The Rage: Carrie 2
 (1999)
review by Suspiriorum

Coming 23 years after the original, The Rage ranks alongside the likes of Blood Feast 2 & Psycho 2 as one of the longest delayed sequels in horror. Sadly, whilst the wait for those sequels gave rise to reasonably inventive & worthwhile films, the same cannot really be said of Carrie 2, which is basically just an excuse for a poor post-Scream remake of Carrie, complete with attractive young cast, rock soundtrack, & more teen angst than you can poke with a fish. After my first cinematic viewing of the film, I came to the conclusion that it was a boring & detestable piece of trash with neither the reason nor the right to exist. However, a second viewing on DVD made me realise that it isn’t really all that bad, merely wearyingly unnecessary.

The Rage falls foul of the most basic rule of sequel making, that of not simply remaking the first film but not nearly as well. It can’t seem to really decide if it wants to be a sequel or a full-blown remake, & might actually have benefited had it not had the connection to the original Carrie. The basic narrative is essentially identical to that of Carrie, albeit with superficial changes made. The trouble is, every change weakens the material, & it can’t shake the memory of the original hanging over it, reminding us how much better the first film was. As some examples, Rachel, this films’ protagonist, & Carries half-sister (same father), has a mother who spends the majority of the film in a mental institute leaving a noticeable hole, & when she does reappear for some religious dialogue, it all seems hopelessly irrelevant compared to the original’s fearsome Piper Laurie; the climactic party is simply a random one after a football match, losing the huge force of the original’s Prom setting; we don’t know what the inevitable humiliation will be before it occurs (& it’s not even a particularly good one, particularly bearing in mind the shocking extremism of the original’s), thus dramatically reducing the tension & there’s nothing like the awesome tragic power of Carries final moments of glory; the boy falls for Rachel immediately, which doesn’t carry anything like the subtle impact of Tommy’s slow realisation of Carrie’s nature; I could go on.

The Rage is unusual for a horror film in that it is both written & directed by women. However, the contribution of neither is without its problems. Rafael Moreu’s script, aside from the obvious & numerous problems already highlighted, has some very weak dialogue, & often simply doesn’t ring true, & many times, particularly in the references to Romeo & Juliet it over-reaches itself. The climax even has to track in the line "They’re all going to laugh at you", since there’s nothing here to compete with it, & it seems intrusive & superficial since it has no real purpose in Rachel’s story, which is what this film should be. Director Katt Shea (Poison Ivy), who was brought in two weeks into shooting to replace Robert Mandel (F/X), deserves some credit for actually managing to make the film at least vaguely watchable in difficult circumstances. However, too many of her stylistic flourishes – black & white to represent the telekinesis, video footage, the white flashes & pulses of sound that presage every one of the far too many & intrusive flashbacks – quickly become wearisome & intrusive. The film frequently feels like a TV movie along the lines of Omen IV, rather than a decent cinematic experience, & it’s hard to shake the feeling that this film merely exists as an exploitation of a chance to make money, rather than for any genuine need for a sequel.

However, I must begrudgingly admit that there are redeeming features to this film. It is fitfully watchable for most of the running time, even if, like the original, there’s little horror until the climax. There are times when it comes close to capturing the feel of youthfulness where things that are perhaps not all that huge can seem like the end of the world. It’s biggest plus is actually the cast, which is very strong, including Mena Suvari, Rachel Blanchard, & Amy Irving, who it’s great to see back on screen, even if her role runs the risk of diminishing her fine turn in the original by association. The best turn comes from newcomer Emily Bergl as Rachel, who makes for a strong & sympathetic lead. I hope that this film has not killed her career prematurely, since she clearly has more acting talent than many of her peers.

But these things are merely flashes of what the film could have been, a distraction from what it is, as it lumbers slowly from modern teen comedy & teen angst to an almost half decent climax that’s really too little too late for horror lovers. This is really one only for the teen crowd who don’t normally like horror films, & the extremely undemanding. It is, sadly, as unnecessary as any Carrie should would inevitable be, & deeply mediocre at best. I like to try to pretend that Carrie doesn’t have a sequel. I find it’s better that way.

MGM’s R2/PAL DVD, on the other hand, is really rather good. The 16x9, 1.85:1 picture quality is extremely good, I couldn’t see any problems at all. Nice job. The audio too is extremely good, outshining the R1 with a fine array of Dolby 5.1 tracks in English, Spanish, Italian, German & French. Sadly no DTS, but the Dolby is most impressive anyway.

For extras, there’s a pretty good commentary by director Shea, who has plenty to say about the film, & seems very proud of what she was able to do with it. Plus, she introduces & provides optional commentary on some deleted scenes. Plus, there’s a before & after effects showcase for the unused snake finale, & the usual trailer & bios. Kudos to MGM for putting the effort in.