The Rage: Carrie 2

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

This is a forgettable but offbeat teenage film. The visual effect is certainly better than the first Carrie (1976). The flashback of Carrie 1 and the return of Amy Irving starring as Sue Snell again also help.

Apart from the film itself per se, having seen Carrie and Carrie 2, I can't stop thinking why the problem of kids bullying with each other continues to be a problem in schools. In fact, this problem is not only between school kids, but also between grown ups in society. What's wrong with our society? What happened in the film is no more worse than the real event 'Columbine High School Massacre' (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbine_High_School_massacre). When are we going to solve this problem?

Perhaps showing this film to kids will make them understand how bad if they treat their mates badly.

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.

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.

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").