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List Price: $9.98 | | Label: MGM (Video & DVD)
Salesrank: 36002
Released: August 12, 2003 |
| Our Price: $4.87 |
| Used Price: $1.90 |
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MPAA Rating: Unrated Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Everyone has a breaking point. Pray that Carrie White doesn't reach hers. Angela Bettis (Girl, Interrupted) stars in this bone-chilling update of Stephen King's legendary tale of horror and retribution, featuring eye-popping special effects and a shocking, all-new twist ending! Carrie White (Bettis) is a lonely, awkward teenage girl who just doesn't fit in. At school, she endures her classmates' constant ridicule, and at home she suffers endless psychological torture at the hands of her fanatically religious mother (Patricia Clarkson, "Six Feet Under"). But Carrie has a secret. She's been cursed with the terrifying power of telekinesis. And when her tormentors commit an act of unforgivably cruel humiliation at the prom, they'll soon learn a deadly lesson: If you mess with fire, you will get burned!
Description of Carrie (TV Film):
Nobody would argue with the thought that Sissy Spacek is the perfect heroine of Stephen King's scary tale of teenage telekinesis. But in a pinch, Angela Bettis, the star of this 2002 TV remake, fills Spacek's bloody shoes very well. Bettis--who expertly plays a similar role in the indie horror pic May--gets all the loner pathos of poor Carrie White, equally tormented by her cool classmates and her religious-fanatic mom (Patricia Clarkson). Her transformation from doormat to vengeful prom queen remains surefire wish fulfillment for anyone who ever felt a misfit in high school. Despite Bettis's intensity, it's difficult to justify remaking Carrie when Brian De Palma's 1976 version is enshrined as a classic of its kind (especially given the pedestrian TV-movie production values on display here). This one delivers its jolts, but when you could just as easily spend time with Spacek and De Palma, why bother? --Robert Horton
Carrie (TV Film) Reviews:
Are some of these people blind? 
2009-10-27 - I do feel as some have already mentioned that this is a much closer adaption of King's book! There are a few people that could have been portrayed better, but for the most part everyone did a fine job. I don't think the girl quite had Chris's part down pat, but hey everyone has to be given a little slack ( it was made for TV right). Angela Bettis was superb in my opinion. Of course, everyone is has the right to their own, as for me, I feel this is the better of the two movies and had it been given proper budgeting, would have in every ones thoughts been one of the greatest King movies to hit the screen. As it was I feel it still is a must have on my list and I usually hate remakes. The twist ending makes it a must see at least! Signing out for now, I just could not let this movie slide by without my own input.
TV Movie more faithful to King's subpar story... 
2009-10-19 - A pointless remake with TV-caliber quality that's more faithful to King's original story, and the worse for it. DePalma got it perfectly right in his original film version, a vast improvement on King's mechanics; Kubrick did the same with THE SHINING, turning that turgid, unimaginative King story into something so much more! Only the adolescents turned on by Stephen King books could enjoy a TV-movie like this.
Painful 
2009-08-16 - I like this Carrie, she's painfully awkward and outcast. You can feel the ugliness she feels because of her classmates and her mother. But being a movie, she fights them all and gives them their due. Quite enjoyable in an entirely different way from the original movie version.
The way Stephen King envisioned his book translated to film. 
2009-08-11 - I am an avid film critic and I've read every Stephen King book. I loved DePalma's vision for the first "Carrie" and loved Sissy Spacek's performance. This movie, in my opinion was more in the spirit of the book and is actually superior in every way.
I like this version! 
2009-04-25 - Y'know, I've seen both versions of "Carrie" & both have their merits. I somehow prefer this version better. Angela Bettis as Carrie White is an odd blend of Mousiness, Beauty, Innocence & Freakiness with a heaping bit of trepedation. She is truly an outcast & is also prone to weird, nightmarish, telekinetic seizures. Although the ending seems trite to some, I actually prefer it. I was a bit of a pariah in school, myself, with very few friends & I always sat alone at lunch. Carrie had it worse; NO friends & a really crappy home life. I like the more modernized, somewhat edgy feel, the fact that it was truer to the book (which I've never read but nonetheless heard about), the "good" people survive (mostly, except for Tommy). I like the less tragic ending because I wanted to see Carrie given another chance at redemption & renewal. The old '76 film was effective but a complete downer. As far as Margaret was concerned, I prefer the old Piper Laurie version but Lara Clarkson's take is effective in that she could look so nice, quiet & longsuffering, normal even, then suddenly...."SLAP!" (hitting Carrie) or "DUNK!" (drowning Carrie), etc. , thus you are more on edge with Clarkson's version (because she's so unpredictable, unlike the loopy Piper Laurie verson). Anyway, I basically give it four stars because of the differences I like but one star's off cause it's not perfect. But hey, it's a TV Movie!