Why Carrie Still Can't Be Topped (And Why Everyone Keeps Trying Anyway)
Brian De Palma's Carrie (1976) is a brilliant, polarizing revenge tale with a supernatural twist. Depending on who you ask, Carrie White is either a villain or a girl who was failed by everyone with a duty to help her. The case for the defense is strong: she was abused by her classmates, by her Christian zealot mother, and by a school system whose idea of intervention was a shrug. Fifty years on, people are still arguing about whether the prom was an atrocity or a long-overdue performance review. What you can't argue with is her legacy. Hollywood has tried to resurrect her again and again: a 2002 TV movie, a 2013 remake, and The Rage: Carrie 2 in 1999, whose peer-pressure and pre-Me Too themes have been dissected more than the movie probably deserved. Now Amazon has dragged her back for an eight-episode limited series from showrunner Mike Flanagan. The Story, Now With More Wi-Fi Flanagan's version follows the familiar outline. Carrie is a misfit high schooler who has spen...