A Critical Look at the 2013 'Carrie' Remake Amidst New Adaptations

Hollywood's third cinematic attempt to adapt Stephen King's 1974 novel, "Carrie," arrived in 2013 with director Kimberly Peirce at the helm. This iteration followed Brian De Palma's 1976 classic and a 2002 television movie scripted by Bryan Fuller. The film chronicles the telekinetic awakening of high school outcast Carrietta White, culminating in a disastrous prom night.

The 2013 adaptation featured Chloë Grace Moretz as Carrie White and Oscar winner Julianne Moore as her mother, Margaret White. The screenplay was credited to Lawrence D. Cohen, who also wrote the screenplay for the 1976 film, and Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, known for his work on "Riverdale" and "Pretty Little Liars." The production also enlisted Steve Yedlin as cinematographer, a frequent collaborator with Rian Johnson, and Marco Beltrami for the score.

Reviewing the 2013 "Carrie" in the context of subsequent adaptations, including a new series, suggests a diminished role for this particular version. Critics note that the film offers little creative reinvention, often relying on lines directly from the 1976 script. Changes made are frequently described as superficial, such as altering character hair color or minor plot point adjustments like the method Carrie uses to shatter objects in an office.

While the 2013 film attempts to modernize the narrative by incorporating elements like cyberbullying, the execution is questioned. The locker room incident, for instance, is depicted as being filmed on a single phone and inexplicably projected at the prom. The portrayal of Margaret White's self-harm is noted as being brutally rendered, yet some dialogue, such as Carrie's exclamation of "God, you suck!" from a prayer closet, is seen as a departure from the source material's tone.

The novel, Stephen King's debut, was famously fished from his trash by his wife, Tabitha. King himself described the book as "often clumsy and artless" in a 1983 Playboy interview, yet acknowledged its critical role in liberating him to pursue writing full-time. The 50th anniversary of "Carrie" in 2024 saw renewed attention, with new editions featuring introductions by authors like Margaret Atwood.

Critical reception for the 2013 remake was divided. Some reviewers, like Matt Zoller Seitz of RogerEbert.com, praised Peirce's "Carrie" for delving into the protagonist's headspace, interpreting her telekinesis as expressionistic and framing the story as a tragedy rather than pure horror. Richard Brody of The New Yorker similarly found that Peirce intelligently expanded upon telekinesis more than De Palma had. However, others were less impressed. Cath Clarke of Time Out noted that Moretz lacked the "victim's bone" for the role, and Wesley Morris writing for Grantland deemed the revenge sequence the only part worthy of King and De Palma, concluding the film ultimately felt like an attempt to create a hit without deeper substance.

Manohla Dargis in The New York Times observed that while Peirce emphasized religious themes and Carrie's powers, the sense of dread associated with the female body present in De Palma's version was missing. David Edelstein of Vulture declared that fans of the 1976 film would likely find the remake unbearable. The film's visual effects, particularly the infamous blood-dump scene and subsequent prom vengeance sequence, were widely criticized as unconvincing and overly stylized.

Despite mixed reviews, the 2013 "Carrie" achieved moderate financial success, earning $35.3 million domestically and $84.8 million worldwide, a figure comparable to the domestic gross of the 1976 film but significantly higher internationally. The film's cast also included Judy Greer and Ansel Elgort, though their performances and characterizations, along with those of Moretz and Moore, were sometimes noted for inconsistent accents and speech patterns.