Prime Video’s ‘Carrie’ Is a Superb Reimagining of the Classic Horror Tale: TV Review

Based on Stephen King’s debut novel and adapted for TV by horror connoisseur Mike Flanagan, Prime Video’s “Carrie” is a captivating reimagining of the oft-told story. Set in the present, the show pays homage to King’s writing and Brian De Palma’s acclaimed 1976 film, which made Sissy Spacek a star. This series follows Carrie White (a stellar Summer H. Howell), who has spent her entire existence under the stifling rule of her doomsday prepper father, Ralph (Tahmoh Penikett), and hyper-religious mother, Margaret (Samantha Sloyan). Carrie’s world cracks open after her father’s death, and she is jolted from the confines of her quaint home for the first time to attend high school. Though she is stunningly uninformed about the most basic things, Carrie is eager, open and curious. But she quickly learns that society delights in destroying purity and innocence. Flanagan’s “Carrie” puts its own stamp on King’s narrative while examining the peculiarities of the social media age.

The audience meets Carrie, meek and childlike, on her first day of school. Though Sue Snell (Siena Agudong), a senior, is mostly kind to the petite sophomore, Christine Hargensen (Alison Thornton), Sue’s best friend, shows such disdain toward Carrie that it’s clear this won’t be a good experience for the younger girl. By the end of her second day, she has been thoroughly terrorized by an active shooter drill and her own menstrual cycle, both of come as a surprise. Though Carrie tries to embrace school, her anguish continues at the hands of Christine, who begins building a gossip Instagram account, “Carrie Red,” where she disparages Carrie and many others on campus — students, teachers and administration alike. Increasingly antagonized by the “Carrie Red” account and her mother’s religiosity, which is vile but comes from a more loving place than Piper Laurie’s terrifying cruelty, Carrie lashes out in unimaginable ways. It all comes to a head at the prom, where she finds herself covered in a bucket of pig’s blood.

In the wake of De Palma’s film, subsequent adaptations of “Carrie” have paled in comparison. However, this series captures the components that made the original so timeless, while allowing the titular character to transcend her small town and connect with other young women with special abilities across the globe. Over the course of the eight-episode first season, the show also paints a portrait of contemporary America inundated with technology, religious zealotry and brutality.

Harrowing and fearless, this “Carrie” builds on the essential elements of King’s story while connecting it to his broader universe. In a country built on violence, it’s no wonder barbarity seeps into our most impressionable populations. Despite all she endures, this Carrie isn’t simply a victim of her circumstances; her knowledge and desire to explore her talents allow her to escape the same fate that befell Spacek’s character. Instead, Flanagan allows her to use her pain to become bulletproof.

This version of “Carrie” returns the agency to the young women at the center of the story. Carrie is fighting to achieve the life she desperately desires. Sue must decide whether she can stomach losing her closest friend to stand up for what’s right. Finally, Christine teeters between her own humanity and the vicious heartlessness she wears like a cloak of armor. “Carrie” reminds audiences that strength and ability don’t always look the way one might expect, and that power comes at a high cost, no matter who wields it.

All eight episodes of “Carrie” premiere on Oct. 7 on Prime Video.