Carrie
The best series since Mike Flanagan's "Midnight Mass", his new 8-episode take on Stephen King's CARRIE is a brilliant, fascinating, beautifully acted thrill ride of epic proportions.
The casting is flawless.
With the expansive canvas of an eight episode arc to tell King's tale, Flanagan not only brings new nuance to the characters, but he modernizes the story to today, bringing in the impact of social media and our 24/7 online world to the high school setting.
The effect is startling, giving the tale that you think you know ,a brand new take that's clearly inspired by the original, but packed with surprises that Flanagan piles on throughout.
As a huge fan of Flanagan's work like "Midnight Mass", "The Fall of the House of Usher"and "The Haunting of Hill House", it's great to see that he's brought back his usual fine stable of actors for major roles once again, while complimenting them with a jaw dropping cast of young newcomers to populate the student body.
First and foremost is the stellar Summer H. Howell as Carrie White. You can't take your eyes of of her Carrie. Flanagan provides new, deep context to the White household and the details of the recent tragic loss of her father. As police arrive to notify Carrie and her Mother of the tragedy, they discover a uniquely sheltered Carrie.
Set aside Emmy's for both Howell and the consistently brilliant Samantha Sloyan as Carrie's uber protective mother Margaret White. I didn't think it was possible for Sloyan to top her performance as "Midnight Mass"'s Bev Keane, but she's certainly equaled it here as Margaret. Coming into this new series with Piper Laurie's take on Margaret in DePalma's 1976 original burned in my mind, Sloyan did the impossible, creating a wholly different, modern take on the ultimate Mother Protector. You could never imagine Laurie's Margaret leaving the four walls of her sacred, crucifix ensconced home, but Sloyan's Margaret is a predator, a quickly adapting machine who will do anything to protect her daughter.
Carrie has never left her home, other than a few intrepid wanderings into a next door neighbor's back yard. The results of one of those explorations is a killer early moment that drops the first hints of the scale of Flanagan's vision for the series.
Entering her first day of high school, Howelll's Carrie exudes pure kindness and enthusiasm to learn, making her a prime target for the negativity and cruelty of today's world. The atmosphere of an average public high school is often discussed as a rite of passage, but I've never seen it portrayed with such a realistic, unflinching and unfiltered eye.
Carrie's classmate Sue Snell (the excellent Siena Agudong) is running with the mean girls, but has a soft spot for Carrie's innocence, one of the few sympathetic voices in her circle.
Alison Thornton is Emmy worthy as Chris Hargensen, a spoiled rich girl whose own world is falling apart. She finds the perfect victim for her rage in Carrie's goodness. Thornton creates a Chris with monstrous rage and evil in her soul, an empathy-free creature who's hate finds no boundary on social media. Michael Trucco and Heather Graham play Chris's divorcing parents, on opposite sides of everything. It's clear who Chris takes after.
Right behind Chris, and secretly fanning the flames of hate, is Tina (Josie Totah), desperate to be Chris's Number One at all human costs.
Joel Oulette is well cast as Tommy Ross, the football player with a big heart who's Sue's boyfriend.
The teachers at Carrie's new high school are a fascinating bunch thanks to Flanagan's writing and a superb stable of actors.
Matthew Lillard serves up his best performance to date as Principal Grayle, torn between the politics of his role and his loss of control over his students.
Amber Midthunder (Prey, Novocaine) is stellar as PE teacher Rita, a new young educator who does her best to protect Carrie from cruelty. If you think the shower scene in DePalma's original was brutal, imagine the same with a dozen girls filming on their phones while it happens. Rita teams up with fellow teacher Seth (Flanagan's reliable regular Rahul Kohli) and counselor Peter Morton (Tim Bagley) to support Carrie against the hoard.
Bagley is a true standout in the large cast as a caring counselor striving to connect to the student body, who has little time or respect for him. When he and Carrie meet in his office and talk about their favorite books, it was one of my favorite moments in any episode. As always, Flanagan writes moments of quiet power within a sprawling tale loaded with huge action and explosive violence.
We all know that the story is moving toward that Prom scene, but Flanagan drives you there carefully, teasing us with Carrie's powers and slowly releasing more and more information, plenty of it surprising to even those of us who have seen the DePalma adaption many times and read King's original, early novel.
No matter how well you know the story, there is plenty to see here. Purists be damned, I loved all the new layers and they all worked beautifully by the end of the story.
Flanagan ran the screenplay and story concepts past multiple actual groups of high school students to incorporate as much of their real world of bullying and challenges as possible. It's palpable.
The Prom takes place over episodes 7 and 8 and Flanagan's careful presentation of the main event is a testament to his craft. I found myself wanting him to unleash the entire sequence, not to tease me with snippets. He plays with your expectations, building anticipation to edge of your seat levels.
When that bucket of blood drops and he does unspool the aftermath, it's a triumph. This Carrie doesn't just burn down the gymnasium, she takes down the whole damn school and half the town around it. It's a horror tour de force, an editing, special effects and acting bonanza that blows the doors off.
I can't praise Howell enough. Without her focused, centered and real performance as Carrie White, this entire thing would fall apart in a flick of her hand. With Howell in control, the level of destruction and power and retribution is jaw dropping. Flanagan said he looked at 1800 actresses for the part. There is no doubt, and plenty of cinematic proof here, that he chose the right one in Howell.
50 years after DePalma's original, Mike Flanagan's CARRIE explodes onto the scene with fiery, blood dripping fury. It's a masterpiece of acting, direction and writing that will stand the test of time. Get ready to binge in one sitting.
It gets an A+.
Can we get Season 2 tomorrow please?
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