" there's nothing new under the sun " is a phrase often used when the speaker actually means " let's find something to copy . " 
of course there are very few completely original ideas . 
even earth-shattering concepts are built upon the vast body of human experience . 
there is , after all , no need to re-invent the wheel time after time . 
recently it seems that hollywood doesn't feel the need to even re-write the script . 
my understanding of the word " sequel " is a continuation of the story . 
the film industry has defined the word to mean reshooting the original with minor changes . 
have an overwhelming desire to see an inferior version of brian depalma's adaptation of the steven king novel ? 
this is your dream come true . 
rachel ( emily bergl ) , a high school outcast , is beginning to notice weird things happening around her . 
doors slam shut by themselves . 
glass globes blow up . 
her mother has severe mental problems and her father is absent . 
a popular boy unexpectedly asks her out . 
the in-crowd conspires to embarrass her at a public event . 
any of this sound familiar ? 
once the audience catches on that this is the same story as " carrie " , there's little to do but wait for the inevitable ending . 
the effects are a bit better this time around , but the film doesn't work nearly as well . 
there are a couple of minor plot differences . 
rachel lives with foster parents because her mother is institutionalized . 
the boys at her school are portrayed as even more evil than in the original . 
they keep score of their scoring with points given for each conquest . 
and , uh , there must be other story changes but none stand out . 
one nice touch is the casting of amy irving again as sue snell . 
over 20 years ago she was the one girl who tried to help carrie . 
now a high school counselor , she befriends rachel , but her character's potential is squandered . 
there's too much about sue that doesn't make sense . 
after the slaughter when carrie kills most of her classmates , sue is driven mad and spends time in the institution that rachel's mother is in . 
still living in the same small town , the woman with a well-known history of mental problems is hired as a high school counselor ? 
sue tells rachel that her telekinesis is a genetic disease . 
this may be the one original idea in the film , but the reasoning behind describing psychic powers as a " disease " is never explained . 
sue's eventual fate is an admission by director katt shea and writer rafael moreu that they had an interesting character but couldn't figure out what to do with her . 
blink and you'll miss it . 
some of the events are filmed in black and white , but the rationale for this is unknown . 
it doesn't add anything and the choice of scenes appears somewhat random . 
 " the rage " retains some of the trappings of " carrie " without the meaning . 
in the first film the color red was a motif connected to carrie's onset of powers at the same time she began menstruating . 
here there's an abundance of red , but for no apparent purpose . 
the casting of high school jocks and cheerleaders as villains is beginning to wear thin . 
one might be lead to suspect that most filmmakers were unpopular in school and the history of teenage films is an extended cinematic revenge of the nerds . 
the biggest mistake the film makes is including clips of the original . 
seeing sissy spacek on the screen only points to the quality of that film - and the flaws in this one .