Carrie : The remake

Okay so it's eight years old but I finally got around to watching the made for tv remake of Carrie. To be honest, I'd argue that it isn't a remake, just another adapatation of Stephen King's source. In my world a remake is only a remake when the original film is based on an original idea and not a novel, comic or television series.

Anyway, onto 2002's Carrie. It's actually not bad. By not bad I mean it's not as good as De Palma's Carrie but it's a passable watch. Angela Bettis makes for a vulnerable Carrie and your heart breaks for her. Patricia Clarkson manages to make the part of Carrie's mother marginally sympathetic. The effects, aided by good old cgi, allow Carrie's final telekenetic rampage to show things the 1976 version couldn't hope to show. It's made for tv origins shine through though in it's lack of blood (pig blood and menstrual blood aside) and it's a crying shame. It largely sticks closer to the book than De Palma's version but De Palma made his changes to make the film more cinematic - sticking closely to the book isn't always a good thing (compare the two versions of The Shining for example).

Where it does differ from the book is the ending. Look away now if you don't want to know the ending.

LOOK AWAY.

NOW.

Still here?

Okay in De Palma's version Carrie dies and Sue Snell has a dream sequence where Carrie's hand bursts from her grave to grab her arm.

In the novel, Carrie dies but a letter at the end indicates another young girl may have inherited her powers.

In the remake, Carrie lives. Yep, Sue Snell finds her near death, under water in her bath and revives her. And they drive away to have further adventures. Seriously.

So why did they make this change? Because they wanted to turn Carrie into a tv series in the wake of The Dead Zone's success. But while The Dead Zone lent itself to an ongoing story, Carrie didn't.

The plan was for her to move to Florida to help other young telekenetics with their powers.

Incidentally, Firestarter 2 was also meant to kick start a tv series which never happened.

So what other King works could the tv execs exploit for a series or two?

Cujo : Think the littlest hobbo but with a rabid St. Bernard. Cujo comes into town, helps a local in need with their problem, gives them rabies and then departs for pastures new. That's televisual gold right there.

The Shining : A new family move into the Overlook each week. One member is possessed by the hotel and goes into a murderous rage. Hijinks ensue.

Misery : Annie Wilkes starts an agency to help writers get over writers block. With a little tlc and a sledgehammer, she pushes her clients to produce their best work ever.

Christine : A wacky sit-com about a boy and his psychopathic car. See Christine make his owner late for the prom by mowing down a bus queue. See Christine mess up his pizza delivery service by running over the head of a customer who didn't like her paint job.

The Stand : As aired by Fox - Randall Flagg bears an uncanny similarity to Barack Obama and Mother Abagail is a white creationist Republican. Each week Mother Abagail's people uncover outlandish conspiracies (additives to the water are turning people into Muslims, there are hidden communist messages in the DNA of racoons, etc.) and thwart Obama's Flagg's evil plans.