Horror Palace

Remakes of original films that are considered classics are often times not welcomed. Films based off Stephen King novels are also not often welcomed for their inability to display the true sense of horror his books created. But here we have Carrie, the latest film that’s a remake of a Stephen King based movie from 1976. While this film is certainly not bad and sometimes entertaining, it feels mostly unnecessary.

This remake of the original Carrie follows the same storyline. Seventeen year old Carrie White (Chloë Grace Moretz) is an isolated, shy loner in her school who discovers she has telekinetic powers after an unfortunate incident during gym class. After being harassed and bullied for the event, Carrie begins to research more information regarding her special abilities and overtime strengthens her powers. Carrie’s mother Margaret (Julianne Moore), whose a deeply religious individual, believes she’s possessed by Satan for having telekinetic abilities. It’s only a matter of time before Carrie is pushed to the limit and starts unleashing her telekinesis, causing havoc at her school and in her town.

Chloë Grace Moretz is a good actress, who has been in several other good works in cinema including Hugo and the Kick-Ass series. She puts on a good performance as a shy and awkward girl in this remake. But one important element that is missing from her performance is installing fear into us. Unlike the original, we don’t really fear what will eventually come from Carrie. Chloë Grace Moretz does not show us much of a reason to fear her, but instead makes us feel more sorry for her. Her mother played by Julianne Moore gave a more convincing performance as Carrie’s psychotic and hysterical mother. She is probably the creepiest part of the movie, especially since she frequently abuses Carrie.

However while watching I couldn’t help but wonder why Carrie needed to be remade. There are some instances where the story is brought into the twenty first century, such as when a classmate films Carrie being bullied on her mobile phone and uploads it to the internet. After all the new elements were added, which were not much, did not add anything to the original story. Remaking what was considered to be a very good horror film didn’t make sense to me, but since this film has performed very well in the box office, there’s obviously a lot of interest in it.[amzn_product_inline asin=’B00302QF72′]

The biggest contribution this film adds to the original are the special effects which are well done and convincing. The effects don’t showcase themselves much until during the end of the film, but what we are treated to are explosions, roads splitting apart, someone catching on fire among other things.

This remake of Carrie is not bad movie. But honestly it felt unnecessary and sometimes drawn-out. The only thing the remake adds are the computerized effects, which as previously stated are done well. A younger audience would find much more entertainment from this remake while older audiences will definitely find more enjoyment from the original 1976 film. It’s a movie worth checking out on Netflix or Amazon for an interesting Friday night horror flick.

 MOVIE RATING

Reviewed by Ivan Karhoff
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Several times a year the Syfy channel releases their own horror themed movies, with many of them following the same story. A group of survivors must escape a certain threat in a specific location. Scarecrow is no exception to that and is a very cliche film with a formula that has been repeated numerous times and doesn’t offer a single new element.

The story revolves around high school teacher Aaron Harris (Robin Dunne) who takes six students to an old cornfield to dismantle a scarecrow as part of after school detention. While on the bus there, the students begin to tell an urban legend of how long ago the scarecrow became alive and killed several people. However most write it off as fictitious. Shortly after arriving at the site, Aaron runs into former girlfriend Kristen Mills (Lacey Chabert) and former friend Eddie (Carlo Marks) which creates uncomfortable feelings among them. However, everything is quickly interrupted by strange occurrences and then, the scarecrow reveals himself, forcing everyone to take refuge in an abandoned house as they try to determine how to escape the secluded old farm alive.

This is a film that consists of many flaws. The major one being the story, which several times over the duration of the film doesn’t seem logical or consistent. The fact that a teacher would bus students a great distance to do labor as punishment is ludicrous. A sole teacher can’t contain several disobedient kids. When they actually arrive, Aaron quickly stops monitoring the students activities after he learns Kristen is there and begins to pursue personal interests. The story itself is similar to other Syfy original movies, like Sharknado and Yeti: Curse of the Snow Demon. They just simply change the threat and location.

And then you have the monster itself, the scarecrow. Upon seeing it, you’ll discover it looks absolutely nothing like a scarecrow. It looks more like it’s made of vines, and moves the same way the vines did in the 1981 horror masterpiece The Evil Dead, only it doesn’t rape people. It’s 3D animated most of the time it’s on the screen, but I did like its appearance despite it being called a scarecrow seemed misleading.

It’s logic is highly flawed. It seems to have the power to kill everyone quickly, but for whatever reason, it doesn’t. In one scene, the remaining survivors gain access to a police cruiser and drive off when the scarecrow appears in front of the car, causing them to crash and be knocked unconscious. But the scarecrow doesn’t kill them, instead allowing them to sit in the vehicle for awhile before only killing one of them after leaving the vehicle.

To give this film some credit, there are a couple good scenes with gore. The scarecrow with its vine-like abilities will puncture it’s victims bodies and slash their legs, torsos and other parts. But the majority of the deaths in this film are off screen which is disappointing. The performance given by the actors is unimpressive and often pretty bad.

The concept of this film seemed good and certainly had potential, but a flawed story and bad acting resulted in the creation of a very poor film. Syfy channel movies are notoriously mediocre with this being no exception. If you’re looking for a good horror film, there are certainly much better films worth your time and money.

 MOVIE RATING

Reviewed by Ivan Karhoff
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