Kris Hayward Staff Writer

As a remake, book adaptation, and stand-alone movie, Carrie won’t offer anything moviegoers haven’t seen before.

While the special effects for the movie were fitting, and a clear indication of their budget, it was the only advantage the movie had. The movie tried to cast Carrie’s mother in a slightly more sympathetic light when the book depicts her as a complete religious fanatic with no real compassion for her daughter.

The remake also tries to give the story a modern feel by adding social media and cellphones. While some parts of the movie are modern, they keep the central idea that high school girls have the end goal of getting to prom and having a magical night.

That might be the case for a lot of high school girls, but it’s one of the things that carried over from the mid ‘70s that did not translate well. Other parts that didn’t translate well were the falling rocks and the subtlety that Carries powers should have manifested.

The latter half of the movie was changed to make things more appealing to modern audiences, giving ample special effects and significantly more gore. After pigs blood falls on Carrie, the chain of murders are a good deal more gruesome than what the book portrayed. From simple electrocution to mob trampling, death by fire, and being crushed by large tables, it gives people something closer to Saw than the original Carrie.

Beyond the first wave of murders, Carrie’s mother was put to death via crucifixion when the book just had her heart stop telekinetically. The finale, where the main bully was given her due, was changed significantly too. Rather than be caught at the roadhouse with her boyfriend and eventually crashing into it, she was sent careening into a fuel station instead.

Without spoiling too much, since the movie is always going to portray vicious revenge doled out by a psychic outcast, the book is the way to go. Content is always cut from books to format them into movies, and this latest Carrie has material cut from the original movie, the book, and tries to squeeze out more content by trying to modernize this tale.

With so much rehashed, changed, updated, or cut on top of a double digit ticket price, save the cash and rent the book.