Review: “Carrie” – A Tough But Great Watch

There is a whole genre of media that shows that high school is/was hell. Whether it’s Heathers, Mean Girls, or even as far back as The Lord of the Flies, it seems like factions and bullies are commonplace in high school.

You would think that this kind of stuff would end once you grow up, but our current political landscape clearly shows that cliques and bullies still rule society.

(The writer of this Carrie review was provided with advanced screeners for free. The opinions shared are the writer’s own.)

I’m sure it will be no shock to anyone who reads my writing that I was bullied throughout school. I can only imagine how awful it is now, what with social media and the increasing lack of privacy. An estimated 19% of high school students were bullied on school property during the 2021-2022 school year, and an estimated 16% of high school bullies were cyberbullied (StopBullying.gov).

I didn’t get into horror (and therefore Stephen King) until college. (Well, outside of seeing the TV movie IT in high school and reading the book shortly after. RIP Tim Curry.) But one of the things I appreciate about his writing is that, despite the ghouls and goblins and demons, he shows time and again that the real monsters are us.

I’ve also been a fan of Mike Flanagan’s limited series since the beginning. It did take me a bit to get into The Haunting of Hill House due to the liberties he took with the characters and plot, but I ended up enjoying it for what it is. Then, of course, there was The Haunting of Bly Manor, Midnight Mass, and The Fall of the House of Usher – all of which I highly enjoyed.

So when I heard he was going to tackle King’s Carrie next, I was curious. While I don’t think I’ve ever read the book, I have seen the movie with Sissy Spacek (although it has been a while). I feel Flanagan has had a hit-or-miss with his adaptations of King’s work: Doctor Sleep was meh for me, but I absolutely adored The Life of Chuck.

I managed to get screeners of the eight episodes and binged them over two days. Short version? If you liked his other limited series, you’ll like Carrie. It looks like he stays surprisingly faithful to the source material, all the while updating the ‘teen girl being bullied’ to current times.

The plot follows Carrie White (an outstanding Summer H. Howell), a teen who is found with her mother Margaret (Samantha Sloyan) by the police who go to the house regarding the death of their father (Tahmoh Penikett). Turns out Carrie had been not only homeschooled, but she had basically no contact with the outside world. Her parents were/are convinced the United States is in trouble and being fed lies by the deep state (sound familiar?) and wanted to keep her isolated.

However, social services require that Carrie go to school as part of the deal of letting Margaret keep her.

Over the first half of the series, we see Carrie be introduced to not only the school, but the state of the world today. She is confused when needing to go through a metal detector at school, she panics (rightfully) when there is a school shooter drill, and she doesn’t understand the concept of homeroom or study hall. And, as you can guess, she gets her period and thinks she’s dying, as her mother had not told her anything about that.

She is idealistically naive, thinking everyone is inevitably a good person and trying to make friends with the students around her. And while there are a couple of students who initially try to help, with her being awkward and younger (she was moved into a higher level), she becomes the target of bullies almost immediately.

Her main adversary is Chris Hargensen (Alison Thornton), who just mocks at first but then gradually becomes a major thorn. She starts an anonymous Instagram account to not only torment Carrie, but others in the school, which also includes the teachers and the staff. While we see Chris’s home life isn’t the greatest, to quote Brooklyn Nine Nine, “Cool motive: still murder.” In other words, we all have it rough – that’s still no excuse for being a jerk.

Of course, this is Stephen King, and so it can’t be just a tale of high school bullying. Turns out Carrie has telekinetic powers that are initially triggered by her anger. Over the series, she learns to control them.

The overall cast is amazing. As mentioned, Howell does a fantastic job as the lead: if she was even a bit off, the whole series wouldn’t work. It has a few of what I’ve been calling the ‘Flanagan regulars’ (Sloyan, as well as Rahul Kohli, Kate Siegel, and more). Additionally, apparently there was a Battlestar Galactica reunion at casting, because not only do we have Penikett, but Katee Sackhoff and Michael Trucco. And we have Matthew Lillard, an actor I’ve been a fan of since Scream, as Principal Grayle, who was also in Flanagan’s The Life of Chuck and has his own history with the horror genre.

The writing is tight: there is not a scene that doesn’t advance the plot somehow, and it is a good mix of comedy, drama, and outright fear. There was more than once that I was reminded of my own history of being bullied. It shows how everyone is somewhat complicit in the events – how easily it is to be swayed by a bully (and to be empowered by being a bully). It is a brutal exploration of how helpless the school is to be able to stop it, especially once it gets going, and how social media feeds into the fire. It is a sad reflection of the state of the world and how hard it is to fight.

I only had a couple of quibbles with the series, mostly with the ending and the plot arc of Kohli’s character, but they are very much quibbles. I can easily see why Flanagan went the way it did. Carrie is one of those pieces of media that is so entrenched in the zeitgeist that even if you’ve never read the book or seen the Spacek movie, you most likely know the main elements. Flanagan does a good balancing act between making sure these elements are included but still making them effective.

Overall, Carrie is captivating – making me want to continue episode to episode, despite me never wanting to relive my own high school horrors.

Flanagan hits another home run with Carrie, and I eagerly await what he does next.

Carrie will premiere October 7 on Amazon Prime.

For more information, you can visit the official website.

Author: Angie Fiedler Sutton

Angie Fiedler Sutton is a writer, podcaster, and all-round fangirl geek. She has been published in Den of Geek, Stage Directions, LA Weekly, The Mary Sue, and others. She also produces her own podcast, Contents May Vary, where she interviews geeky people about geeky things. You can see all her work (and social media channels) at angiefsutton.com.

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