Carrie (2014)

This remake of the 1976 Brian Del Palma film is really kind of ho-hum. I’m a big Chloë Grace Moretz fan but she just can’t make this character work for her. I don’t ever believe that she’s as shy and detached from the world as Carrie White is. At times I feel like her performance, especially at the beginning, is forced. Her work opposite Julianne Moore is better and Moore is a terrific choice as the religious obsessed crazy mom but again there’s nothing new about their relationship. Sure they updated the story for our times with social networking and cell phones but it never can rise up to the standard that the first film brought to the table. I wish instead of using Del Palma’s film as their source they would have just adapted the book in a new a refreshing way. While some of the special effects at the end are pretty cool (the car scene) and Portia Doubleday’s over the top performance is screen stealing, this is one even horror fans should skip. Trust me, here’s an example where the remake is so forgettable it’s almost not worth mentioning. Grade: C