THE RAGE: CARRIE 2
Written by Rafael Moreu and directed by Robert Mandel and Katt Shea,
The Rage is basically the same story with different characters. In
1976, Carrie White (Sissy Spacek) was an outcast with a crazy mother, who
could move objects with her mind. Her classmates played a nasty trick on
her and then paid dearly for it. This film (which does not contain Spacek
except in flashback form) stars newcomer Emily Bergl as Rachel, a girl at
the same school with similar social problems and similar telekinetic abilities.
Her mother, a schizophrenic, has been hospitalized, and she has been adopted
by a foster family. A similar trick is played, with similar consequences.
Although the script is weak and much of the acting is bad enough to induce
nausea, Bergl is surprisingly engaging in the lead role. She has a nice,
easy reality about her, but she doesn't play the psycho thing full tilt
the way Spacek did. At the end of Carrie, when Spacek went into freak-out
override, her eyes bugged out, she assumed a powerful physical stance —
she was a woman possessed. Of course, the fact that she had just taken a
pig's-blood shower didn't hurt. When Bergl goes over the edge, she just
sort of walks around in a trance. But her smile and engaging personality,
earlier in the film, makes us look at her as much more a normal person than
mousy, introverted Carrie ever was.
Also appearing are Jason London as Jesse, Rachel's football player boyfriend;
Dylan Bruno and Zachery Ty Bryan as fellow football studs who can't understand
Jesse's attraction; and Rachel Blanchard and Charlotte Lopez as the cheerleader
types who vow to bring Rachel down. All these actors pale in comparison
to Bergl when it comes to depth; they were hired mainly for their looks
and their ability to be impaled on a steel spear and stay in character.
And that brings us to the carnage. This film is definitely bloodier than Carrie. In that film, it wasn't clear whether the people were badly hurt until the building burned with them in it. In this movie, there's no doubt: Those who are not burned alive are pierced, dismembered, and drowned right before our eyes. The final 20 minutes is pure mayhem, capped off by the film's one truly startling moment. And so it goes — another Bates High School graduation, cancelled. **