Carrie

I rented the 2013 remake of Carrie and I liked it! I've never seen the original 70's movie, or read the book, but I enjoyed this movie! Now, it's not the most terrifying movie I've ever seen, but it does use suspense very well. And even though I knew the premise of the movie and what happened at the end, I couldn't help feeling sorry for Carrie, as portrayed by Chloe Grace Moretz. Carrie is about a young girl, raised by a fanatically delusional religious mother, Julianne Moore. She is stuck wearing very traditional homemade clothes (long sleeves, long skirts, etc), and is constantly teased by her classmates, one girl in particular. While this happens, Carrie gets her first period in the locker room and her telekinetic powers begin to emerge. As they emerge Carrie feels more sure of herself. We see her transformation from shy young girl to teenager who is discovering her inner strength, as well as her powers. Another journey that I thought played against convention was the hot blone (Gabriella Wilde) being sympathetic to Carrie. She was the hottest girls in school, the lead cheerleader, but not the main bully. After the first bully encounter this girl became sympathetic to Carrie and stood up for her, but always without Carrie knowing.

Chloe Grace Moretz gives a very likeable performance. I always felt sorry for Carrie. Even when she stopped beinga victim and became the victimizer, I cheered her on. This might have to do with the modern day setting with the facebook messages, cyber-bullying, etc. I think that's what keeps this film relevant today, is the modern update. I liked it. I know not everyone did or might think the original is better, but this film makes me want to read the book, or visit the original film, which is what a good remake does.

3.5 out of 5 Stars

Evil Dead

The poster pretty much describes my experience with this film.  About an hour in I got up to take a breather and get a glass of water and fainted in my kitchen.  This film is RELENTLESS.  I've seen my share of horror movies, good and bad, and this film is the most punishing I've ever seen.  Some films choose to have the audience take a breather, to laugh or something before the next scare or horror comes around the bend. With Evil Dead, it is just one after the other after the other until the very end of the film.  After I came to, I stopped the film and had to come back to it the next day to finish it.

Evil Dead is a remake or "re-imagining" of Sam Raimi's classic franchise that made Bruce Campbell a cult icon.  Raimi and Campbell are producers on this film, though the iconic humor of the first two films are largely absent from this one.  If you've seen the original film or Cabin in the Woods you know the premise. 5 teenagers in a cabin, weird things happen, things go terribly wrong.  This film centers around Mia, played by Jane Levy, who is trying to kick her heroin addiction cold turkey with the help of her friends over a weekend.  They journey off to her parent's old cabin and arrive to find everything dilapidated and dead cats in the basement.  They still decide to stay the weekend and find book wrapped in a plastic bag, tied off in barb wire.  If the barb wire didn't tell you not to open the book, I don't know what will.  There are also warnings inside the book that say "Don't read it, don't write it, don't hear it" but our idiot teenagers do it anyway.  Whoops.

What follows is the most relentless horror film today. Now, I like my horror films to have some other element in them.  I liked the Saw films because they were just ridiculously implausible with the complexity of the death traps.  The Final Destination films started out as an interesting series on fate and consequence but also featured elaborate Rube Goldberg type death scenes.  Heck I even liked the recent Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street films even though a lot of horror purists did not.  I guess what I'm trying to say is, if you like your horror without any humor, fun, or pacing you are sure to love Evil Dead.  If you like your horror a little less steadfast and with some humor you may not enjoy this Evil Dead as you might the original film or Raimi's latest horror film Drag Me to Hell.

2 out of 5 Stars

Trailer