Day 10 of 13 Days of Halloween

Carrie

     I am a big Stephen King fan. Mainly his more dark and creepy or supernatural works over his outright nightmare inducing volumes. Today's pick is Carrie. Both versions. I want to talk about how well the source material was adapted in each version. I'm not one of those people who will be up in arms if a film isn't exactly like the book, but,in all fairness, Carrie isn't that long of a book.

Carrie (1976)

     The original is definitely an interesting movie. First off, Sissy Spacek is amazing as Carrie White. She portrays the victim of some serious bullying (borderline abuse) with subtlety instead of going overboard. Piper Laurie as the mother is also very good. The scenes where Carrie is alone with her mother in their house are disturbing. Unfortunately, the main bully and her boyfriend are way too campy. I could forgive that if they didn't kill the gym teacher. She was the only adult who cared about Carrie and tried to help her. The gym teacher doesn't die in the book. Why she dies here I'll never know.

Carrie (2013)

     I prefer this version for two main reasons. First, it is closer to the book. The gym teacher doesn't die and it ends on Sue Snell delivering her testimony on what happened on prom night. Carrie saves Sue because of two reasons, The first being that Sue asked her boyfriend to take Carrie to the prom and giver her one good night. The other being that with Carrie's telekinesis, she felt that Sue was pregnant and pushed her out of the way. The second reason that I prefer this version is that the characters feel a bit more real and less like caricatures.


Update 10/29/15: I found out shortly after writing this review that there's a 2002 version of Carrie. I didn't know it existed and couldn't find a copy, so that's why it isn't included.