The Rage: Carrie 2 [VHS]
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VHS Movie Reviews of The Rage: Carrie 2 [VHS]
Movie Review: Sequel that improves upon the predecessor
Summary: 3 Stars
"The Rage: Carrie 2" is more of a '90s remake than really a sequel, it manages to be much, much better than the cheap, exploitative 1976 "Carrie", which is the most overrated horror film of the late '70s.In the plot and acting, the sequel improves upon it. The caricatures in "Carrie" are replaced by more natural personas. Rachel (Emily Bergl), the protagonist in the film, is developed more believably than what Sissy Spacek. In a way, Bergl fashions Rachel in a way that we sympathize for her.
Sadly, the sequel almost follows its predecessor step by step. Rachel befriends a jock, Jesse (Jason London) after the sudden suicide of her best friend (Meni Suvari), not knowing that he participates in a male-bonding game with his fellow athletes. His "buddies" find out, and with the help of the predictably bitchy girls who are jealous of Rachel, set up a plan to humiliate Rachel at an after-game party. Meanwhile, Rachel is developing strange telekinetic abilities... which one of her teachers, Sue Snell (Amy Irving, reprising her old role from "Carrie") tries to take Rachel under her wing and tries to help Rachel, but Rachel resists her advances.
The relationships and chemistry are also well-developed. Rachel and Jesse elude charisma and genuine poignancy throughout, even with the film's shocking climax. Throughout the film, we feel for both Rachel and Jesse, even with the predictable bloodbath that ensues when Rachel orchestrates gory revenge on her tormentors.
Nevertheless, the ending cheapens the picture as a whole, being predictable and not allowing to savor the antagonists getting their just desserts. The first part of the film deserves to be in a better, well-ended film. The shocking ending is somewhat anticlimatic, not to mention exploitative as well.
Despite the horrible ending, "The Rage: Carrie 2" is one of those sequels that prove that they can improve on their predecessors as well as being a reasonably good film. Just don't expect a happy ending.
Movie Review: "Carrie"-d Away by Stupidity.
Summary: 1 Stars
Brian DePalma's 1976 "Carrie" was a horror classic that vividly illustrated a schoolgirl's fury when pushed over the edge. Based on the 1974 Stephen King novel, it lingered in my system for many weeks like a bad hangover. In the two decades since its release, I doubt there was an overwhelming demand for a sequel, but we got it anyway. This film, which picks up the ending of the original 23 years later, was howlingly stupid. It essentially repeats the very same storyline of its predecessor, but without DePalma's magic touch, chills, suspense, or dramatic tension. Emily Bergyl is Rachel, an alienated teen who is Carrie White's sister and shares her telekenetic powers. But unlike Carrie, Rachel has a social life and is assertive enough to stand up to her catty classmates. At the assistance of guidance counselor Sue Snell (Amy Irving), the only survivor from the original movie, Rachel learns about her past as well as her "gift," which is used to get revenege on classmates who pull a prank on her. I won't reveal spoilers, but "The Rage" is one of the silliest movies I've seen. It's predictable, crippled by some bad dialogue, and the only scary scenes are the ones that flash back to Sissy Spacek who played Carrie White in the original. Being such a fan of "Carrie," my curiosity was so intense that I had to see the sequel. But even with my low expectations, it ended up being a bust. What's more interesting is that it's being marketed to an audience that probably wasn't even born when the 1976 flick was released. The younger crowd will definitely call "The Rage" cheesy while the older folks who saw the original will no doubt be disappointed. Across the board, "The Rage" is an utter disaster.Movie Review: Hell hath no fury like a telekenetic teen!
Summary: 4 Stars
I would just like to start off and say that I HATED the original carrie! It wasn't at all scary! it was just plain stupid! Now, THE RAGE decided to take a new egde to the film. The producers relized that a person with psychic powers isn't really scary! They are just simply A FREAK!so... they took the film as more of a dramatic thriller, rather than a horror film. Emily Burgl is the perfect person to play the role of "rachael," a social outcast. Not A NERD! A social outcast! Which already makes for a better role than the original, nerdy carrie white.I like this movie because it brings a stylish sense of 90's teen culture to the "Carrie" film. Not a completely unknown cast, but mostly. Has a cameo appearance by amy irving and.. um I forget her name. She plays Cher on the tv show "clueless" and she was brekin myer's GF in "Road trip." you know who I'm talking about. Anyway, it's a great film with some cool special effects and a well-written storyline. Remember, Be careful who you're mean to.. or they might just turn into a loony, psycho freak and kill you! AH HA HA HA HA
The Rage: Carrie 2
Rated: R for Sequences of strong violence/gore, language, and brief sexual content (implied, not seen.)
Four stars!
