Rage: Carrie 2, The

     Definitely not a match for Brian De Palma's original Carrie (1976), the classic adaptation of the Stephen King novel, but not nearly as bad as it could be. Starring Emily Bergl as Rachel, the new angst-ridden, telekinetic teen. Amy Irving reprises her role as Sue Snell, one of the few surviving witnesses from the first film. Now she's the school guidance counselor and the only one who recognizes Rachel's strange power for what it is. As in the first film, the girl gets a trick played on her by the in-crowd and violence ensues. The problem is, Rachel doesn't seem to have Carrie's motivation for her climactic "rage" sequence. Carrie was a complete outcast, the shy, self-conscious girl everybody picked on, and the prisoner of a freakish, religious nutball of a mother. On the night of the prom, she seems to have finally achieved popularity and redemption, when suddenly all that is taken away from her. We believe her rampage, but it's not as easy to believe Rachel's. After all, Rachel's freakish, religious nutball of a mother isn't able to influence Rachel, locked up in an insane asylum as she has been, and although Rachel may not be one of the in-crowd, she's got friends, and she seems to be able to take care of herself. However, despite its problems, The Rage is far better than most of the other teen horror flicks out there. The acting is good and the script isn't completely ridiculous. Go see it if you're bored.

Jim Genzano