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The Rage: Carrie 2
review by Ren C.
Rated R
Studio: MGM/UA
Running Time: 105 minutes
Starring: Emily Bergl, Jason London
Directed by: Katt Shea
Retail Price: $19.98
Features: Commentary, Deleted Scenes
Specs: Widescreen Anamorphic-1.85:1, Full Screen
(Standard)-1.33:1, English (Dolby Digital 5.1), French
(Dolby Digital 5.1), English & French Subtitles
For those that have never seen the original Carrie, it is
one of the best and most talked-about horror films to come
out of the 1970s. It might also be a good idea to see the
original before you see this, its well-intentioned sequel.
The Rage: Carrie 2 makes extensive reference to the events
from the original, and is fairly liberal in its use of clips
from the original. While ostensibly a sequel, Carrie 2 turns
more into a way in which to move the original into the '90s.
The setup is much the same, girl is unpopular at school,
becomes involved with the popular crowd in one way or
another, bad things happen. In saying this, I don't mean to
say that this is a bad movie. If it didn't have very big
shoes to fill, and was in fact standing on its own, it would
be a fairly good movie. As it is, it stands as a rather
bizarre sequel.
The plot, such as it is, introduces Rachel (Emily Bergl)
as a girl who is placed with foster parents in the same town
where Carrie White wreaked havoc so many years ago. She is
fairly withdrawn and keeps to herself, but that all changes
when she winds up in the middle of a scandal among the
members of the football team. One other detail-Rachel is
also a telekinetic, just like Carrie White.
The actors in the movie all do the best they can with
their roles although they are fairly written into their
stereotypes: the jock, the snob, etc. Only Emily Bergl as
Rachel manages to take her character above and beyond the
fairly limited corner it has been written into. She manages
to convey her emotions without words and to make her
character seem more three-dimensional than the rest. As it
is, this movie stands as a good popcorn flick, and the best
kind of horror movie, the well-intentioned cheesy kind.
The video for this movie looked very good, considering
the fact that the movie is only about two years old. There
was no noticeable grain or artifacts on the transfer, and
the transfer, overall was very crisp and clear.
A very good audio mix here, as this is a horror movie,
and as such the bass should shine through. It does so here,
not just during the action sequences, but also during some
of the other generic high school scenes. The dialogue comes
through well, and is never overshadowed by the action.
A little less than a full-on special edition, in my
opinion, the disc does have some very nice supplemental
features. First up is a running commentary with the director
of the movie, Katt Shea. Shea seems very proud of the movie,
and more than happy to talk about it at length. Shea talks
about the ideas behind the movie, and some of the imagery
that has been brought into the movie.
Next, we have a set of deleted scenes that can be viewed
with or without commentary. These fall into the category of
scenes that really weren't necessary and just would have
padded the running time of the movie. Shea talks about these
scenes as well and discusses the reasons why they were cut.
There is also an alternate ending with the effects before
and after. To be honest, this is one of the silliest
alternate endings that I've seen, and it quite possibly
could have brought the whole movie down had they used it. It
is still nice that it's included, though. Shea again
contributes commentary here, and is, as always, very
animated. Also, though it's negotiable whether or not it
should be called a feature, is the fact that both the
widescreen and full screen versions are included for those
that would want to see the movie in full screen.
While this isn't going to become one of the new classics,
it's certainly worth a rental. The video and audio transfers
are good, and there are several fairly good features. Mild
recommendation.
 (3/5, NOT included in
final score)
 (4/5)
 (4.5/5)
 (2.5/5)
(3/5,
NOT an average)
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