Carrie (2013) Review

CARRIE (2013)

Director: Kimberly Peirce                  Genre: Horror/Thriller

Brief Plot Outline: a misfit teenager take revenge on the classmates who have bullied her by unleashing her newfound supernatural powers, creating havoc at prom.

When watching this movie two scene impressed me the most whilst watching this movie were; when Carrie realises her ‘demonic’ powers and rebels against her mother before leaving for prom by locking her mother in a cupboard using telekinesis. I particularly enjoyed it because of the use of special fx which were done well and cinematography because of the use of close-ups and over the shoulder shots. As shown below:

Another scene which I was impressed with was when Carrie is actually at prom and begins to destroy everything just by using her mind, it impressed me because Chloe Moretz performs very well and acts convincingly, I also think that the body horror used within this scene was impressive as when they tip the blood over her whilst she’s on stage its looks very real and shocked me.

Even though this film is different to horror films which we have been analysing in class I could still tick a majority of features on the horror genre checklist, such as; body horror, collision cutting of quiet and happy to loud and crazy, both featured in the prom scene, a final girl which is Carrie herself, female victim- one of the girls who gets killed at prom and quick montage during the manic prom scene.

Some of the aspects from ‘Carrie’ (2013) that I would like to include in my own trailer are, expressionist angles as they make a scene a lot more interesting and can represent power, I would also like to include close-ups and I think they are a very good way to convey emotion. I would also like to include a creepy location, similar to Carrie’s house because it is a good scare technique.

However some aspects of the film that I would avoid including within my trailer would be slow pacing as I think during this film it was slow right up until the ending when the horror began to happen. So when I make my own trailer I want it to be filled with excitement all the way through to keep the audience interested.

Personally I didn’t enjoy this film as much as I thought  would as I think it was over-rated, but for me the best aspect was seeing Carrie develop as a character and seeing her transitioning from a female victim who gets revenge on her bullies and turns into a psycho killer which in a way made me sympathise with her. I also think it would be interesting to recreate an antagonist what the audience feels sorry for in my own trailer perhaps. 

Jilted: Directors Featurette

Evaluation Part 4

Jilted Evaluation Screening

Good Points

Use of camera shots x11
Parrallel music x8
The jump scare at the end x6
Acting x12
Amount of close ups x3
Repeated drinking shots x4
The strangling scene x2
The bathroom scene when Mia dissapears
Inter titles x10
Build of tension and suspense
Idea of 'tarrot lady' - she is intriguing
Love the dialogue x3
Editing was smooth
Pacing x4
Love the plot!
Intertitles were very clear and explained the narrative well


Bad Points

"I know what you did" was too quiet x4
Leave longer before the jump scare at the end to build more suspense
Could add sound to the jump scare
Not a fan of the intertitles - too slow
Slow pacing x2
Mix of location x3


Marks: 8,9,8,9,7,6,9,9,9,8,7,8,9,9,8,7,6,9

Average total mark: 9

Evaluation Part 3

Evaluation: Part 1

Jilted: Final Cut (ENSFC Horror Trailer)

Favourite Image Analysis

Health and Safety

Jilted (Rough Cut) - ENSFC Horror Trailer

Focus Group Screening

Good Points:

- Nice montage of shots when Sam drinks the whiskey x6

- Very clear narrative x10 - the way we merge our shots together resulted in a clear 

understanding of the plot for the audience

- Creepy music while the inter titles were presented x5 - we were told our music choice

 matched the general 'weird' atmosphere for our trailer

- Good acting x6

- Varied use of cinematography x4 - good angles

- Fair use of close ups to fit the general horror convention of camera shots x5

- Pace x3 - audience memebers said they liked the 'fight/arugment scene' as it added tension    

- Good estabilishing shots - audience memebers felt we introduced each character fairly

- Mise-en-scene x4 - the tarot cards worked well

- Duration of shots x6 - we were told the length of some of our shots created a nice sense 

of suspence.

Improvements:

- Spelling mistakes x8 - many people picked up on our accidental 

spelling mistake in one of our inter titles

- Duration of inter titles x2 - this was tricky as one class mate suggested that we sped up

 the duration, and another said the opposite.

- Music in general needed more pace

- Audio levels on certain parts were fairly muffled x2

- Jump scare needed

- More interesting font for our inter titles x3

- Duration of some of the shots x2 - some people suggested that we needed 

to speed up some of the shots to create an element of panic

Marks out of 10 by 18 viewers;

8, 7, 8, 7, 7, 7, 6, 7, 6, 6, 7, 7, 8, 8, 6, 8, 7, 7

Evaluation 2

Shooting Schedule

Original/Untouched Photos for Poster

Original/Untouched Photos for Magazine

6 Panel Practice Storyboard

My Film Poster for 'Jilted'

My Film Magazine - FILMNOW

Moodboard

Notes:

1.    Psycho: Alfred Hitchcock is the master of suspense and as we want to create a psychological              horror trailer, Psycho is a good source for clever horror techniques such as collision cutting and          montage.

2.        Ed Gein : Ed Gein was a notorious serial killer during the 50s/60s and the male character in our          horror trailer is loosely based around him taking very small aspects into his personality and                  placing them within our plot, male because of the horror towards women.

