Flannagan’s Carrie

A new thread for a new Flannagan series? Carrie was out yesterday, and its excellent, so let’s talk about it.

First episode is way more intense than I expected from a Flanagan joint. His Netflix shows always felt cozy and low tension.

pilot was pretty good, idk about this tho...

midnight mass is top tier tho so ill give this a shot all the way through probably

Stuff about bullying in the age of social media always makes me super anxious, it’s a very different battleground than my youth.

The changes to Carrie's mother are interesting; less old school evangelical and more MAHA conspiracy theorist.

More of a circle than a Venn diagram.

Indeed - but an evolution, I guess. The mom who wants to exclude her daughter to the one that finds a battleground in her child's school.

Forbidding books vs banning books, perhaps.

I think all of the performances are great, especially Carrie and her mother.

What changes do folks think work and don't work?

It seems to be a similar move to what he did with the Shining to Doctor Sleep.

We watched three episodes last night and another three tonight. I'm riveted. Please don't spoil the ending!

Just don't open this thread until you've watched the whole thing!

I really don't know about the subplot with Emaline and the "others", would have been stronger for Carrie to do what she did at the end of her own accord rather than being taken over

The young actors are so good. I especially love the expansion of Chris' character, how you could see that she had been deeply broken by the family she grew up in but also that it didn't excuse anything she did. A good portrayal of someone whose destructive tendencies simply cannot be tamed, even if it came at their own expense.

I thought Midnight Mass was derivative dross, but i'm intrigued by this

One episode to go and I still don't know what to think. Overall I like it and there are some really fantastic performances but there are also some absolutely maddening choices with the writing.

Tossing my thoughts in spoiler tags for now:
Tim Bagley is so great and I'm so mad he had to take the fall for the riot when Matthew Lillard's character is such a terrible, ineffectual administrator. A "show of hands" from a select group of parents and students, really? Not a school board decision? That said I <3 Lillard to death and I'm so glad he's being cast.
Episode 7 was driving me nuts with every single character saying "if the prom even happens" every other scene.
Like Roz, I really don't get the "Others" sub-plot and it weakens the whole concept of Carrie imo. But I guess we'll see if the last episode pays off.
I do not buy at all Carrie's mom transition to a viral MAHA-ish star, she just had zero charisma to catch on like that.

has Mike Flanagan ever made anything original? whenever I hear about him it's because he's adapting or remaking Stephen King books/movies. or other popular horror franchises. zzzz. why should I care about him?

This is the first time I've watched anything he's done just because I'm a sucker for Stephen King stuff.

xp He's done original horror films (I hear Oculus is good though I've not seen it) and original limited series (Midnight Mass, which I and many others consider a masterpiece)

But also, it should be stressed that (at least in his Netflix limited series) he is not interested in making a straightforward, by-the-numbers adaptation. He plays with the source material in ways that are disorienting but ultimately satisfying. A person who watches Flannagan's Haunting of Hill House might recognize certain character names, lines of dialogue, specific details or descriptive passages that are borrowed from Shirley Jackson's novel; but they would know almost nothing about the story, which bears little resemblance to the original. The Fall of the House of Usher uses elements of individual Poe stories (some more faithfully than others) as building blocks to tell an overarching story that is Poe-ian, but original and unexpected.

He is also, quite simply, very good at making serialized TV. Individual episodes are digressive, but in service of the larger narrative. His pilot episodes give us enough plot for us to be entertained, enough character development for us to care, enough backstory for us to start asking questions. And when the answers, the twists, the missing pieces of the backstory get doled out later in the series, it doesn't feel like information was artificially withheld to stretch a two-hour story into ten; it feels like our payoff for being invested, and for going on this journey.

Sorry that was long and rambling, but I am a total fanboy for Haunting of Hill House and Midnight Mass, and unless something goes very very wrong in the last two episodes, Carrie will soon be added to that list.

I liked Midnight Mass and House of Usher a lot; never finished Hill House; Doctor Sleep had moments. I am wary of this version of Carrie because of some of the thematic changes he's apparently made, but might check it out.

