I guess I must have blocked this one out, darlings, for it was not until yesterday, when I first saw the trailer on IMDB, that I realized, come October, there was going to be another remake of Stephen King's classic, "Carrie."
This will be the third time on film Carrie has caused trouble at the Prom! Who can forget Sissy Spacek, in the 1976 Brian De Palma original, shot with all the mastery this lauded filmmaker could muster, and populated by the kind of cast you now could not afford to get--Spacek, Amy Irving, P.J. Soles, Betty Buckley, Nancy Allen, Amy's mom, Priscilla Pointer, and, in his motion picture debut....John Travolta!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Can you imagine, darlings????????? And at the time, it was all taken for granted!!!!!!!!!
Then, in 2002, came the TV remake, with Angela Bettis and Patricia Clarkson. I shocked many, at the time, by saying it was actually better than the original!!!!!!! It stuck closer to the book, save for the ending, I liked Clarkson's more understated portrayal of Mother Fanatic Margaret White, and Bettis was heartrending.
Now, a decade later, along comes a third version. When, just little over a year ago, Monsieur and I, saw a resurrected version of the cult flop musical, with Marin Mazzie and Molly Ranson in the key mother-daughter roles. Who were the only things stellar about what, by now, had become a Chamber Theater piece, with the high school student actors all looking old enough to be finishing their doctoral dissertations!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The first question I have about this remake is--Is having been in "Far From Heaven" a prime requisite for being cast??????? In 2002, from that film, supporting player Patricia Clarkson played Margaret White. Now, that role is being filled by 'Heaven's' leading lady, Julianne Moore, and I will say this--her beauty and brittleness make for one chilling interpretation. I think she will work!!!!!!! Go, Jules!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
But Chloe Grace Martinez, whom you may recall, darlings, was Isabel in "Hugo," has been cast as Carrie, and I am sorry, girls, she is just too pretty!!!!!!!!!!! Not combing and tangling your hair does not exactly frump one up!!!!!!!!!! She has the right vulnerability, but, in the chilling shower room scene, when the girls are hurling tampons at Carrie, she looks as attractive as her tormentors!!!!!!!!!! I mean, what is the point of the story here???????? Have the filmmakers forgotten?????? And the tormentors look so generic; they have no featured personalities, like Allen, Irving and Soles!!!!!!!!! Not to mention William Katt (Barbara Hale's boy!!!!!!!) as Tommy Ross!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
As a friend of mine remarked, Carrie gets resurrected because it is the greatest high school revenge story, ever written. When Stephen King conceived it, and was writing it, he was teaching high school English--remember, THIS was the book, his first, which put him on the map!!!!!!! And it remains his most interesting, written in an epistolary style as a series of letters and excerpts from books about the Prom Incident from the vantage point of what was then the future!!!!!!!!
With his teaching credentials, he certainly knew about high school bitches, but what the hell did he know about tampons????????? That is what I would like to know!!!!!! Or maybe he was influenced by E.R. Braithwaite; remember, in his novel, "To Sir, With Love" one of the girls burns a used "sanitary napkin" in a classroom wastebasket. But, hell, Braithwaite was a Brit, so, of course, these fey ones, darlings, would know about tampons!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So, does this mean that, every ten years or so, we are in for another rendering of "Carrie?" If it keeps going, it could be the most filmed property since "Les Miserables!!!!!!!!!!!"
Will I go and see it???????? Of course; it is inevitable!!!!!!!!!!! I want to see how Julianne handles Margaret, and, forty years out of high school, myself, it is STILL satisfying to see Chris Hargensen get hers!!!!!!!!! And, of course, as I do, I am watching all of the Chris Hargensens in my life get theirs!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Which is why "Carrie" is a psychological zeitgeist for so many people, and which is why it will be revived.
Because she kills them all at the prom and we like it,
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