With four-time Oscar nominee Julianne Moore playing the deeply religious mother of Chloë Grace Moretz (Kick-Ass), this was never going to be a mum vs daughter, school prom horror made on the cheap.

Especially as the story about a teenager with a telekinetic ability to move objects with her mind needs decent visual effects, including a tipping point shot from four different angles en route to two big showdowns.

But, as a 40th anniversary celebration of the publication of Stephen King’s debut novel, is there any justification for remaking Brian De Palma’s 1976 movie of the same name – especially when this genre has been so heavily mined ever since?

Not really, because this cyber-age version didn’t raise a single hair on the back of my neck.

The original taglines included ‘If you’ve got a taste for terror... take Carrie to the party’.


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Now, after a lame 1999 sequel called The Rage, and a made-for-TV remake in 2002, it’s the oblique: ‘You will know her name’. Not much better, eh?

Both Moretz (a decade younger than Sissy Spacek in the original) and Moore will have felt in safe hands with director Kimberly Pierce, who guided Boys Don’t Cry star Hilary Swank to her first Oscar in 2000.

And at least the stars’ class overcomes the inevitable clichés.

In the wake of recent slave stories, it’s strangely discomforting to watch Margaret locking daughter Carrie in a closet.

As her mother hovers above the floor, Carrie says: “I’m not a witch, momma. There are no witches. There are people out there like me who can do what I can do.”

You’ll probably have to be a horror virgin under the age of 20 to appreciated that dark thought – which is totally ruined in any case during the last few ridiculous seconds.