Carrie Review: Mike Flanagan Proves This Horror Classic Still Has Something Terrifying and Original To Say
Mike Flanagan just remade Carrie into a TV series and, I gotta tell you, I did not expect to love it as much as I did. We all know the story: Carrie White is a sheltered, bullied girl living under her the roof of her religious and abusive mother. A disastrous prom night finds pigs blood poured all over her and her telekinetic powers causing a whole mess of destruction in Chamberlain. But this version of Stephen King’s classic dives much deeper into the story, updating it for our modern society in a way that really works.
Summer H. Howell brings an innocence to Carrie that makes her feel like a fish out of water. She’s a young girl who has spent her whole life within the walls of her home, isolated from the outside world. When her father passes, it becomes the catalyst for her to attend school for the very first time. She’s excited, hopeful, and has no idea what she’s getting into as she walks through the doors of Ewen P.H.S. for her first day. There are metal detectors at the entrance, school shooting drills, and a world prime for Margaret White’s new conspiracy theorist paranoia that fuels her religious panic.
While there’s still a prayer room for punishment, Samantha Sloyan’s Margaret becomes a keyboard warrior, feeding on her desire for control by starting an all-out war to support her daughter Carrie in the midst of an online bullying epidemic. There are fascinating new layers to explore in this complicated mother-daughter relationship as both love and fear each other while they face their desperation for control.
All the classic players appear, including Sue Snell (Siena Agudong) and her boyfriend Tommy (Joel Oulette) who are popular students grappling with being good people. The ensemble also features horror favorites like Matthew Lillard, newcomers to Flanagan’s world like Amber Midthunder, and familiar Flana-favorites like Rahul Kohli and Michael Trucco.
But one of the biggest stand outs is Chris Hargensen, played by Alison Thornton. She is so fueled by her own hate and insecurities that she takes it out on Carrie and the other students at the school through a gossip-focused Instagram account. It creates this vicious cycle of cruelty that perfectly captures the idea that hurt people hurt people. Even though Chris sets everything into motion, she has this privileged vendetta and will stop at nothing to hurt Carrie, no matter how far it goes. Bringing social media into the mix gives the story another dimension, showing how bullying can transcend school hallways and become a public spectacle.
This iteration of Carrie also explores the TK gene on a much deeper level, even hinting it might be something latent in Margaret too. We’re introduced to other people with powers and even a group looking to destroy them all. It opens the door to a larger mythology that expands beyond Carrie’s story and gives it legs to have the potential three season run that Flanagan has hinted at wanting to tackle. Kate Siegel also makes an intriguing cameo that made me wonder if it could be drawing inspiration from her character in The Haunting of Hill House.
Ultimately, this is not the Carrie we grew up with… and that’s okay. Mike Flanagan manages to take this classic horror stories to places we haven’t seen before, slowing building up its frantic energy until everything explodes into angry mobs, pigs blood, and prom-night fires. But there’s also a beautiful freedom in Carrie as she is given the chance to discover herself and stand up against the people hurting her. You can’t help but cheer her on as the story takes her in a new direction. Carrie is one of Flanagan’s best works since The Haunting of Hill House, proving even the most familiar stories can still have something both terrifying and original to say.
The first season of Carrie is streaming now on Prime Video.