Movie Review: Ham-fisted and pointless
Summary: 2 Stars
Within the first 60 seconds of "Carrie 2," you know what you're in for: Rachel's mother has had a psychotic break and is painting a big fat red stripe around the inside of the house, across pictures and lampshades and curtains. And then -- oooh, scary! -- drops of wet red paint start dripping down a statue of the Virgin Mary, sledgehammering home an allusion to the original movie.That's what you get this time: No subtlety, painfully blunt "nudge, nudge, this is a Carrie 1 reference" moments and an altogether ill-conceived sequel.
We get characters without motivation (Mena Suvari stuck around just long enough to get a paycheck), development without set-up (why on Earth would the star of the football team fall for the thoroughly unpleasant Rachel?) and pointless mean-spiritedness posing as shock and horror (Amy Irving deserves better than this, and what happens to her in the movie seems like it was written by a 13 year old who finds "Beavis and Butthead" a bit too high-brow).
In an era where every teen horror movie seems determined to sink to a new low, "Carrie 2" is the bottom of the pathetic barrel, and it makes you long for the subtle nuance of such modern "masterpieces" as "I Know What You Did Last Summer."
See this for free, if you feel compelled to see it at all.
Movie Review: Similar, sure--but good in its own right
Summary: 4 Stars
You know, this is a film that will be met with instant critical disdain to a certain degree, simply because it's a sequel made 23 years later. The original "Carrie", if anything I've read is accurate, wasn't met with instant critical success. But due to DePalma's growing reputation and developing career, it has taken on a cult status for sure. And for good reason.I made sure to watch the original before viewing the sequel. The original has a lot going for it, most notably in the style and thematic department. However, I believe it lacks to some degree in character development, and the sequel actually succeeds at creating more believably motivated characters than the original.
For instance, William Katt's character in the original, Tommy Ross, sporting the Sammy Hagar-esque mop, is a very ambiguous character. The top jock who is also a straight-A student and with a popular girl, he doesn't get to do much for the film except show a nice smile. He gets enlisted by his girlfriend Sue Snell (Amy Irving) to take wallflower Carrie to the prom in order to make up for the vicious hazing in the opening shower scene. Tommy agrees, the administration finds out and thinks it's another joke, but the couple do it anyway. It's never really clear through the script and character development just how much they really care about making it up to Carrie. It's a gaping hole that could have been simply filled with some more dialogue or additional scenes of Snell's character. Then, instead of offering resolution for Katt's character, he gets clonked on the head with a bucket and presumably dies on the prom couple stage. Huh?
The Rage, on the other hand, features a heroine who is less a victim than a tough survivor. No wallflower is she, like the pathetic Carrie of the original. No insane religious overtones here, except for the opening. Rachel, played with a very believable control by cutey Emily Bergl, is not beautiful or even stunningly cute like Sissy Spacek was. The key to the original, in my mind, are those amazing eyes of Spacek's filmed in the red lens as she's covered with blood, during those split-screen, slo-mo shots of the revenege and the rampage. That trance-like state during the murder sequence is CREEPY.
The Rage features one heck of a revenge ending as well. Don't underestimate. People get it, but good.
The effects are better than the original, they're graphic, and they're appropriate. Talk about CD killing--this is better than Hellraiser III's CD slicing. And one of the jocks gets a comeuppance involving a spear gun that's...well, appropriate, especially since he's played by the believably dimwitted Brad from TV's Home Improvement. (Bit disappointed about the head jock's demise...though it was stylistically impressive, I must
say.)
Which brings me to the acting and the chemistry with these characters. First off, they look more like high school kids than the original film portrayed. They act like it, too. Nancy Allen, Amy Irving, PJ Soles--they looked old in 1976, and the latter looked old in Halloween playing a cheerleader another 2 years later.
Another treat--we get a returning cast member. Always a BIG plus in my book when someone agrees to come back. This time it's Sue Snell (Irving), now a guidance counselor at the rebuilt high school. She has her own checkered past, including commitment to an asylum following the events of the original. I was quite surprised by her fate in this film, that's for sure. Gutsy.
Perhaps one of the biggest notes on this film is the fact that, being a 90s horror remake, which everyone thinks will just be an excuse for wall-to-wall violence, or in this case, telekinesis non-stop, it's not. Save for the very bloody end (appropriate--this is a revenge film, remember) the telekinetic power portion of the film is handled very well and controlled in terms of Rachel's acceptance. In the original, the wallflower came out so quickly and was suddenly throwing her mother to the bed.
I don't know. I think this film got an automatic panning or a lackluster reaction for no good reason. In its own right, it works well. It's more about what's going on in American high schools everywhere today than it is about telekinetic powers, etc. (Though we get more info on it than the original).
So let's not be so quick to scoff at a film that's a sequel to a DePalma. Take this for what it is: a good modern revenge film about the timeless cruelty of kids and the curveball of telekinetic powers. I think director Katt Shea (who once was retrospected at MOMA) put more into this than most people think.
Another point of recommendation--extras. 3 extra scenes are here which are interesting, as well as the original ending, which thank God they didn't use. The more subtle and shocking effect of the last scene is chilling and fits perfectly.