Even when you’ve by no means seen the 1976 Brian De Palma basic Carrie, the central picture: telekinetic teen Carrie White, lined with pig’s blood on the senior promenade. The scene comes straight from the 1974 Stephen King novel, and has rightly earned its place in horror historical past. Nonetheless, like lots of King’s ideas, it’s rooted in teen tradition from many years in the past, even feeling a bit outdated by the point the film arrived within the mid-Nineteen Seventies.
Whereas teen tradition might change, bullying is everlasting. So whereas Mike Flanagan‘s upcoming miniseries adaptation of Carrie for Prime Video will definitely share some parts of the King novel and the De Palma film, its depiction of bullying will really feel recent. In keeping with Matthew Lillard, who performs highschool principal Henry Grayle within the collection, Flanagan “went again, pulled out different parts from the e book, then took real-life examples of what’s occurring with bullying in America and utilized them to this new adaptation.” Lillard advised Collider that Flanagan’s “actually ripping issues from the headlines and making use of them to modern-day so that folks can relate to what Carrie’s going by means of.”
Extra than simply guaranteeing verisimilitude, Flanagan’s updates can improve the story’s central themes. Carrie follows the final days of excessive schooler Carrie White—performed by Sissy Spacek in 1976 and by Summer time H. Howell within the miniseries—a sheltered teen who manifests telekenetic powers. Initially portrayed by a thundering Piper Laurie, and now by Flanagan common Samantha Sloyan, Carrie’s spiritual fundamentalist mom Margaret abuses her daughter, making her afraid of herself and making her a goal of highschool bullies.
As such, Carrie performs as a twist on the basic trope that common people are the true monsters. Carrie is a candy and weak woman who’s mistreated by her classmates and, within the novel, by townspeople. Even after her powers manifest, Carrie doesn’t initially embrace them to lord over others. Solely after a prank leaves her lined in pig’s blood on the promenade does Carrie crack and go on a rampage, killing buddy and tormentor alike.
