The Stephen King Chronicles Chapter 1: "Carrie"(1974)

I never thought the story of "Carrie" was scary, creepy or horrifying. Granted, I can see how people could be scared, but it's not one that's skin-crawling. That being said, emotionally, I connected with it on a deeper level. "Carrie" takes the story of an outsider and turns it on it's head. We pretty much all know how "Carrie" begins and ends, it's been referenced countless times in pop culture ever since it was first published. There was nothing quite like it when it came out.

Reading "Carrie" is a bit difficult at first, but as the book advances, you get used to it. Written in an unorthodox and choppy way, the novel uses newspaper articles, book and court transcripts, letters and so on, it's kind of hard to grasp onto at first, not knowing what direction the book is going. My personal opinion? I wasn't too big on this format. While I can see how it helps to tell the story, by giving multiple perspectives on what happened and how it happened, it get rather irritating near the end.

Carrietta "Carrie" White is very sheltered. Her religious wingnut of a mother keeps her in her own little bubble and will do anything to keep her in it. When Carrie experiences her first period, it's totally foreign to her, so much so that when it happens, she freaks out, thinking she's bleeding to death. Her classmates treat her horrifically when she asks for help. When she comes home, her mother is sickened by this, thinking that Carrie is being punished for some unnamed sins she has committed, and punishes her by making her recite bible passages and locking her in a closet.

Sue Snell, one of Carrie's classmates who took part in bullying Carrie that day, feels awful about what she has done. She, along with Queen Bitch, Chris Hargensen, and other classmates, are punished by their gym teacher, Miss Desjardin, with a weeks detention, with anyone skipping out on this detention punished even further by having prom taken away from them. Naturally, believing that she was entitled in her actions, Chris skips out and is refused her prom tickets. Sue feels bad about what she did, so she asks her boyfriend Tommy Ross to ask Carrie to the prom. Hesitant, but accepting, he does so, and after skepticism from Carrie's part, she accepts; finally getting a chance to be like someone else. Steaming mad, Chris recruits her jock boy-toy Billy Nolan into conjuring up a sadistic prank on Carrie: gaining blood from a pig to spill onto her in front of everyone.

At first, the prom goes rather well for Carrie... and that's the saddest part of the story. Knowing full well what's to come for the rest of the book, to see Carrie finally relaxing, un-tensing her shoulders, opening up and laughing along with fellow classmates, just finally getting a chance to be happy, that it's crushing to know what happens. Her and Tommy Ross are crowned prom king and queen and as the pair or standing on stage, the bucket of pig's blood hanging from the rafters comes splashing down around her. The empty bucket crashes on Tommy's head, inadvertently killing him. Horrified, Carrie begins to unleash her previously hidden telekinetic powers onto her classmates, letting everything fall apart. The rest, as they say, is history.

Here's the thing about "Carrie": everyone knows how the story plays out, everyone knows that Carrie will go appropriately apeshit, but one of the underlying messages to this story, at least that I believe, is that everyone has a limit. No matter how much someone gets bullied, eventually that person is going to get fed up. Her tormentors don't recognize this and it bites them in the ass. In some wicked way, they get what they deserve.

Isolation is a huge theme running around here. Carrie is isolated, by her peers and by her mother. When she gets her period, she's totally oblivious. That's why, when she discovers that she has these powers, she feels control, something that she never felt before. When she unleashes at the end, she's relishing in the fact that she's the one finally in control and is getting more than one over on her classmates.

There really isn't too much to discuss about "Carrie", at least as a book. The novel takes place in the far out future year of 1979. Sadly, no flying cars are prevalent, but the notion of a town trying to get over a tragedy is still relevant today.

Let's briefly discuss the ending: Carrie and her mom are both dead. Carrie has used her powers to give her mom a heart attack. Perishing at her own feet and consumed with guilt and regret, Carrie makes the house collapse onto itself, thus taking her own life in the process. The last excerpt of the novel is a letter from an Appalachian woman to her sister living in Georgia. In the letter, she explains how excited and happy she is about her daughter having telekinetic abilities. This has an implication of something, but no confirmation. That something? Maybe the daughter being written about is Carrie being reborn into a more loving family. At least, that's what I like to believe.

Final Grade: 3/4 Stars.

Adaptations:

"Carrie"(1976)

Everyone pretty much knows the Brian DePalma version rather well. It's a straightforward adaptation of the material and it works in spades. I remember when I was younger, I caught a few minutes of the film on TV and ended up shutting it off. It seemed very disjointed and weird to me. Watching it in full, especially after reading the book, that disjointed feeling now feels normal. Sissy Spacek is terrific as Carrie White. As I was reading the book, she was who came to mind when I was picturing Carrie. She's humble, off-putting, nuanced, terrifying and wonderful. Piper Laurie is good as Margaret White, Carrie's mother, but she seems a little goofy and out there. Then again, those aspects fit the character. The only real thing I have to complain about is the character of Miss Desjardin. Her name has been changed to Miss Collins for reasons I'm not too sure of. The other thing that's changed about her character is that she ends up dying during Carrie's wrath. In the book, and all the other adaptations, she lives and ends up resigning from her job at the end. It feels off, but the more I thought about it, I wasn't totally against it. It makes Carrie's rage all the more out of control and inescapable it is. There's not too much to say, but exceptional all around.