Two episodes in, I hope they flesh out mom a bit. Why does the fundamentalist who hasn’t turned on a computer in her life sound exactly like the most podcast-poisoned tactical essential oils MLM entrepreneur on Facebook?

she does her own research

lol

I think that gets explained as it's her husband that seems red pilled and obsessed with all that stuff and constantly tells her all about it xp

Have just finished it and thought it was excellent although agree with some of jon's criticisms and it does seem like they maybe shoehorned in all the 'others' stuff to set up what would be a very different second season

And loved all the extra BSG cameos in episode 7

All the kid actors were amazing but especially Howell

This was great. The prom+aftermath was gripping stuff. My one complaint is how they handled Margaret White's death. I don't mind her having these inchoate powers that flare up and save her life when the house is collapsing, nor do I mind the one-off childhood telekinetic experience feeding her intense religious faith; but it felt like they had written themselves into a corner by the time they decided to do the former, and they really really wanted to find a place to include the latter, which lead to the interview sequence that just felt completely flat. Overall her character arc was great, and she deserved better than to get iced by some Mysterious Others turning up out of nowhere in episode 8 and going "When shall we three meet again? In Carrie season 2, mwahaha!"

This was pretty great.

All the actors in this seemed perfectly cast and did excellent work. I don’t think I’ve seen Lillard in anything for years outside of Twin Peaks: The Return. Was really good in that small role and I was impressed with what he did here. Imagine we’ll see more of him after this, deservedly.

Howell of course steals the show.

Not particularly familiar with Flanagan’s work outside of Dr. Sleep, which a very much disliked. But compelled to check out his other stuff after this.

I always like Flan's casting and building out his own troupe. He often gets very human, naturalistic performances out of folks (or chooses actors given to that kind of presence - which Lillard completely nails). To some that reads as poor acting but in this, Midnight Mass, and Hill House, it helps ground things for me and dials down the melodrama. I found the editing a bit slipshod at times, like there were other scenes for Carrie and crew that were not included and very much agree with bernard snowy's comment about Margaret White. A bit too teen drama for me at times in the way Flan stretches the source material but like, what do you expect, it's Mike Flanagan's Carrie ya bozo.

it's been out a week now - that's long enough to go without spoiler tags right?

xposts to jon

tbf mom wasn't really a viral MAHA star, she was a parental rights activist who gained local attention for talking about an account that had clearly caused a lot of trouble in the town. it's exactly the kind of thing that would resonate regardless of her personal charisma (or lack thereof).

but i agree with the rest of your takes regarding the writing - it's mostly a good show but some of the plot choices are head-scratching.

A bit too teen drama for me at times in the way Flan stretches the source material

yeah I was kinda scared about the show using Carrie to explore modern anxieties like social media bullying, mass shootings, and far-right extremism, cause it's easy to get a bit after school special with it but overall, I think the show handled all of that pretty well. The only thing that got me a bit hmmm was the pedo teacher subplot - which was fine I guess but seemed unnecessary

Lillard has been good in a lot of things, I liked him in Bosch too

lmao sorry that was supposed to be a quote text, not spoiler tag!

Yep, was thinking of his Bosch role

The whole thing felt kinda x-men, I thought

This wasn't bad per se, but it felt less like a modern adaptation of Carrie than a very different show using the structures of Carrie with mixed results

a lot of handwaving around how the stern disciplinarian helicopter mom might be bad but she has some good points. Carrie being genuinely social awkward and weird gets short shrift in favor of the mom carrying almost all of that burden, plot-wise

Carrie reminded me a lot of Kayla from the movie Eighth Grade. More naive than truly awkward. I like that she always saw the best in people, even people who had hurt her, which contrasted with her self-righteous grudge-nursing mother.

Even when we get to the prom, I thought blowing up all the phones was a pretty understandable reaction. I want to believe that a version of her story exists where that's as far as it goes and nobody dies that night (except maybe Chris, and definitely Billy.)

Binged the first few episodes of this yesterday and it's very very good. This seems like a good place for Flanagan to work in.

I'm going to have to accept that TV horror is never going to be horror qua horror. It's always going to be mixed-in with something or presented in a postmodern way that allows the creators to draw-out the tension and, frankly, make the scary bits less scary than they would be in a 90 minute movie.

But as a high school drama with horror elements? This delivers in spades. Summer H. Howell (who I can't believe is 22 IRL) is amazing in her titular role, as is the actor who plays her mum. The girl clique and the various other students are extremely well depicted.

And yes, there were one or two moments of genuine scariness here - and surprise, surprise, they all come from real life situations rather than supernature. As others have said, depictions of school bullying are enough to trigger some pretty strong anxiety in me. And the shooter drill scene genuinely raised my hackles (I had no idea this was a thing these days, but my partner who is a UK teacher, says they do them here too!)

Didn't realise Flanagan made Doctor Sleep. A camp classic for me!

I just started watching this over the weekend. Made it up through episode 3 so far and really enjoying it.

as is the actor who plays her mum.

