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If you haven't guessed it, I've become a bit of a horror fan over the last few years. And within that horror genre, I've often found certain franchises to keep coming back to ('Scream' is the biggest culprit). We can add Stephen King's "Carrie" to that list as well now!
So far I've reviewed the 1976 film starring Sissy Spacek and the 2013 reboot that starred Chloe Grace Moretz.
Now we can add 1976's one and only sequel to the mix with this review of "The Rage: Carrie 2."
For those who enjoy scary movies, you may have heard of it. But it wouldn't surprise me if you think I'm nuts for saying the hit movie from the 70s has one.
"The Rage" was released in 1999 and tries to expand on Carrie White's lore through a half sister -- Rachel Lang (Emily Bergl).
In 1986, a decade after Carrie White's massacre at the prom, little Rachel's mother is carted away after she's convinced herself that her daughter -- who seems to have telekinetic powers -- is possessed by the devil.
With her mom in a mental institution, Rachel spends the next 10 years with foster parents who don't care about her. Her only solace is best friend Lisa Parker (Mena Suvari).
Everything begins to shatter in Rachel's quiet life when Lisa commits suicide by jumping off the school's roof.
This leads Rachel into a dangerous situation that tests her mental fortitude and sees her lash out at those around her. The football team, except sweet Jesse (Jason London), and the rest of the popular kick are gunning for her and she's still trying to process her grief.
All the while, we see the return of Sue Snell (Amy Irving), whow now serves as a guidance counselor and begins to notice the terrifying similarities between Rachel and Carrie -- the girl she wanted desperately to help all those years ago.
It's Sue's investigation into Rachel and how she and Carrie are similar that leads her to the truth -- the pair's father is the same man, Ralph White.
Sadly, no matter what Sue tries to tell Rachel, she refuses to take the older woman's offered help.
That's the tragedy of this movie in my opinion. Sue once again, and this time with more knowledge, is still unable to stop the massacre that is coming.
And worse yet, and in the most boring way, she loses her life in the process. Personally, I think if you're going to bring back a legacy character to a franchise and then kill them, you should at least make that death impactful.
Overall, "The Rage" has a really intriguing concept but doesn't entirely stick the landing. I think it gets a little too lost in the weeds with classic high school issues. They're certainly an important part to the story and Rachel's undoing, but I think it could have been toned down a bit. In particular the focus on the football team and some of their scenes.
However, it definitely makes up for that in its final scenes. The gore was certainly upped this time around and Rachel's kills were extremely creative for their time. (Kind of horrifying to say something like that, but horror has definitely gotten creative since '99.)
It's hard to follow a classic like 1976's "Carrie." Although "The Rage" falls a bit short, it can still be an enjoyable movie.
I have to give credit to the director, Katt Shea. Due to conflicts, the movie's original director dropped out a few weeks into production and she had only a week to prepare for filming. Given that, "The Rage" is pretty solid.
So, if you want to fall down the rabbit hole that is King's well known horror novel, "The Rage" can be a good place to start. Don't have too high of hopes though, but enjoy it nonetheless.
"The Rage: Carrie 2" is rated R and may be watched on Paramount+, Showtime, Hulu, SlingTV, Amazon Prime, Vudu and fuboTV with subscriptions.
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Laura Jameson is Managing Editor of The Express.