Final Grade: 3.5/4 Stars

"The Rage: Carrie 2"(1999)
If there was ever a cinematic equivalent of a step-child acting out against their family, being rebellious and irritatingly breaking all the rules whilst listening to edgy rock music, this movie would fit that bill entirely. Get this: according to the story, Ralph White, Carrie's father, was quite the ladies man. Having slept with many women, he inadvertently spawned more offspring than originally thought. Ergo, Rachel, played by Emily Bergl, is one of these illegitimate children and it turns out, GASP, she has telekinetic powers too! Never mind how patently ridiculous this story sounds, but imagine, if you will, the same story being told over again, only somehow, the filmmakers showed no respect for the original source material. That's how it feels watching "The Rage: Carrie 2". The original "Carrie" may be outdated as far as hair and wardrobe goes, but the story being told is pretty timeless. "The Rage: Carrie 2" might have the same story and same narrative throughline, but it's told in that "hip", "cool", "look at how edgy we can be" '90's way and it gets old really quick. Of course all the '90's teen flicks had to have characters that were ripping off "Scream" and "She's All That". Of course we have to have dutch angles(where the picture is tilted diagonally) through 90% of the movie. Of course we wanna be cool by shooting scenes simultaneously in color and black & white. Of course we have to have a hideous rock soundtrack with bands everyone loves to forget, like Sack, Type O Negative and 16Volt. All this movie needed was a character interjecting the god-awful, irritating beyond belief phrase "It's the '90's"(essentially the decade's asinine "YOLO", if you will) into a sentence and BOOM, we have a toxic concoction. Even the title pisses me off. Having the subtitle come first gets on my nerves. Emily Bergl is the only saving grace as the troubled Rachel, but instead of the bullies being mainly girls, now, it's jock-douches that play on the football team. It's excruciating; akin to nails on a chalkboard. Amy Irving reprises her role as Sue Snell from the first film and is written as confused and apprehensive. The less said about her illegally breaking Rachel's mother out of the Asylum, the better. If you wanna see Brad from "Home Improvement" get shot in the nuts with, of all things, a harpoon gun, then this is the treat for you. Otherwise, stay away.

Final Grade: 0.5/4 Stars

"Carrie"(2002)

This is the nadir of where we are, "Carrie" wise. This is as bad of an adaptation you can get. Developed as a backdoor pilot(a TV movie that would hopefully lead into a television series), the '02 "Carrie" flat out sucks. Angela Bettis plays our Carrie this time around, and to be fair, she's OK. Her actions can be a bit confusing at times. For example: she acts confrontational with her mother from start to finish. Carrie is supposed to be afraid, but accepting of her mother, with her gradually overcoming her mother's ridiculous ways. Make no mistake, this is how she acts through the '76 and 2013 versions, but not here. She's almost like a bratty teen.The movie is way too long. The other versions ran around an hour and 40 minutes, so the 2 hour and 12 minute running time is beyond patience testing. It's padded with filler, adding unnecessary details(Carrie is shown having a crush on someone in the very beginning that is totally left field) and an ending that actually leaves Carrie alive. The premise for the show would've been Carrie running around from town to town trying to escape the authorities while also helping kids with telekinetic powers, a la "The Fugitive" or "Smallville". Since the movie tanked in the ratings, we now have this awkward ending where Sue Snell helps her escape as she dons a wig and sunglasses. The best way to describe this? The movie is shot very poorly, the acting certainly matches that, and the writing, the dialogue in particular, is heinous. At the risk of sounding too crude, it feels like you're watching a porn, but with just nothing but story and, alarmingly, no nudity. Hell, the Broadway musical is less stupid than this and that, too, was a huge flop.

Final Grade: 0.5/4 Stars

"Carrie"(2013)

Here we go, back on track. As stated with the '76 version, this is a faithful adaptation through and through and it works terrifically. There's just one tiny downfall: Chloe Moretz. She plays Carrie this go round and while she doesn't give a bad performance,and through no fault of her own, it's hard to believe that she is the target of heavy bullying. Her transformation, going from unkempt and tomboyish to pretty and dolled up is as believable as having Rachel Leigh Cook take her hair down and glasses off in "She's All That"(why is that the second time I reference that?). At one point, Miss Desjardin asks Tommy Ross "Don't you think you'll look a little ridiculous with Carrie White on your arm at the prom?"(not word for word, but the same gist). When he does arrive with her on his arm, she looks very pretty and, for lack of a better term, normal; like all the other girls, making her claim a little confusing. Julianne Moore plays Margaret White and she fits the role like a glove. Her performance is more reigned in than Piper Laurie's and it works like gangbusters. She's evil, and for every second she's onscreen, she makes you wanna puke. Judy Greer plays Miss Desjardin and she is my absolute favorite part of the whole thing. Greer is a favorite actress of mine and she nails the character more than I could imagine. Portia Doubleday is our Chris Hargensen. I've purposefully neglected to mention the other versions of her simply because they didn't stick out to me. Doubleday sticks out because she plays a mean, spiteful, hateful bitch of a person and that's exactly how she's supposed to be. She plays it very well. Ansel Elgort, in his film debut, is just OK as Tommy Ross, but if I wanna see him play a great character, I'll rewatch "Baby Driver".

Final Grade: 3.5/4 Stars

So that's "Carrie". In short, nothing outstanding, but still solid, nonetheless. The 1976 and 2013 adaptations are well worth seeking out. Avoid the sequel and 2002 version like an unwanted disease.