The Perfect Carrie Replacement For Those Who Didn’t Like The Reboot Released 4 Years Ago

Published Oct 17, 2026, 11:30 AM EDT

Zoë Miskelly is an editor and second in command for Screen Rant's Movies team, having covered the entertainment industry for almost 10 years now. Zoë's love of superheroes and all things Marvel & DC started out in childhood, and has blossomed into a career getting to talk about some of the biggest and best movies and shows of all time, having previously focused on comics while working at WhatCulture.

One 2022 movie is a perfect watch for those who found themselves not meshing with the new remake of Carrie, both in that it mirrors the plot of Carrie on many levels, and in that it works on some levels where the reboot does not. While The Shining and IT remain Stephen King's most well-known books - and remain the most well-known King books that have been adapted into movies - Carrie still holds a special spot in many horror fans' hearts, with its painfully relatable and yet unsettling titular protagonist wrenching the heartstrings and evoking terror in equal measure.

The powerful narrative potential of Carrie has seen the story adapted more than one, with our latest foray into the world of the tormented telekinetic teen coming from Mike Flanagan, who is a decidedly well-respected horror creator already, thanks to his work making releases like Gerald's Game, The Haunting of Hill House, and Midnight Mass.

With that said, though the Carrie TV show adaptation has garnered considerable interest and praise after its release on October 7, this has also come with some criticisms around this particular adaptation, especially regarding how it altered the character of Carrie herself, changing her from the book's description of an overweight girl with pimples. However, for those who found themselves not enjoying the reboot, one 2022 film may be the kind of story they're looking for.

Piggy Is A Very Similar Story To Carrie Without Rehashing The Same Ground

Much like Carrie, Piggy is about a teen girl who's picked on by her peers because they perceive her as being different. For Carrie, this is because of her extreme religious upbringing, and the way in which her abusive mother appears to have affected her more broadly speaking. For Piggy's Sara, this is to do with her weight, which makes her the target of bullies in much the same way Carrie is.

Both Carrie and Piggy revolve around these bullies doing truly awful things, and then facing repercussions that leave the titular protagonist in a questionable moral state.

With that said, though, Carrie ends with this moment - via her unleashing her powers after the famous prom incident in the book and film - whereas Piggy opens with it, as Sara is picked on by having her clothes stolen while she's swimming, only for the bullies who do so to be kidnapped, and for Sara to see she could potentially try and save them, only for her to decide to let them be taken without telling anyone instead.

What unfolds is an engaging tale that explores the ideas of bullying and morality in some decidedly unique ways, as Sara deals with the suspicion from others that she knows something, as well her own complicated feelings about the girls who harassed her, and whether she's willing to subject them to a death sentence at best because of the ways they mistreated her.

Piggy Works Especially Well For Those Who Didn't Mesh With The Carrie Reboot

It's no surprise that Piggy went from being a short film to getting a full feature-length adaptation, given how compelling and gut-wrenching the premise of its story is.

The more grounded nature of Piggy also helps it work on a level that should be pleasing to those who found the Carrie reboot didn't quite work for them. Piggy doesn't need to justify Sara's actions as much, since she's responsible for choosing not to help her bullies versus actively killing them and a range of at least semi-innocent bystanders, meaning the story is instead able to focus squarely on the tension around whether Sara's inaction will be uncovered, and what has happened to the girls she left at the hands of their kidnapper.

This leads to a story that gets just as dark as Carrie, but is able to more easily handle its moral complexity, and is more able to justify any more heroic moments from Sara herself in its story, particularly because it doesn't have to make major changes to its source material and risk dividing its audience in order to do so.