sure he's still grateful for that!
And yes. I actually went to the version of The Prom we have in Sweden. I didn't plan to go, because I hate shit like that. But a girl asked me and she also mentioned I was the third person she asked. So that didn't make that evening better. Anyway, it really doesn't matter. I'm gay, so fuck her. But not in the good way.
"I was bullied all through school - from name-calling to violence against me. It made me hate school and I've avoided every kind of class reunion travesty so far - and I will never, never, got back to spend time with those idiots."
You mentioned this before.....see it from the bright side, Fred.
You made it through it all.....not everyone does that.....
"and I was a quite nice fatso (and still is)"
No.....you should see yourself as a chubby lovemachine..hahahahhahah...just look at Vic Diaz, Michael Badalucco, Stephen Root etc.
The kind of machine that The Miracles sang about.
http://youtu.be/ajsYPTaboKQ
"De Palma's Carrie is perfection. It's one of the most powerful horror movies ever, from the script and acting to the visuals."
I thought it was ok, nothing more.....maybe it´s time for a rewatch...?
"Everything is there, everything has a point. It's a big, bold poem set in a fucked-up school-world where The Prom is everything and humans are nothing."
Yeah, Stephen King really knew how to depict high school hell like no other writer......King has written some very strong and emotional stories in a high school setting.
"Nowadays when it's extra hip to whine about the 2013 version of Carrie almost everyone seems to have forgotten that there was an official sequel in 1999, The Rage: Carrie 2"
I haven´t seen any of those films....yet.
"(not to forget the OTHER remake from 2002, starring Angela Bettis as Carrie!)."
This one I have seen.....great casting, but.....PG-13!
What the hell.....were they thinking...?
Very bland, but an ok viewing.
"One thing you can say about The Rage: Carrie 2 is that it effectivly proofs that there wasn't any beautiful people in the nineties. The whole cast here is a turn-off, even the so-called beautiful people look like bums with plastic surgery. Not their fault of course, it's the curse of the nineties."
WHAT????!!!!
Come on now...hahhahahhah....oh....you are refering to the grunge era...?
Yeah....you might be right....certain films tried hard to appeal to the youth culture of the day.
"Another curse is the slick, post-Scream look - the references (including one big one to Wes Craven's Scream!), the almost music video aesthetics (cue black and white suddenly, wild camera angles - directly from Parker Lewis Can't Loose)"
MTV aesthetics......I like it...for the most part but sometimes.....certain gangster flicks like Joe Carnahans Blood, Guts, Bullets and Octane(1998).....oh boy!
"and Mena Suvari looks like a cartoon."
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
hahahhhahahahhah.....awwww....Suvari is cute...I like her, she does NOT look like a cartoon.
"It's a good final, bloody and spectacular and kind saves the film from being just a normal mid-quality horror sequel."
Rated R.....that´s all you need.
"But don't expect it to be a masterpiece. There's only one masterpiece here, and you know which one that is. Thanks De Palma for directing such a brilliant piece of cinema."
Not so sure about that.......I think DePalma did better stuff.
"And Thanks Tabitha King from saving your husbands manuscript from the trash can. I'm sure he's still grateful for that!"
I had no idea about that.
Great review and thanks.
Posted by: Megatron | October 26, 2013 at 23:01