Carrie: Horror Movie or Superhero Movie?
By
Lothic,
Posted on: 2011-10-26 17:20 in Comic and Hero-Villain Culture
Quote:
Horror, because of her outlook on it. Everything else could have been the superhero/villain origin story, but her lack of understanding and fear of it was what, in my opinion, makes it horror.|
Originally Posted by starphoenix
I just watched the Carrie remake and couldn't shake the feeling that it was a Superhero or Supervillain Origin story rather than a horror movie. Thoughts?
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I think the horror story is about how all this affects her, and her inability to control it, and her fear of even trying to understanding it. I could see how many look at it in context of what she does with the powers as the acts of horror, but I always saw it as horror from her perspective. Sure, there's also the horror she has to endure with her crazy mother, the problems at school, then the horror the kids felt at the prom when she lost it, but I think the story was more about looking at this 'power' from her perspective.
Like The Shining. The kid had a gift, so did the father. What it did to the father is horror, and the boy seeing it all play out, also horror, and the mother who didn't understand any of it, yet another perspective of the horror being played out. For all the faults I can say about Stephen King, he is good at taking horror and looking at it from many layers and perspectives.
I will agree though; written the right way, a lot of super hero/villain stories could also be horror tales, and Carrie could have been a 'superhero/villain' story. It's all in how it's dressed up and the angle its told in.
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I couldn't agree more.
I said that it was a superhero/supervillain origin story not that it was a superhero/supervillain movie. Basically, it is a horror movie if Carrie is afraid of her power and never uses it again, a superhero origin story with horror elements if Carrie uses her power for good, and a supervillain origin story with horror elements if she uses her power for evil.
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Well when you think about it the term "supernatural" is a probably broad enough that you could cover stories dealing with both superheroes and horror related to super-human powers/phenomena under its umbrella. Based on that it's easy to see how some stories could blur the line between the two. For instance there's not really all that much difference between the Incredible Hulk and Jekyll and Hyde. 
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I've always seen the original and the remake as superhero films, but very much like the original X-Men films, which had a strong grounding in reality. Girl with telekinesis living with superstitious and abusive mother suffers peer abuse and eventually is pushed to using said power to defend/avenge herself against said abuse.
It's one of those movies you look at and see the power 'explained' as the supernatural or paranormal, yet it's considered a fairly straightforward ability in the superhero genre. I'd always imagined an alternate scenario where Xavier finds her (the parallels to Jean Grey/Dark Phoenix are all through there) and this very shy and very sweet girl is taught that she has a fantastic gift rather than a curse. My heart always went out to Carrie (particularly in the original because of Sissy Spacek's vulnerable performance) and I wanted to help her somehow.
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I just watched the Carrie remake and couldn't shake the feeling that it was a Superhero or Supervillain Origin story rather than a horror movie. Thoughts?
The first step in being sane is to admit that you are insane.