Taglines: You will know her name Carrie.
A sheltered high school girl unleashes her newly developed telekinetic powers after she is pushed too far by her peers. Carrie White is a lonely and awkward teen who is constantly bullied at school by her peers, and beaten at home at the hands of her religious mother. But Carrie has a secret: She’s been blessed with the terrifying power of telekinesis; and when her peers decide to pull a prank on her at prom, they’ll soon learn a deadly lesson: If you play with fire, you get burned.
Carrie is an 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.
About the Story (2013)
Alone in her home, Margaret White (Julianne Moore), a religious, yet disturbed woman, gives birth to a baby girl, intending to kill the infant but changes her mind. Years later, her daughter Carrie (Chloë Grace Moretz), is a shy, unassertive 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 longtime 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 telekinesis, the ability to move things with her mind. She researches her abilities, learning to harness them. Sue Snell (Gabriella Wilde) regrets teasing Carrie in the shower room and attempts to make amends 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 and is proof that Carrie has been corrupted by sin.
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 telekinetically locks 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 the 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’s 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 several of the students and staff (except for Miss Desjardin). 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, setting the place on fire them.
Carrie arrives home and she and Margaret embrace. Margaret tells Carrie about the night of Carrie’s conception. After having shared a bed platonically with her husband, they yielded to temptation one night and, after praying for strength, Carrie’s father “took” Margaret, who enjoyed the experience. Margaret attacks Carrie, who attempts to flee but kills her with several sharp tools. She becomes hysterical and makes stones rain from the sky to crush the house. When Sue arrives, a furious Carrie grabs 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.
About the Production (2013)
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.
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”. 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.” In March 2012, the role of Carrie White was offered to Chloë Grace Moretz, who accepted the role.
Kimberly Peirce directed the film, while Moore starred as Margaret White and Gabriella Wilde played Sue Snell. Alex Russell and Ansel Elgort are also members of the main cast, and Judy Greer played the gym teacher Miss Desjardin.
Carrie (2013)
Directed by: Kimberly Peirce
Starring: Chloë Grace Moretz, Judy Greer, Portia Doubleday, Alex Russell, Gabriella Wilde, Ansel Elgort, Julianne Moore, Cynthia Preston
Screenplay by: Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
Production Design by: Carol Spier
Cinematography by: Steve Yedlin
Film Editing by: Lee Percy, Nancy Richardson
Costume Design by: Luis Sequeira
Art Direction by: Nigel Churcher
Music by: Marco Beltrami
MPAA Rating: R for bloody violence, disturbing images, language and some sexual content.
Studio: Sony ScreenGems, Metro Goldwyn Mayer
Release Date: October 18, 2013
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