Review of Carrie action figure

Introduction

The new film Carrie is not a remake. This is a pet peeve of mine, and if I can't whine about my pet peeves on my own site, where can I?

A remake is a movie that is based on a previous movie. For example, if you're Peter Jackson and you make a King Kong movie, that's a remake. If you're Rob Zombie and you make a Halloween, that's a remake. The original source material is a movie, so when you do a movie again, you're remaking that original movie.

But if a movie is an adaptation of a novel in the first place, than future movies aren't remakes of that movie - they are new adaptations of the book. While this might seem a minor difference, it's not.

If a movie is the original source, you have two choices. You can do an exact copy, or you can alter the original movie. That rarely works, and usually just pisses off the fans of the original.

But when there's an original novel, you have a whole lot more to work with. Each screen writer that adapts the novel has choices, since the novel was probably 400 or so pages long, with multiple story lines and intersecting threads. What threads to focus on, what to include, and what the original author was really trying to say is up to the screenwriter, and each one can see it very differently.

That means a movie like Let Me In can be very different than Let The Right One In, and yet both be based on the same novel. And because of that, a new adaptation of a novel has a much better chance of being good than a simple remake of a movie.

Which is all a long winded way of saying that I've had much higher hopes for the new film Carrie than, say, the aforementioned Halloween. There's plenty of the good material for them to mine from the original novel, and they've got the right actors to do it justice.

Don't get me wrong - there's every chance it will suck like a Dyson. But at least it's got a fighting chance.

NECA has the license to do a couple figures - Carrie in her prom dress before the big dump, and after the big dump. While the non-bloody version is nice enough, it's not particularly iconic. Dripping with pig's blood, this version works no matter who the actress playing the lead.

Carrie has already been shipping, although the movie comes out this weekend. You can pick her up for around $16 or so, depending on the retailer.

Packaging - ***1/2
NECA has stuck with the clam shells for most of their releases, and I'm glad they have. While it does mean you'll need a knife to get it open, it also means there's only one twisty, and the interior card art looks terrific. I love the rising flames behind her, as well as the dripping blood.

Sculpting - ***1/2
Chloe Grace Moretz was on Good Morning America today, and I froze the screen to compare the portrait. And I'm happy to say, that considering the scale (remember, this figure is only 6.25 inches tall), this is a very good likeness.

The curve of the lips, the shape of the nose, even the shape of the face is quite accurate. Some aspects are a smidge exaggerated under the macro lens, but that allows her to look correct to the nekkid eye.

The hair is a bit trickier. It tends to block your view of the face, but that's because she's soaked in blood. That soaking also helps account for some of the thick clumpiness with the hair, but it's still throwing off her look a bit, at least for me.

The body sculpt is pretty standard, with the arms posed as if the blood has just dropped on her, and she's realizing what's happened. With the ball jointed neck, you can actually get several very good poses.

There's some nice details too, including the corsage on her wrist and the ribbon belt down the back of the dress.

She stands about 6 1/4 inches tall, and will fit in nicely with other 6 - 7" scale iconic horror figures. She also stands great on her own, in no small part because of the long dress holding her up.

Paint - ***
While there's some nice paint work on the skin, face and dress, you won't be able to see too much - she's dripping in blood, after all.

They had to go way overboard with the paint, because that's the only way to get the right look from the film. Some of the paint is thick, some thin, and some is pooling in sensible areas.

They used a couple different shades of red too, which was a good idea in theory, but tends to be too obvious in person. The more orange red really stands out from the darker application.

Still, considering how much blood they needed to express, I think the overall look worked pretty well.

Articulation - **
I was kind of surprised by the lack of articulation here, even with low expectations.

That's probably because in the package, it looks like she might have cut wrists, and I assumed the legs would move somewhat under the dress. Nope, there's no articulation there, or anywhere below the neck for that matter.

I did give them a couple stars though for the very well done ball jointed neck. Even with the long, slightly stiff hair, it can tilt, lean and turn quite nicely, adding a ton of real personality to the basic sculpted pose.

Accessories - Bupkis
Nope, nadda, zippo. While the regular version has her bouquet, this bloody mess gets nothing extra. A blood soaked bouquet to place at her feet would have been nice.

Fun Factor - **
This isn't exactly a toy to play with. With no accessories and no articulation, it's really the ultimate Nerd Hummel.

Value - *1/2
While some of the recent NECA figures have been a great value - check out any of their Predator series - this one not so much. She'll cost $16 or more, and with almost no articulation and no extras, that's a pretty steep price.

Things to Watch Out For -
Not a thing.

Overall - ***
I have no idea if the new film will be any good, but I picked up this figure because the bloody look with the white prom dress is such an iconic appearance that she can fit in nicely with my other horror figures in this scale.

The non-bloody version is pretty, but as a stand alone figure it isn't particularly interesting. If you do go with the clean version, you still need this one to show off the before and after look.

The reviews so far are mixed for the film, but I know I'll be seeing it. Perhaps at a matinee.

Score Recap (out of ****):
Packaging - ***1/2
Sculpting - ***1/2
Paint - ***
Articulation - **
Accessories - Bupkis
Fun Factor - **
Value - *1/2
Overall - ***

Where to Buy 
Online options include these site sponsors:

- Entertainment Earth has a two pack of the bloody and regular vesions for just $35.

- or you can search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
There aren't any other Carrie toys, but she's the righ scale to look great with other horror icons like Freddy, Jason, Leatherface, Michael Myers, or even Patrick Bateman.

You should also hit the Search Reviews page, in case any other applicable reviews were done after this one was published.

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