CARRIE (2013)
4K UHD + Blu-ray Collector’s Edition
Label: Scream Factory
Region Code: Blu-ray (A), UHD (Region-Free)
Rating: R
Duration: 99 Minutes 43 Seconds
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 STereo, 5.1 Surround with Optional English Subtitles
Video: Dolby Vision HDR 10 2160p Ultra HD Widescreen (2.35:1), 1080p HD Widescreen (2.35:1)
Director: Kimberly Peirce
Cast: Julianne Moore,Chloë Grace Moretz, Judy Greer as Miss Desjardin, Gabriella Wilde, Portia Doubleday, Alex Russell, Ansel Elgort
Remakes of classics are a tough nut to crack, especially when taking on a remake of Stephen King's 1976 novel Carrie, which was immortalized on celluloid by Brian De Palma, which I and I assume man others, consider a stone-cold classic to this day. On the plus side societal and highschool social constructs have changed, so it's a story that can be told with a different veneer and underpinning, which could translate better to a younger audience who didn;t grow up on De Palma's version. This new adaptation of Stephen King's tale is directed by Kimberly Peirce (Boy's Don't Cry) and stars Chloe Grace Moretz (Suspiria) as Carrie White, a shy girl at school who is bullied by her classmates at school and suffers abuse from her religious fantastic mother Margaret White (Julianne Moore, Boogie Nights) at home. However, Carrie starts to develop latent telekinetic powers, and when her bullies unleash a cruel prank upon her at senior prom her powers manifest in a way that will unleash a fiery hell upon the entire school.
The film starts off with a scene of Margaret White giving birth to Carrie, thinking she's dying of cancer, unaware that she's pregnant, and nearly killing the baby with a pair of sewing shears. We then flash forward to the current day where we get the familiar scene in the girls shower room at school where Carrie has her first period. She is caught completely off guard by it, her mother having never told her about menstruation. The mean girls at school taunt her as she bleeds down her leg and calls out for help, believing that she is dying, throwing tampons and pads at her. In a modern update the event is caught on video via cellphone, which is later uploaded to YouTube by supreme girl-bully Chris Hargensen (Portia Doubleday, Youth In Revolt), the main antagonist, outside of Carrie's mom anyway. One of the girls who bullied her in the shower is Sue Snell (Gabriella Wilde, Wonder Woman 1984) who comes to feel horrible about her previous actions, so she convinces her boyfriend Tommy (Ansel Elgort, Baby Driver) to ask Carrie to the prom, in an effort to make her senior year memories not so awful. However, gym teacher Miss Desjardin (Judy Greer, Ant-Man and the Wasp) gets Chris suspended from school for her bullying, which means she doesn't get to go to prom. Angry and looking for revenge Chris teams-up with her boyfriend Billy (Alex Russell, TV's S.W.A.T.) with both plotting to ruin prom night for Carrie by rigging the prom king/queen election and dumping a bucket of pig's blood on her.
On it's own this is quite a solid adaptation, if I could forget the De Palma original I would probably like it even more than I do, but I can't. I do like this contemporary adaptation, the cast is terrific, especially Moretz and Moore, with Moore's Margaret White coming off as less hysterical and more developed and nuanced than what De Palma offered. I do think that Moretz suffers a bit from the Hollywood trope the so-called "ugly" girl who cleans up real nice, but I do think that she is quite good, at times dare I say adding more nuance to Carrie than Sissy Spacek did. We also get more of Margaret's backstory which does allow for some sympathy for her. We also get the falling-rocks scene from the book, and there are more telekinetic displays achieved through both practical and digital effects, all of which I appreciated quite a bit, and the changes and updates to the story and character motivations are more or less solid, even thought his feels less like a bullied telekinetic teen who snaps and more like an origin story for telekinetic villain ala Dark Phoenix from the X-Men or Brightburn at times.
The thing for me is that it's so dang close to De Palm's film despite some minor changes that I still questioned why even bother do it in the first place, it just feels like a cynical crass IP cash-grab. I am of the opinion that if you're not gonna do something less derivative that can stand on its own rather than in the shadow of De Palma there's really no point to it. I probably come of cynical about it to a degree, but when I am in the mood for Carrie this is not the version I am defaulting to. Don;t get me wrong, it's fine, and there's probably folks younger than myself who feel differently about it that were not raised on De Palma's film, but this is just not my Carrie.
Audio/Video: Carrie (2013) gets a 4K upgrade from Scream Factory presenting the film in 2160p UHD widescreen (2.35:1) with Dolby Vision HDR color-grade. Originally shot digital this is a 4K upscale of a 2K DI source, but it looks might good. Depth and clarity are quite pleasing, contrast is on point, and the Dolby Vision WGC color-grading enhances primary colors and deepens blacks across the board. The finale features quite a few explosions and fireballs and they look terrific. Audio comes y way of English DTS-HD MA 2.0 stereo and 5.1 surround with optional English subtitles. Dialogue sounds clear and robust, the sounds of fire, whipping electrical wires, screams, and screeching tires comes through quite well, the 5.1 offering a deeply immersive experience for viewers.
Scream Factory carry-over all the extras from the previous 2014 MGM Blu-ray,which were plentiful, plus offer two new exclusives by way of the 23-min “The Devil’s Hand: Designing Carrie” – interview with production designer Carol Spier, and the 33-min “They’re All Going to Laugh at You: Adapting Carrie” – Interview with author Joseph Maddrey. The 2-disc 4K UHD/Blu-ray arrives in a dual-hubbed black keepcase with a single-sided sleeve of artwork featuring the original movie poster image. There's also a limited edition first-pressing slipcover featuring the same key artwork as the wrap.
Special Features:
- NEW! 4K Scan from the original camera negative
- NEW! “The Devil’s Hand: Designing Carrie” – interview with production designer Carol Spier (22:54)
- NEW! “They’re All Going to Laugh at You: Adapting Carrie” – Interview with author Joseph Maddrey (32:44)
- Audio Commentary with director Kimberly Peirce
- Alternate Ending (2:31)
- Deleted/Alternate Scenes (10:52)
- “Creating Carrie” Featurette (20:53)
- “The Power Of Telekinesis” Featurette (3:47)
- “Tina On Fire” Stunt Double Dailies (2:07)
- “Telekinetic Coffee Shop Surprise” (2:21)
- Theatrical Trailer (2:30)
Special Features:
- NEW! 4K Scan from the original camera negative
- NEW! “The Devil’s Hand: Designing Carrie” – interview with production designer Carol Spier (22:54)
- NEW! “They’re All Going to Laugh at You: Adapting Carrie” – Interview with author Joseph Maddrey (32:44)
- Audio Commentary with director Kimberly Peirce
- Alternate Ending (2:31)
- Deleted/Alternate Scenes (10:52)
- “Creating Carrie” Featurette (20:53)
- “The Power Of Telekinesis” Featurette (3:47)
- “Tina On Fire” Stunt Double Dailies (2:07)
- “Telekinetic Coffee Shop Surprise” (2:21)
- Theatrical Trailer (2:30)
- Slipcover (First-Pressing Only)
A terrific presentation from Scream Factory, it might not be my preferred version of the telekinetic teen tale but it looks and sounds great in 4K with the Dolby Vision. Interestingly, it seems that Scream Factory are the current license holders for all thing Carrie, having now released De Palma's original, this, The Rage: Carrie 2 (1999) and the made-for-TV version of Carrie from 2002, so it's cool to see them all under one banner.
Screenshots from the Scream Factory Blu-ray:
