A TV remake of "Carrie" arrived with a straightforward question at its centre: why revisit Brian De Palma's 1976 horror film, itself adapted from Stephen King's debut novel about a telekinetic teenager? Creator Mike Flanagan posed that question to himself when approached for the project.
The Guardian's review argues the timing answers it convincingly. The original story centres on teenage bullying, alienation and the vengeful violence such isolation can trigger. That premise, the review contends, has become far more relevant in the modern era. "We've got the internet now," the review states. "We've taken teenage bullying, alienation and the fuelling of vengeful violence to levels that De Palma and King, with all their vaunted capacity for darkness, could never have imagined."
The new series takes the familiar material in fresh directions. The review describes it as "witty" and "smart," with violence amplified beyond the original film. Even the infamous shower scene, a cornerstone of the 1976 version, becomes "more excruciating than the original," according to the assessment.
The review frames the remake not as an unnecessary revisit to a classic but as a story whose core themes have intensified with technological and social change. Contemporary teenage culture, the piece suggests, has made "Carrie" feel more urgent rather than dated.
The series streams on Prime Video.