2012 October 19 « HORROR BOOM

When I first heard about this project, it sounded like a terrible idea to me. Why mess with one of the most perfect Stephen King film adaptations–hell, one of the most perfect horror films, period*–ever made? To this day, the 1976 original holds up. Not only does it still hold up, it’s one of those movies that is just as powerful and deeply frightening with every re-watch (that’d be probably close to fifty times for me over the last three-plus decades) and I’ve only seen it on TV. I’d love to see it on the big screen, and if I do, I can all but guarantee I will scream at the top of my lungs in panic at the end, even though I am 100% sure exactly how, where, and when that hand will burst up through the stones covering the grave and grab Sue Stern’s wrist in her nightmare.

The more I heard, though, the less stupid it sounded, especially when I saw the two photos of Chloë Grace Moretz in the title role and Julianne Moore as Mrs. White (Carrie’s scary religious nutcase mother). Then I finally got to see this– one of the best teasers I’ve seen in years for a horror movie. Here it is in HD, if you haven’t seen it yet, and if you have, it’s worth another look!

I had read they were going to stay closer to the novel than the original, and so far so good, since in the novel Carrie ended up destroying the entire town, she was so enraged. Hundreds of dead and injured; most fire-related. Carrie also uses her powers to unscrew all the fire hydrants she can so there’s less water to put the fires out. Here’s the official PR to go with the teaser trailer:

The official teaser trailer for ‘Carrie’ (2013) starring Chloë Grace Moretz as Carrie in an adaptation of Stephen King’s original novel ‘Carrie’. Official description: A sheltered high school girl unleashes her newly developed telekinetic powers after she is pushed too far by her peers.

OK, that’s a huge fucking understatement, but fine. Now I see what all the buzz is about, so far I see no reason not to trust director Kimberly Peirce, and I’ll be following the coverage pretty closely and sharing it here! Here’s a link to the official URL, WhatHappenedToCarrie.com. Plus, since the American Horror Story Asylum premiere, I’ve had the haunting Pino Donaggio score to the Brian De Palma original stuck in my head…

*no pun intended. Really.

“There’s something no-one seems to understand. She wasn’t some …monster, she was …just a girl.”

‘Carrie’ Teaser Trailer: Burn, Bullies, Burn! (slashfilm.com)
Carrie Remake Teaser Trailer: Will Fans Of The Original Be Converted? (contactmusic.com)
Chloe Moretz: ‘Carrie’ Teaser Trailer – Watch Now! (justjared.com)
Chloe Moretz: ‘Carrie’ Comic-Con with Julianne Moore! (justjared.com)

This was actually going to be a post for “Scariest Japanese Urban Legend of the Month”, but I scared the shit out of myself just researching it at 3AM. I figured oh, it’s not going to be that scary, because I bet I’ve already heard of it. Whoop-de-doo. Twenty minutes into researching the legend of “Hikiko” I heard something heavy and loud fall on the (hardwood) floor in the kitchen and almost had a goddamned heart attack. Figured one of the cats wanted attention, because it turned out to be a giant plastic binder clip that one of them pushed off when I went out to look. I calmed down and then researched more–bad idea when there’s a windy rainstorm outside. All I needed was thunder and lightning.

I was already realizing 1. I should probably stop and write something else for tonight, as the research just kept getting creepier and 2. I was going to have to write about it when it was light out if I wanted to fall asleep while it was still dark, when I heard something else fall off the kitchen counter (not as loudly). I went out hesitantly and saw an empty Dansani water bottle had fallen and was rolling slowly on the floor. Then I realized both cats were asleep in the other room.

At this point, I would just like to thank whoever is in charge up there for the gift of a very patient husband, who woke up when I asked him to and demonstrated how it was a draft, not something freaky and supernatural that blew it off the counter. Thank you.

Laugh all you want! Just imagine watching THIS (below) with the sound on, after dark, and hearing sudden strange noises down the dark hall from your room:

Plus, this is just a snippet of a longer video about the legend I’m going to post, too, and I had to turn the sound down ten minutes in. After that I decided to bookmark it and try to pretend I hadn’t seen it until the sun came out. The first bookmark tag I used was “scary as fuck.”

OK, back to what I was doing…