We’ve all seen the indelible image of a young Sissy Spacek doused in pig’s blood from the iconic 1976 film adaptation of Stephen King’s “Carrie.”
The author’s first book was famously rescued from a trash can by King’s wife and published in 1974. Far, far fewer people saw Chloë Grace Moretz doused in pig’s blood in the lackluster 2013 remake.
Film adaptations can be great (King’s “The Shawshank Redemption”), awful (King’s “Lawnmower Man”) or mediocre (King’s “Doctor Sleep”). But even sprawling multi-part films “The Lord of the Rings” or “Harry Potter,” suffer from the same limitation.
How much of a book can be included in a feature-length film while keeping audiences engaged?
Long-form television adaptations, however, have far more room to breathe.
See; Mike Flanagan’s “The Haunting of Hill House.” Or Flanagan’s “The Fall of the House of Usher…” or “The Haunting of Bly Manor” or “Midnight Mass.” Perhaps you’re sensing a pattern. These Netflix adaptations by Flanagan (“Midnight Mass” is an original story, but it fits the vibe) are uniformly excellent.
In fact, “Bly Manor” contains maybe my favorite episode of television of the last 20 years. (You’ll know it when you see it.)
Flanagan achieves the same here with “Carrie,” his new 8-episode series on Amazon Prime. It is excellent, rivaling Paramount’s “Lioness” as Best Current TV Show.
As this is a generally conservative website read by generally conservative readers, there are a few cultural red flags in play. The Mighty John Nolte might call them Left Wing Sucker Punches.
As a story about teenagers in general and teenage girls, specifically, there is lots of “empowering” swearing, graphic dialogue and gay hooking-up (mostly on the periphery). A main supporting character is played by a transgender performer, though it in no way affects the story.
It just… is. And that character is pretty great.
Every now and then some Wokeness creeps in, often when you would expect it. But, generally, the show is apolitical.
This update takes a few liberties with the 52-year-old original. Mainly, the inciting incident is a result of an Instagram meme account. But all the main beats are still there.
Only an obsessive scholar of King’s book will notice the tweaks to the plot. In other words, the good guys are still the good guys (Carrie, Tommy, DesJardins), the bad guys are still the bad guys (Christine and her posse of mean girls).
And the adults are (mostly) decent yet hapless.
Summer H. Howell, a relative unknown in a cast full of relative unknowns, is great in the title role, evolving from a shy and naive literal basement-dweller, to a powerful force of nature without losing the innocence that makes us root for her until we don’t.
Alison Thornton as Christine Hargensen is just as adept at making you hate her while also kind of pitying her.
Josie Totah, Siena Agudong and Joel Oulette round out our main gang of teens and are top-tier across the board.
And Flanagan stalwart Samantha Sloyan plays Carrie’s mother, Margaret, a one-note crazy Christian fundamentalist (the only kind King ever writes) in the previous films, with many layers, oscillating between inspiring and infuriating.
The ending is different from the book, which, given King’s history of not quite sticking the landing, may be a good thing. Or it may not. (The door is cracked for a possible Carrie Season 2.) But for right here and right now, Carrie 2026 is a most excellent way to burn off 8-ish hours over your weekend or at bedtime.
SIDE NOTES:
Attempting to continue and or/ resurrect “The Exorcist” franchise has, so far, proven difficult, if not impossible. “The Exorcist II: Heretic” is something of a punch line. Exorcist III is absolutely amazing and contains three of the greatest jump scares in film history but left no cultural impact.
And 2023’s “Exorcist: Believer” was a critical and financial dud.
But Flanagan’s upcoming “The Exorcist: Martyrs” looks like it has some juice. I’m not sure I trust anyone to equal the 1973 film, but if anyone can, it’s Flanagan. March 2027.
Flanagan is an avowed “Battlestar Galactica” superfan. To wit, Katee Sackhoff (Starbuck) appears in the last few “Carrie” episodes and much of the BSG cast have brief cameos.