This had some potential to be a good remake. But it really feels more like a reenactment of the original than it does feel like its own film, even though it takes place in contemporary times.

And really, that's where the film fails the worst. Look at all the recent stories of cyberbullying and these teenage girls committing suicide. The film's director, Kimberly Pierce, who has made good films in the past ("Boys Don't Cry"), really could have taken a stand on some current issues and instead just borrows from the classic original film. It tones down the religious overtones, with the mom not being as prominent as a character. She's still batshit crazy but she's not as terrorizing as Piper Laurie was in the '76 film.

The "mean girls" are definitely mean...but they just don't seem as threatening. The main mean girl, Chris, is definitely credible. But she still doesn't seem to come off the screen as a prominent villain.

The infamous bloodbath at the end also comes off as more "gore for the sake of gore" than the original...that's probably a credit to Sissy Spacek. But because there wasn't enough of a focused narrative to string us along, it seems like this new Carrie kind of...enjoys killing everyone this time.

The ending's done a bit differently but for a film that the filmmakers "wanted to be closer to the original source material" (the novel), it really just feels like a retread of the '76 film. Sure, it's better than "The Rage: Carrie 2" (was that really even made?) and the abysmal TV movie remake...but it could've been on par with something like Cronenberg's "The Fly" if Pierce would've been able to make her own vision, instead of borrowing from one that's already been done.

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