Why Carrie Bombed

This will be the first review I write testing a new formula. The formula of proving a movie is good or bad in three points. Be patient, I am still testing and refining this  so it might be awhile until I really nail it and perfect it. In any case, here are my thoughts on the third and latest version of Carrie. It could potentially contain spoilers, not that there is much to spoil anyway.

1)      Character development

To put it simply – none of it made sense. I have not read the book, nor seen the old movies and I absolutely insist that this makes my review even more relevant. I just took this movie as it is, no back story, no older version, no book to clarify what remains vague. And as such, it is a bad movie. It has no depth, no surprises, no character development. It is plain and it is lame. It is shallow and it is hollow. So much remained unclear: why is the mom insane? Ok she is a nutcase uber-Christian, but how did she get like that? Why does she remain that way? Secondly, the birth. At first, I guess you think Carrie has no father (perhaps she is really a demon-child which would have made more sense), but in the end it turns out she actually did have a (human) father, so the supernatural aspect of the whole story is just extremely not special and random. Yes, Carrie was pushed to the extreme so she developed telekinetic powers. So what? Lots of kids are, you don’t see them all blowing school up with their minds? And so – why Carrie? How?  All of this remains blank.  Additionally, the moral journey of Sue Snell and her boyfriend also stays unsettling in its underdevelopment: why does she have a sudden burst of hatred then empathy towards Carrie? Why does the psychotic Tina have such a grudge against Carrie, because she made her miss prom? Give me a break! And then wtf Sue is pregnant? But she gave her boyfriend away, but he is dead, but she still cares about Carrie, but is so conflicted, but .. oh prom is so important… Teenage angst bullshit overload. Overall, the moviemakers really disregarded the fact that while the book and first movies were made in the 70s and 80s, times are quite different now so some of the story arches needed to be handled in a more modern way and adjusted to the modern context. Back in the day, it might have been more common to have Christian fanatics that don’t even know what sex is or it could happen that you are pregnant for 9 months without realizing it, but nowadays these things just seem nonsensical if not presented and supported well enough.  And they were not. And thus, point one – character development – fail.

2)      Suspense

Pretty much non-existent. I think we were all there in order to see Chloe Grace Moretz go nuts and kill lots of people, but it was so underwhelming. It was not scary or even close to thrilling at any point, nor was there too much suspense or tension. I am not too keen on horrors, I admit, but I have seen a few nonetheless and this one was very far from any of them. The movie offered nothing more than its teasers and basically ended being a huge poorly made build up followed by a few minutes of weird CGI slaughter which made me think I am watching Final Destination 9 and trust me, this is not a comparison you want made. It is an utter disgrace for its genre, too bad for the decent acting from Juilanne Moore who was positively insane in a few scenes and by far the only freaky thing in the whole movie despite the weak script and dialogue. Point two, suspense – non-existent, unless you are a 16 year old female nutcase obsessed with proms and such.

3)      Femininity

This story is primarily about women. It presents a very interesting premises and conflict, especially considering the era it was made in and the conflicts it focuses on women post-women emancipation and first decades of equality, religion versus modernity, defining of identity and the struggle to survive in the cruel world of American high schools  ( ) . It is a movie about women, made by a woman and yet it seems to me it once again fails miserably to represent women. This Carrie movie seemed to be like more of a mumble jumble of what it means to get your period for the first time mixed with some Mean Girls routine we have seen a million times than anything truly feminine. Yet again a movie about women made by a woman that fails to grasp the intricate yet strong internal struggles young women go through in their maturing.  The underlying strength and power of the complexities and multi-varied emotions a woman goes through on a daily basis, the intricacy and nuances of the emotions and details that she evaluates and works through, especially when growing up. Women are not all psycho bitches that care about nothing else than prom and their boyfriends and I think this story could have underlined that nicely if it was handled well. The contrasts between ‘motherhoods’ (Carrie’s and Sue’s and even Mrs Desjardin), the fear of growing up and not knowing what comes ahead, the power of anger from being alone and misunderstood,  the clash between wanting to be free of paternal obsessions opposed to the hopeless, endless love you feel for them (all also relevant for men by the way), the fact that Carrie is justified yet deserves punishment in her anger and destruction are all but parts of the nuances this movie completely bombed, mocked and failed to grasp. What more is there left to say…. Point three, women’s representation and basic story building block– ill-represented and rather embarrassing, really.

And so, with these three points, I wanted to show my irritation with this movie and hopefully support my claim as to why I disliked it so much.  There is much to be added for sure, but I will stop here. Overall, I do not recommend this movie. As always, I am more than interested in hearing your thoughts and why not, prove me wrong? Meanwhile I apologize to the dear friends I asked to join me in watching this movie.