3.        The Uninvited: Is psychological horror which we have gained inspiration from and the poster              itself has an element of voyeurism.

4.        Fortune Teller: We would like to include a fortune teller in our trailer to add to the psychological        aspect which also adds an element of mystery.

5.    Abusive relationship:One of the key themes we're going to feature within our trailer is abuse

6.   Japanese Film Poster: We decided to include this image on our moodboard as we liked the effect of the girl crying blood and would perhaps consider using this type of image from our film poster.

7.  Poltergeist:  is a type of ghost or other supernatural being supposedly responsible for physical disturbances such as loud noises and objects moved around or destroyed. We plan on including a poltergeist in our trailer.   

8.  Writing on a Steamy Mirror: we want to include this technique in our trailer.

9.  Tarot Cards: These go with the inclusion of a Fortune Teller in our trailer as they help tell the future or past.  

10. Love Cards: Our trailer is planned to include a love game.

11. Jilted:  This is the name of our film and perhaps one of the fonts we may use for a film poster. 

12. Insidious: Another psychological horror that we have got inspiration from as it includes a poltergeist.               

13. Alcohol: With an abusive relationship comes guilt and people often turn to alcohol to deal with this, as will be seen in our horror trailer.

14. Death: One of  themes in our trailer is death, leading to a poltergeist character.                                    

Prop List

 • Crystal ball 
 • Tarot cards
 • Spade
 • Table & chair 
 • Jack Daniels bottle 
 • Glass/tumbler
 • Mobile phone

Synopsis for Trailer

The narrative of our trailer begins with a boyfriend going to visit his girlfriend. He is fiercely jealous of her, and suspicious that she may have been cheating with another man… even though she hasn’t.  He confronts her demanding an explanation and she asks that they break up from each other. This makes the boyfriend fly into a rage and she begins to strangle her. Ask she whispers: “I haven’t cheated on you…  I haven’t cheated on you…” he strangles her until she collapses to the ground. She falls to the ground, near death, and whispers “I love you… I still love you.” Shocked by his moment of rage, the boyfriend leans over and shakes her. She’s now dead. He kisses her on the forehead, tears running down his face. “I’m sorry… I’m so sorry…” He panics and rushes to the garden. Looking around frantically, he sees a shovel resting against the shed. He begins to dig the hole that he will bury her in…

He sobs by the graveside, but manages to get away with the crime. However, he haunted by the memory of his girlfriend. He suffers nightmares during the following weeks, waking with the memory of her imprinted in his mind. To try to find some solace, he visits a tarot card reader. The first card she turns over is “death” and he shudders, feeling that he may have been discovered. The next card she turns over is “justice,” suggesting that his crime will soon be discovered. The last card she turns over is “the fool” and she looks him intently in the eyes.

He goes home and starts to drink. He gingerly takes the first shot, but continues to drink with increasing speed. By the twelfth shot he staggers around and falls onto the bed, and suddenly his girlfriend is lying next to him.  She whispers “I still love you.” He blinks his eyes and she disappears. He blacks out.

In the morning, the man goes to the shower. We hear the sound of the shower and the bathroom window starts to steam up. In the mirror, the words “I used to love you” are animated into it.  She places her hands on his face as though to go and kiss him, but slowly digs her nails into his face, drawing downwards leaving bloody scratches. He looks at her, shocked, crying. The ghost of the girlfriend disappears as he turns around frantically looking for her. Suddenly she appears again right in front of his face, “But I hate you now.” She screams.

Hysterically, he runs around the house, entering every room. However with every room he enters she’s standing there in front of him. Finally when leaving a room he sees her at the end of the hall and stops. They share eye contact as she slowly moves towards him. Then, with her point of view shot we see her hands shoot for his neck.

Choice of Trailer Type

Our intention is to make a highlights trailer called ‘Jilted’. We prefer the look of a highlights trailer because we feel they are more captivating and exciting. We also feel that our particular narrative is much too complicated for a scene trailer as showing one scene from our film idea may leave our audience feeling lost and confused, where as a in a highlights trailer we can reveal enough of the plot without out giving too much away leaving the audience feeling intrigued and wanting to see more.  We liked the construction of both ‘Pusher Trilogy’ and ‘Evil Dead’ as highlights trailers as we felt the pacing of the trailer kept the audience absorbed within the world of the trailer more than ‘Cloverfield’ (2009) did as a scene trailer. We found the ‘Cloverfield’ (2009) trailer fairly boring due to the fact that we’re only introduced to a few characters in a shambolic way and the only moment of interest is when the severed Statue of Liberty head falls down the street. Also, the pacing wasn’t as exciting as both the other highlight trailers that followed the horror trailer conventions perfectly. Both of our favourite trailers started with a slow pacing to establish the narrative before creating fast montage of thrilling shots to create a sense of panic and exhilaration.

Shot Lists

History of Horror Presentation

Horror Poster Analysis 3

Horror Poster Analysis 2

Horror Poster Analysis 1

Horror Magazine Analysis 3

Horror Magazine Analysis 2

Horror Magazine Analysis 1