NFL
A good Stephen King adaptation gets people talking. The horror author’s work has been adapted for decades. Even with his first published novel, Carrie, in 1974, the author has seen many adaptations before this Prime Video release. With so many iterations, is the Carrie series worth revisiting?
A Modern Telling
One downside of adapting a classic written 52 years ago is figuring out how to make a story like Carrie relatable to a younger audience. Our opinions and morals have changed. With advances in technology, you still have to engage the audience’s suspension of disbelief. It’s not only a supernatural work of fiction. Adding more modern elements often makes the story feel watered down or less effective.
Yet, that’s where this 2026 version excels. It captures the book’s essence. The modernization, including social media in the bullying of the title character, also feels natural. Since online harassment and bullying persist today, it wasn’t hard to bring that element into the story.
Real Fear
One interesting thing about this story is how much it leans into emotional fears before even knocking on the door of horror toward the end. Each character has fears throughout the story that contribute to the town’s downfall. Take Carrie’s mom, Margaret (Samatha Sloyan), whose fear was not only losing her daughter, but also how she would be treated at school for being different. Summer H. Howell played Carrie, who feared how her classmates perceived her and struggled to fit in. Chrissy Hargensen played Alison Thornton, who feared losing everything. She pushed her to torment Carrie.
The show has so many layers that audiences can relate to them based on their own experiences. When characters connect with an audience, their stories feel more believable, and viewers invest just a little bit more.
A Few Minor Changes
As a horror junkie who read the book not too long ago, I loved this adaptation. It still felt like you were following along with the book. Yet, somehow, some things left me a bit disappointed. A few made me wish they had done more. Toward the end of the story, the narrative switched in the show compared to the book, unless, of course, I misread it. The whole event that led to Carrie’s destruction seemed like a plan by the whole school to embarrass her, whereas the show made it seem like they’d accepted her, while Chris and Billy acted as Rogue agents. It didn’t take away much from the story, since directors are allowed a few creative freedoms.
No, what I was kinda disappointed about was the ending. Not the ending of the show or the direction they took, but the prom scene altogether. This was really the story’s horror element, which seemed to play such a small role in the overall narrative. Starting the show with Chamberlain’s destruction and leading to the finale made it feel like we were going to get a more destructive ending that fit the book so well. In my opinion, that should’ve been a bigger part of the finale, while it set up less of the story to come. Again, it might be a nitpick, but that idea is what made it a horror property in the first place.
If you’re a horror fan looking for the usual Halloween scares, this might not scratch that itch. If you’re coming for an adaptation that stays true to the book, you’ll be very satisfied. The liberties the show takes with the book aren’t enough to diminish it, but that’s subjective. That said, by the end of the show, I wanted more of the characters and a continuation of the story, so it accomplished what it meant to.
