Director Kimberly Peirce (Boys Don’t Cry) has a difficult act to follow in her new adaptation of Stephen King’s best-selling 1974 novel, and while screenwriter Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa updates the Lawrence D Cohen’s screenplay from the 1978 film to include mobile phones, the internet and YouTube, it can’t quite step out of the shadow left by Brian De Palma’s acclaimed retelling. As Carrie struggles through her torment at home and school, she gradually becomes more aware of the nature of her newfound powers, while her enemies, led by ruthless bully Chris (Portia Doubleday) draw their plans against her. Commendably, Peirce doesn’t rush her new version of King’s measured story. Allowing it to unfold like the steady drama it is, she gives the characters room to breathe and establish themselves. Judy  Greer’s excellent as the well-meaning gym teacher Miss Desjardin, Julianne Moore is appropriately wild-eyed and batty as Margaret, and  Ansel Elgort is perfectly charming as Carrie’s prom date, Tommy. The real problem with this new version of Carrie is that it holds a surprising amount of reverence for Brian De Palma’s version – with entire scenes and some shots playing out almost identically to the 1978 film – even as Aguirre-Sacasa’s script sanitises it. Spoiled school bully Chris and her boyfriend Billy (Alex Russell) were certainly sadistic in De Palma’s film, but they were also quite entertaining to watch. John Travolta’s version of Billy implied that his cruelty sprang from his slack-jawed stupidity; here, Billy’s simply a sociopath, and less interesting as a result. De Palma went for the pulp aspects of the book with a killer instinct, allowing his audience to revel in the inevitable pay-off and enjoy the film as both a heightened teen drama and popcorn-flinging horror flick at the same time. Peirce seems less willing to let her viewers off the hook, lacing her scenes of telekinetic destruction with a sense of explosive triumph but also tragic unease. There’s less of a sense of catharsis to this incarnation of Carrie, and more a sense of gloomy inevitability. Although well acted and competently shot, Carrie feels like a predator with its claws removed. It’s still interesting to watch, but now lacks the ability to make an indelible mark on the memory. Carrie is out on the 29th November in the UK. Follow our Twitter feed for faster news and bad jokes right here. And be our Facebook chum here.