Carrie Season 1 Review: Adaptation of the Stephen King Classic Modernizes at the Expense of Thrills
Stephen King’s classic story Carrie is back and updated for a new generation on Prime Video. Led by showrunner Mike Flanagan, the adaptation makes it clear this isn’t your mother’s Carrie.
It’s still the story of Carrie White (Summer H. Howell), a sheltered young woman whose trouble fitting in at school and overbearing mother lead her to unlock telekinetic powers to disastrous effects. However, this Carrie goes to school in the modern age and has modern problems, amongst other changes.
The technological updates are forgivable. It makes sense that bully Chris Hargensen (Allison Thornton) would wield an anonymous Instagram account filled with rumors as her weapon of choice. Margaret White (Samantha Sloyan) is still religious, but her conspiracy theories and crusades using her own social media echo a more modern right-wing, making her less cartoonish yet somehow scarier.
Sue Snell’s (Siena Agudong) expanded role as the audience avatar and only “normal” character provides a grounded contrast to Howell’s performance of naiveté and boiling emotion. In fact, if you went into Carrie without any existing knowledge of the book or subsequent adaptations, you might think this is another YA high school drama, albeit with a slightly spooky supernatural twist.
Unfortunately, the list of changes doesn’t end there. The stretch of eight episodes that starts with Carrie attending school for the first time and ends with the much-anticipated massacre asks viewers to care about a lot more than just Carrie White.
There are the expanded roles of the teachers, including Rita Desjardin (Amber Midthunder) and principal Henry Grayle (Matthew Lilliard), whose storylines echo the headlines and heartaches of schools today. There are multiple attempts to evoke sympathy for bully Chris, because of her troubled home life, never mind the fact that she turns down every chance offered to her to redeem herself.
Most puzzlingly, there is the premiere’s introduction of the idea that not only are there others like Carrie, but that they might be watching her. To bridge this idea is the new creation of Emeline (Thalia Dudek), Carrie’s friend who has a secret of their own and doesn’t really provide any answers until the finale.
None of these ideas are bad on their own. There are just too many that take away from the central storyline of an isolated, lonely girl, and force her into a greater narrative.
The acting performances and “Flanalogues” that have become a trademark of his shows bring a gravitas to the material, but there are few scares. For horror fans hoping for some excitement, the show demands patience for its grand finale of destruction that doesn’t do the source material any better justice than previous adaptations.
The door is left open for more adventures in this world, but it would have been better to just tell a one-off story that actually lives up to its source material.
Prime Video has built a reputation for its YA and teen programming, so ironically this version of Carrie fits right in to the streamer’s catalogue. However, it won’t be distinguishing the streamer as a destination for horror fans.
What did you think of this season of Carrie? Share your thoughts in the comments below, and don’t forget to leave your own rating!
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Carrie Season 1 is streaming now on Prime Video.
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Breeze Riley
Breeze Riley is a pop culture enthusiast who decided to turn her love of watching too much TV into a hobby writing about it. Although she's a convention-going sci-fi and fantasy nerd, she's just as likely to be watching an off-beat comedy or period drama. She is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic.