This Failed Horror Remake Wouldve Been Good if It Werent for This
2013's remake of Carrie already had a lot going against it. For one, it's a remake of Brian De Palma's classic adaptation starring Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie that seems nearly untouchable with Pino Donaggio's score. It also dealt with sharp criticism for depicting graphic violence against teens in the wake of tragic school shootings, rumored to be delayed because of that very reason. The delay brought about reshoots, and despite assurances it wouldn't happen, a lot of the film ended up on the cutting room floor. It is a true shame, as there were some pretty cool sequences that have been said to have been in the film. It's grown a cult fan base over the decade since its original release, clamoring for the film to be released in a director's cut that brings back Kimberly Peirce's seemingly original, faithful adaptation of Stephen King's novel.
The Teaser Trailer for 2013's 'Carrie' Shows a Glimpse of What Could Have Been
The teaser trailer for 2013's Carrie is truly haunting — dare I even say, better in tone than the theatrical film is as a whole. It begins with the familiar hymn from Julianne Moore's Margaret White and an opening shot above the town. Then, the burning gym comes into view. Elements probably from the White Committee (an organization researching the paranormal aspects of the case) or the police investigation are present here with prevalent voice-overs. One says "This was always such a peaceful town," and the next, "I don't want to use the word conspiracy, but that's what it's looking like." The camera continues to go through the burning, destroyed town, slowly getting closer to the street. "Her mother was a fanatic, I don't know how she lived with her," the voice-overs continue, "I believe something supernatural happened here, it defies logic and explanation." The final voice-over is said just as the camera picks up speed, zooming closer to the ground and through the fires on the street with a silhouetted shape of a girl up ahead. "There's one thing no one seems to understand," a girl says "She wasn't some monster, she was just a girl." The last shot slightly jump-cuts to Carrie's (Chloë Grace Moretz) face, where she looks up directly into the camera covered in blood.
This teaser gives us a small glimpse into the town's destruction, something only the 2002 television film adaptation had done on a much smaller budget. In a significant part of the novel, Carrie takes her time going home, causing destruction and mayhem in her path. Yet, it is mostly cut from De Palma's adaptation as well as this one, only leaving room for the quick demise of Chris (Portia Doubleday) and Billy (Alex Russell). Suddenly, we pick up with Carrie arriving home after a quick interlude with survivors of the prom massacre escaping the burning gym.
Carrie causes a lot more casualties in the novel — not just to the students at the prom, but the people of the town as a whole, the people that failed her. Is the town destruction necessary for a film adaptation? No, but it would have been a nice subversion of expectations to have the prom scene be upstaged by the spectacle of Carrie destroying the town that was so cruel to her, something that has still not been justice on screen. The teaser trailer suggests that we will finally get to see this destruction in all its glory, but the actual film itself fails to live up to that expectation.
Deleted Scenes Could Have Made 2013's 'Carrie' Stand Out From the Original
While there was never any definite answer to how much was inevitably cut from the film, the rumored number is about 40 minutes. With a vocal cult following clamoring for a release of a director's cut fueled by test audience leaks, it's important to see why this is so disappointing. After the film was delayed from spring to October of 2013, a lot changed. Peirce herself told Bloody Disgusting that "it wasn’t about cutting anything out or trying to edit around things," and mentioned that it was for shooting additional scenes. Still, between the test screenings and the fall theatrical release in 2013, scenes were lost on the cutting room floor.
First, there are ten official deleted scenes on the Blu-ray, amounting to only about ten minutes of additional footage in the end, with commentary by Peirce. If anything, they're worth checking out for her insight. Most of the official deleted scenes don't expand too much of anything, but are mostly dedicated to better establishing Chris and Billy's relationship. But there are a few important scenes, like the alternate opening to the film. Die-hard Carrie fans who have read the book or watched the 2002 Carrie movie will recognize this scene. A young Carrie sees her neighbor sunbathing and is curious, and Margaret swoops in fast, scolding the neighbor about her "modesty." Soon after, hail starts falling only over the White's house, and Margaret rushes the both of them inside. Interestingly, De Palma filmed this scene as well, though it was similarly cut from the final film. There is another extended scene where Carrie hangs Margaret in the air with her powers longer, and more violently. Finally, there is also the playable alternate ending with Sue's nightmare of her in labor. Other than a longer version of Tina (Zoë Belkin) on fire, that's pretty much it.
The rumored scenes lost are a lot more interesting. The most interesting would have been the interviews interspersed throughout the film, mimicking the book's narrative instead of the beat-by-beat remake of De Palma's film that we got. We get a brief glimpse of this in the theatrical ending, where Sue Snell (Gabriella Wilde) recounts her memory of the night. Oddly, this is absent from the alternate ending. The prom scene reportedly had a lot more graphic violence than we got, one of the more striking descriptions being that of Carrie puppeteering her classmate's corpses in a dance while they are being electrocuted. This also would have included an extended sequence of Carrie destroying the town as she walked home, true to the books, which we have a brief glimpse of in the teaser trailer.
Kimberly Peirce seemed like she was dedicated to adapting King's novel accurately, bringing a new experience to the story of Carrie before the changes were made to make it more like the 1976 film. Surely, if everything had gone how it was originally planned, we would have at least gotten an interesting new direction for the remake to go instead of just a retread of the original. Hopefully, in time, MGM and Screen Gems will consider releasing a director's cut on Blu-ray one day. It will be the tenth anniversary this October, so it's the perfect time!
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