Carrie 2 - Die Rache

The words "Stephen King" and "Sequel" usually make the skin crawl, but The Rage: Carrie 2 isn't all bad.

Question: does everyone in movies have to be so pretty? In this film we are asked to believe that Emily Bergl and Mena Suvari are ugly, just as Rachel Leigh Cook was supposedly plain Jane in "She's All That". Please! I thought Bergl was beautiful, but I have a soft spot for girls with a dark side. On the other hand, the leader of the jocks who ostensibly got all the chicks looked like Ethan Hawke's redneck cousin. These guys are such misogynistic pricks that you can't wait for them to die. The scariest thing about this movie is the knowledge that jocks like that exist, thinkng they are entitled to everything thy want because they can throw a ball.

Let's see, thought an idea-starved movie exec one day, what can we do a sequel to now? Thoughts of the abandoned 'Freddie vs Jason' project pushed to the back of his mind, and realising that 'Titanic 2 - The Next Disaster' just wasn't working out, he thought back a bit further.

'Carrie'! Classic horror movie. How do we pull in the punters? Let's think. What was good about the first movie? Mmm, okay, blood, anger, school angst; yep, we can use those. Junk the religious symbolism (just not COOL these days), stick in a new, 21st-century sexually-aware Carrie figure (defeats the point of the movie, but not to worry), hire a hack script writer, and what do we have? Ah, a remake of the first movie in every detail - except for the good bits! That'll sell, then.

Admittedly, "The Rage: Carrie 2" can't equal the quality established by its predecessor. But it's better than I expected it to be. Portraying an outcast high school student (Emily Bergl) discovering that she has telekinetic powers - don't worry; it gets explained - and using them to get revenge on her tormentors, it mostly repeats everything from the original. But the good aspect comes from how they set up some scenes and shock you (I really liked the shattering ball). Finally, the party at the end just might make your blood freeze.

Overall, this is a movie worth seeing, if only once. Of course, you'll have to see the original first, so as to understand everything that happens in this one. Also starring Amy Irving and Mena Suvari (right before she played Kevin Spacey's sexual fantasy in "American Beauty").

Rachael Lang has grown up in foster care because her mother was taken to a mental institution while Rachael was still young. When Rachael's best friend kills herself after being seduced and dumped by a member of the football team, strange things happen which are noticed by the school counsellor Susan Snell – in particular it reminds her of Carrie who had the powers to move things with her mind. Snell tries to help Rachael get help before she shares Carrie's fate, but Rachael is busy falling in love with one of the football team – but is he all that he seems?

Surely this film must feature on any list of unnecessary sequels made many years after the fact. That the film bears the name `Carrie' must have made the studio hope that some of the good features of that film would be carried (sorry) over and redeem this. The plot tries to keep the essence of Carrie but it tries to mix in all the clichés of the modern teen movie as well – and the two don't mix. So for the majority of the film we have the normal `jocks bothering weird girl' plot and the odd scene of something breaking.

The problem is that suddenly the end scene happens – with little build up or trail. From a girl ignoring her powers Rachael suddenly becomes some sort of pumped killing machine in full control of her mind. The change is too sudden and is lazy writing. The actual film itself is too much an average teen movie and the ending is full of deliberate gore for the audience that measures horror in those terms. I personally found it overdone like the special effects guys were trying too hard.

The director also feels like he's working too hard. He tries to freak us out and make everything seem exciting by having tonnes of zooming cameras, changes in film stock and changes from colour to black and white. But it all felt like a gimmick because of the material. The film pales beside the original and just fails trying to steal bits from it – even the ending is spoilt because we know to expect a `shock' ending because it's trying to do a Carrie moment.

Bergl is average as Rachael – she basically plays your typical Goth stereotype from all these movies. London is OK and it's funny to see two stars of American Pie in small roles. Irving reprises her role (with a logical crowbaring of facts) but she is wasted and is only there to provide the link to the whole mind-power stuff.. Is she this desperate for work?

Overall this isn't as bad as many reviews made it sound on release. It's an average (at best) teen/horror movie. However the fact that it relates itself to Carrie makes it look worse by comparison – not helped by showing clips. I'd avoid this unless your idea of a great movie is American Pie 2 or Friday the 13th Part 6.

What 'will I ever learn'? Never judge a book by its cover, a film by its trailer, a story by the 'critics'. Well, some of them anyway.

The trailer to this movie did NOT appeal to me. Some of the critics trashed it. Even the box to the actual tape/DVD looked 'cookie-cutter' to the first Carrie. I hate redone classics, therefore, I avoided this movie like the plague for the longest time. Indeed, I ran the opposite direction when this movie came near me. Well, maybe thats going a bit far.

LOW AND BEHOLD!! Last night (7/5/2002) USA network showed this movie, and nothing else was on. I had a bottle of Jose Quervo on hand; just in case. I sat down and got ready to laugh at, tear apart and rag on this flick. After all, its my job as a film buff to see even the 'bad' films in order to better appreciate the 'good'.

I was utterly surprised by this film. There was a character played by Mena Suvari... a pleasant surprise to me- that I thought surely would be the 'new and improved Carrie'. Oops, now I've gone too far. ANYWAY! I actually enjoyed this film. I felt very bad for the character's treatment by others, as well as, herself.

That's all I'll say on the content of the movie since there may be those out there who've avoided this film like I did. DON'T!! This movie put me in my place on pre-judging films. I felt entertained and the piece was well-done. I can't think of anything wrong with this movie; right now. Perhaps, it was a bit on the teen-film stereotypical side, but I just really enjoyed watching this film. Thank you for your time o<;O) Skot