Carrie 2: La furia

Obviously a sequel to Carrie was never gonna be better than the original, there is very little room for improvement. However, as planned as this sequel is, The Rage: Carrie 2 is hardly the monstrosity people make it out to be, although it is hardly very good either. I'll start with the positives, the main 3 characters do give their performances there all; Emily Bergl, Jason London, and Amy Irving. As for the rest of the performances, all of them seem too forced to feel realistic, as if they belong in some sort of bizarre 90's comedy movie that somehow became a horror film by accident. The film can be pretty slow at times, it feels as if a good 30 minute chunk of the film could probably have been scrapped, but instead was used for filler. Parts of the film can be rather interesting though, and I like the aesthetic the director was going for the film, although its initial ideas were never brought to the level of execution it could have been. In the end, The Rage: Carrie 2 is not as bad as they say, but sadly, it still proves to be a disappointment from what it could have been. Mass potential and nowhere to go, Carrie 2 is sadly just another missed opportunity in the horror genre- another film that doesn't quite know what to do. My Rating: 5.25/10

Yes, you read that right.

Emily Bergl is this films greatest asset. She can actually act and looks sincere. The only problem is that she's far too good looking for the role. That may sound shallow, but throughout the movie, we're supposed to get the impression that she's "ugly" and because of that, she's an outcast. Contrast this to Sissy Spacek in the original who looked plain enough to carry out the role of "ugly duckling". It was only her talent that let Bergl carry (pun not intended) out the role convincingly.

The antoganists are unusually shallow, especially when presented against the more modern bad guys in horror films, at least where you can see the bad guy. Though at least one of the bad girls is convincing as Rachel's new friend.

Jason Landon does an amiable job as Rachel's boyfriend and lends a lot of credibility to the final scene which, I must say, is a refreshing change from the hand coming out of the ground scenes popularized by the original Carrie.

All in all, a refreshingly entertaining and, dare I say, well done show.

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.

Rachael Lang has grown up in foster care because her mother was taken to a mental institution while Rachael was still young. When Rachael's best friend kills herself after being seduced and dumped by a member of the football team, strange things happen which are noticed by the school counsellor Susan Snell – in particular it reminds her of Carrie who had the powers to move things with her mind. Snell tries to help Rachael get help before she shares Carrie's fate, but Rachael is busy falling in love with one of the football team – but is he all that he seems?

Surely this film must feature on any list of unnecessary sequels made many years after the fact. That the film bears the name `Carrie' must have made the studio hope that some of the good features of that film would be carried (sorry) over and redeem this. The plot tries to keep the essence of Carrie but it tries to mix in all the clichés of the modern teen movie as well – and the two don't mix. So for the majority of the film we have the normal `jocks bothering weird girl' plot and the odd scene of something breaking.

The problem is that suddenly the end scene happens – with little build up or trail. From a girl ignoring her powers Rachael suddenly becomes some sort of pumped killing machine in full control of her mind. The change is too sudden and is lazy writing. The actual film itself is too much an average teen movie and the ending is full of deliberate gore for the audience that measures horror in those terms. I personally found it overdone like the special effects guys were trying too hard.

The director also feels like he's working too hard. He tries to freak us out and make everything seem exciting by having tonnes of zooming cameras, changes in film stock and changes from colour to black and white. But it all felt like a gimmick because of the material. The film pales beside the original and just fails trying to steal bits from it – even the ending is spoilt because we know to expect a `shock' ending because it's trying to do a Carrie moment.

Bergl is average as Rachael – she basically plays your typical Goth stereotype from all these movies. London is OK and it's funny to see two stars of American Pie in small roles. Irving reprises her role (with a logical crowbaring of facts) but she is wasted and is only there to provide the link to the whole mind-power stuff.. Is she this desperate for work?

Overall this isn't as bad as many reviews made it sound on release. It's an average (at best) teen/horror movie. However the fact that it relates itself to Carrie makes it look worse by comparison – not helped by showing clips. I'd avoid this unless your idea of a great movie is American Pie 2 or Friday the 13th Part 6.

Carrie 2 - The Rage, was nothing like I expected. I went into the theatre expecting to see a cheap imitation of the first Carrie...but I was wrong! The Rage was excellent! Although the first Carrie is a classic cult horror movie and can never be topped, The Rage did a good job living up to the standards set by the first. Newcomer Emily Bergl did an excellent job as the enraged Rachel. Amy Irving returns as Sue Snell, and this allows the The Rage to be connected to Carrie. A series of flashbacks and many connections to the first Carrie, help The Rage succeed. Everything is well explained and you leave the theatre very satisfied. There is some gore and scary parts that may not be suitable for younger viewers that have watched the first (and much tamer) Carrie. Overall I believe this film was an excellent sequel to Carrie and although not a Stephen King novel, as the first was, I think the King of horror would have been impressed. A must see for horror fanatics or anyone looking for a good scare!! Boo!!

On a scale of 1 - 10, 1 being yawn! and 10 being bed-wetting nightmares......I give THE RAGE - CARRIE 2 an 8!!