Samantha Sloyan was great in a recurring role on the first season of The Pitt.

the only character who isn't ringing true is the pretty boy drug dealer guy - i don't know if it's sort of the point but he is waaaaaaaaayyyyyy too clean-cut and shiny

Sloyan is a Flanagan stalwart and has been in nearly all of his projects since first appearing in Hush

Super strong performances from the main actors. Loved the easter eggs. "Shop Smart/Shop S-Mart."

On episode 6 or 7 now and it's really hit a stride. A balanced indictment of paranoid America, neolibertarianism, social media, and the culture wars

We finished it tonight.

Random thoughts:

- season 2 will be Matilda joins the X-Men. Or remember that show Heroes?
- I felt for most of the series that Emmalyne was totally surplus to requirements as a conduit for Carrie's psyche and emotions. I could have done without her.

I have watched much of this despite myself (bf loves Flanagan, had just finished bingeing Midnight Mass), and while I don't mind it I could REALLY do with them winding their necks in with the music cues. They are TOO LOUD and TOO FREQUENT and TOO SAMEY and have TOO ONTHENOSE LYRICS. I don't mind the actual music itself, not that I recognise any of it, but it is jarringly disruptive. And I usually love soundtracks and think they're important but yeessh.

Its like NOW I AM SINGING ABOUT BEING A BITCH YES MY BEST FRIEND IS EVIL AND I THINK I MIGHT KILL HER LA LA LA LAAAAA in that Sharon van Etten/Yellowjackets way.

before I dive into this, what's the average monologue level per ep?

you mean voiceover monologue? zero. no in terms of execution it's excellent

by that i mean "it does what it sets out to do perfectly". whether you like what it's doing, that's a matter of taste

this is actually his least monologue-y show

most of the episodes open with a voiceover monologue but they're recounting a specific event and don't go on forrrreeeever (this was my one peeve with Midnight Mass)

oh yeah, i forgot about those. but they feel right in context

I have watched much of this despite myself (bf loves Flanagan, had just finished bingeing Midnight Mass), and while I don't mind it I could REALLY do with them winding their necks in with the music cues. They are TOO LOUD and TOO FREQUENT and TOO SAMEY and have TOO ONTHENOSE LYRICS. I don't mind the actual music itself, not that I recognise any of it, but it is jarringly disruptive. And I usually love soundtracks and think they're important but yeessh.

― Stoop Crone (Trayce), Wednesday, October 21, 2026 2:18 AM (five hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Its like NOW I AM SINGING ABOUT BEING A BITCH YES MY BEST FRIEND IS EVIL AND I THINK I MIGHT KILL HER LA LA LA LAAAAA in that Sharon van Etten/Yellowjackets way.

― Stoop Crone (Trayce), Wednesday, October 21, 2026 2:19 AM (five hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Yeah, based on the three episodes I watched, I totally agree wtih you about the music cues being on the nose, with lyrics being excessively pertinent to the scene. They were certainly overselling it a little bit.

It helps though, that they are songs I don't know. Much less annoying than, for example, Alien:Earth episodes ending with Metallica and QOTSA and Smashing Pumpkins songs. I've reached the point where I would rather never hear a beloved song again than to hear it hamfistedly jammed into a movie just to show how cool the music supervisor thinks they are.

Trayce otm also

season 2 will be Matilda joins the X-Men. Or remember that show Heroes?

Totally gobsmacked at how little of this thread is eyerolling at this. I guess you don’t follow Flanagan this far into his career without some immunity to extreme cringe writing/storytelling decisions but cmon this is a rotten idea terribly executed. Def calls to mind dr sleep (derogatory), also the institute but the real touchstone here is “that bit of stranger things that even the ppl who hoover up that garbage think sucked shit”

i'm glad kate seigel finally showed up in this

wins, I agree there's not much Carrie qua Carrie in here. It's a teen drama-horror with power fantasies and social commentary woven through

(I seem to recall you liked Doctor Sleep, in a campy way?)

The show flashed big red flags for me as soon as Emmalyne showed up, and especially later with that short scene in the Hogwarts X-Mansion. I didn't need a wise-ass grungey girl telling us how Carrie is feeling.

And the way the plot goes into "There are dozens, if not hundreds, of people out there with super-powers" is disappointing, and so far gone from the whole concept and horror of Carrie that it makes it into another much less interesting and more derivative thing

Although I haven't finished the series yet, I've seen at least one scene in "the Hogwarts X-Mansion". My assumption is that this is The Shop from Firestarter, Tommyknockers, etc. and could presage a "Shopiverse"?

Really need to get through the series before I come back to this thread again though.

