Carrie (2013)

A young girl (Chloe Grace Moretz) is bullied by classmates because she is different. She has been kept cloistered and discouraged from a social life by her religious fanatic mother (Julianne Moore). When she has her first menstrual period in gym class, she thinks she's bleeding to death but it is also when she discovers she has telekinetic powers. Was a remake of the classic 1976 Brian De Palma horror film necessary? Absolutely not! That being said, it's startling how very well done the film is. Having a female director, Kimberly Pierce (BOYS DON'T CRY) at the helm gives the film a slightly different perspective. For example, the opening shower sequence in the De Palma film had a slightly erotic layer with the nubile girls running around in various stages of undress and even Sissy Spacek's seemed to be taking a slightly sensual pleasure in her shower. Pierce dispenses with all that. With bullying making frequent headlines and news in recent years, this version emphasizes that aspect. The class bitch (Portia Doubleday) films Carrie's menstrual humiliation via her smartphone and posts it on youtube! Moore's whack job mother is more restrained than Piper Laurie in the 1976 film with even a dash of sympathy added. The big difference is that special effects allow for Carrie's prom revenge to be much more graphic and horrific than De Palma's film. Rather than going back to the original novel, the film hews close to the 1976 film, so much so that the original screenwriter Lawrence D. Cohen gets screenplay credit. Not necessary to see but if you do catch it, it has much to offer. With Judy Greer, Gabriella Wilde, Ansel Elgort and Hart Bochner.