Carrie (2013)

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Year:	2013
Country of origin:	USA
Director:	Kimberly Peirce
Genre:	Horror
Starring:	Chloë Grace Moretz, Julianne Moore, Gabriella Wilde
Rating:	4/5
IMDB link:	http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1939659/
Tagline:	Know her name. Fear her power.
Favourite line:	"I'm gonna have to tell the boy the truth, that your father took me and you were born of sin."

Way back in 1974, a young writer by the name of Stephen King caused something of a stir upon the release of his debut novel, Carrie, telling the tale of innocence lost and a furious revenge being wrought.
Two years later, up and coming director Brian De Palma, known for his excessive style and eye for the lavish, was selected to helm the film adaptation; a movie that would go down in horror movie lore as a genuine classic of it's time.
Now, in 2013, the inevitable remake hits.

The plot:
Carrie White (Chloë 'Hit Girl' Moretz) is a secluded sort, sheltered from the world by her overbearing, God-fearing mother (Julianne Moore).
Taunted at school by her peers, Carrie has the misfortune of blossoming into womanhood at a most inopportune moment, her first period arriving whilst showering after gym class. Instead of showing mercy, her classmates elect to laugh and jeer, some even throwing tampons at her as she writhes on the floor of the shower-room, terrified, alone in a room packed with people, the whole time the throng chanting 'Plug it up, plug it up.'
One girl present, appalled at the behaviour of her fellow students and, most pertinently, by her own involvement in the barbarism, decides to help Carrie, and asks her own boyfriend to take Carrie to the Prom.
Reluctant at first, and with her own mother's warnings of sin and corruption and God's fearful judgement ringing in her ears, Carrie eventually relents, and agrees to the date.
Little does she know, however, that another girl has plans to humiliate her further and, when the moment of her ultimate debasement comes, Carrie unleashes her heretofore untapped telekinetic powers, with blood-soaked consequences.

Remakes are funny things. For every Wicker Man starring , there's an Evil Dead. For every Friday the 13th, there's a Departed. Oh, and let's not forget the mch revered eighties versions of The Thing and The Fly were in themselves remakes.
And then there's this.
Whilst every fibre of our corpulent beings down here at Smell the Cult HQ wants to loathe it with an unquenchable venom, there's no denying the verve and skill with which it is delivered.
Acting wise, this has the chops to stand shoulder to shoulder with any movie in the business outside of a Gosling / Bale / Foster / DiCaprio vehicle and Kimberley Peirce, winner of multiple Best Filmmaker and Best Feature nods for Boys Don't Cry, certainly knows how to swing a camera around.
Julianne Moore, as Carrie's demented mother, simply captivates every time she is on screen, and does well to, in some ways, top the performance of the fabulously bonkers Piper Laurie from the original.
Carrie herself, Chloë Grace Moretz, may not seem quite as vulnerable and otherworldy as Sisssy Spacek did, but that in no way diminishes her success in capturing the spirit of the piece and, truthfully, we can think of no young actress working today who would have been better suited.
At it's heart, this is a beautifully sad, poignant work, and a tale that is in many ways timeless - the cruelty of young minds, the fear of the unknown, the punishing consequences of religious mania - and, if remaking it ensures the story reaches a new, more youthful audience, then that can surely only be a good thing.
An important story, retold for the new millenium with genuine craft and style.
Liked it a lot.