Xp I think I was prob just saying I thought it sucked in an ironypilled way lol

But yeah you have to know the guy’s steez going in — I said after watching the truly irredeemable life of chuck that king/flan are starting to rival depp/burton in the way they reinforce each others worst qualities more and more. This isn’t anywhere near that bad but man did I groan at that first cutaway to the psychic mansion (which I think happens in like the 1st ep? That fart noise is the rapid deflation of the horror story you’re supposed to be telling)

Every second the “I’m an AP” girl is onscreen is dreadful, I feel bad for the actor cause it prob isn’t her fault. Acting otherwise p good & echoing others it’s always good to see lillard these days

I had to go find what I said about sleepy doc and yeah where I say “it rules” that’s just me being a shithead

I described it as one of the spookiest Charmed season finales OF ALL TIME

Seems like Flanagan is the guy if you want a polished realisation of a wholly misbegotten project for sure, this is probably the pinnacle of that. You could remove an hour of this film and it would just be serviceable glossy Netflix garbage (or just... a slightly above par Stephen King adaptation, the book is goofy King and Flanagan massively increases the schmaltz as is his wont) but the entire enterprise is so perverse it’s hilarious

Like it’s one thing that (MILD SPOILERS) it’s this YA adventure with a psychic child doing battle with a Disney villain called “Rose the hat” whose catchphrase is “hi there” and who says shit like “curses! The brat’s powers are stronger than I feared!”but then at the same time it’s going out of its way to constantly remind you that this film — in which everything is explained and there is no trace of the uncanny — is a sequel to STANLEY KUBRICK’S THE SHINING. It’s fuckin wild. This isn’t a spoiler really since it’s present right from the beginning, but they have actors made up to look like characters/apparitions from the original film, but with performances & writing much closer to the 90s miniseries, and I’m sitting there like “it rules that someone thought this was a good idea”

― YouGov to see it (wins), Tuesday, 12 November 2019 14:33 (six years ago) bookmarkflaglink

And much much more to the point

I’ve seen ppl giving MF credit for his attempt to “reconcile” Kubrick’s vision with King’s, ymmv on whether this kind of puppyish eagerness to please all the people all the time makes for good horror but it certainly doesn’t seem like a trait that either of the SKs share

― YouGov to see it (wins), Tuesday, 12 November 2019 14:36 (six years ago) bookmarkflaglink

Finished this now and the expected part of the end was done well, all the beats hit nicely, but this coda with The Others I was unsure about. IOW wins is OTM that they better not make a S2 with that lot.

Who am I kidding I will prob watch it anyway.

The thing about Flanagan is I wonder if he really really likes horror that much, or if he just kind of likes Buffy and stuff?

Oh they are totally making an S2 and it will have as much to do with Stephen King as Scrooge McDuck has to do with Charles Dickens

his filmography is, with one exception, entirely horror or horror-adjacent

I'm pretty sure he likes horror

Feels very much like S1 was setting up S2 being in a Flanagan SKU and probably Dark Tower related with hints of Breakers and various other Crimson King links

Yeah this and the new adaptation of the mist he’s apparently doing could end up being what you’d call “phase one” of something like that. Very bad stuff

Finished this last night. I think Flanagan wanted to take an King story that had a good ending, actually and bring it in line with the others. Sad thing was, despite a few nits to pick along the way, I was really engaged and entertained by the whole thing until episode 8.

The back-and-forth between the action and the interviews killed any momentum. The fire in the dance was such cheap CGI - there was just no way I could believe they were in a gym on fire. Emaline taking over Carrie was unnecessary and unsatisfying. Up to that point I had been fine with Emaline being Carrie's astral projecting friend - saw that coming a mile away.

And yeah, having read up on other internet speculation about the show, apparently there are additional shadowy organizations other than The Shop in some Stephen King books that I haven't read.

it's very much phase 1 of what he's planning for the Dark Tower series, there are multiple references to the Dark Tower in the Carrie adaptation. Whether he retroactively ties Doctor Sleep in or not unsure. DT hasn't been greenlit as a series yet but he is apparently done writing the first season.

(I'm not done reading the Dark Tower but I already know how it ends and I don't think I'm spoiling anything by saying this kind of stuff is completely in line with how that epic ends)

Yeah, I only read Dark Tower up through the third book.

I read the one with the sentient monorail and the gap before the next one came out coincided with my falling out of love with King. I meant to go back and read them until I heard about the ending.

"the sentient monorail"

This is the first thing that's ever made me want to read beyond the first book, which it where I stopped.

I still call tuna fish “tooter fish.”