The quiet girl who sits alone in the corner of the classroom? She hides a BIG secret.

A lot has changed in the 37 years since the adaptation of this Stephen King novel featuring Sissy Spacek, but the dynamite plot still steals your attention. “Carrie,” directed now by Kimberly Peirce, is a remake of the 1976 classic about a high school outcast in her senior year, bullied by the popular crowd. This victim is consequentially sheltered by her fundamentalist Christian mother, except this particular girl has a secret.

To avoid a repeat of the original, director Kimberly Peirce had to change details of the plot slightly, which was done well, and made this version feel much more modern and relatable.
Personally I loved this movie, and think that it was done almost absolute justice by this modern cast lead by Chloe Grace Mortez (Carrie White) and Julianne Moore(Margaret White). No movie is complete without the aid of supporting actors and actresses, with Portia Doubleday (Chris Hargensen) and Judy Greer (Miss Desjardin), who unlike typical horror movie actors, actually added to the plot instead of finding themselves in moronic situations, attributing to the body count.  One of the best performances I’ve seen in any movie of this genre was fulfilled by Moore, who really made both the character and the movie operate well, playing the depressed, lunatic mother of Carrie White.

As expected with these modern days, the special effects were phenomenal by contrast to the original, and even added another layer to the cake that is a great movie. Due in large part to today’s technology, but also credit to John MacGillivray’s (American Psycho, The Boondock Saints) skill in this evolving art, there were scenes that managed to throttle the audience’s attention and make the audience feel as if you they were experiencing the story in person.

Subtle changes, including improved special effects, did much to keep this remake its own work, and the increase in dialogue contributed brand new dimensions to the already golden story. Where Spacek, who played Carrie in the 1976 version directed by Brian De Palma, was able to make use of body language and facial expressions to convey the multiple dimensions of the character, Mortez blossomed with an increase in dialogue, under direction of Peirce.

After seeing the remake of this classic, I can say one thing for certain, you don’t mess with Carrie White, she Carries a BIG secret.