Carrie First Reviews: A Fresh, Modern Take with Powerful Performances and Thoughtful Themes
Critics say Summer H. Howell delivers a heartbreaking performance as the titular outcast, and Mike Flanagan's expansion of the source material offers welcome nuance, if not outright terror.
Yet another adaptation of Stephen King’s Carrie is arriving this month, and the first reviews of the full series mostly say the idea was worth repeating. Mike Flanagan, who has made a few movies and series based on King’s work, returns to television with his latest, a reimagining of the 1974 horror novel of the same name. In this incarnation, Summer H. Howell plays the title character, a bullied high schooler who gets revenge on her classmates using telekinetic powers. Updates to the material are good and bad, but it’s still an apt, well-acted modern take.
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Here’s what critics are saying about Carrie:
Is it a worthy adaptation of the novel?
Flanagan has created a new take on Carrie White that, while imperfect, is highly addictive.
— Nate Richard, Collider
Carrie succeeds in almost every way.
— Eric Diaz, Nerdist
Flanagan has done something really special and exciting with Carrie that may not make it the best adaptation (it’s hard to beat De Palma), but something that is breathtakingly audacious in its own right.
— Alexander Zalben, Comic Book Club
Considering the magnitude of living up to this legacy, this is a win for Flanagan and King.
— Katie Doll, CBR
It probably wasn’t the adaptation of Carrie that I wanted… This Carrie is finally less distinctive and far less scary than it should be.
— Daniel Feinberg, The Hollywood Reporter
Carrie simply doesn’t lend itself to a TV approach. Carrie is one of King’s shortest novels, which means any TV series is going to have to stretch the narrative out considerably.
— Chris Evangelista, Slashfilm
Will die-hard Stephen King fans appreciate it?
Carrie has been expanded here with shadings that resemble Firestarter and Needful Things and several other King works, of which even mentioning the name would represent too much of a spoiler.
— Daniel Feinberg, The Hollywood Reporter
A more spoiler-filled subplot is filled with nods and references for avid Stephen King and Mike Flanagan fans, and is responsible for some of the most twisted, terrifying moments in the series.
— Jordan Williams, Screen Rant
If you’re expecting a faithful take on King’s story, you’ll be sorely disappointed.
— Maria Lattila, Film Stories
Does it justify its existence?
Mike Flanagan’s eight-episode TV series is bloody terrific, expertly directed and acted, and completely justifies its existence by recontextualizing the classic tale in a modern context.
— Alexander Zalben, Comic Book Club
Mike Flanagan’s timely Carrie TV series not only justifies its existence, but compellingly transforms King’s themes and characters into an even more realized, nuanced portrait of the complex intersection of fear, anger, and compassion in society.
— Jordan Williams, Screen Rant
Even if Carrie stumbles along the way, it at least makes a solid case for why today’s generation could use a drama like this one.
— Saloni Gajjar, AV Club
The new things that Amazon’s Carrie does well don’t make up for the old things that Carrie has always done well and that, unfortunately, aren’t present here.
— Daniel Feinberg, The Hollywood Reporter
Is it the right adaptation for our times?
Mike Flanagan’s Carrie is a topical, timely, and tragic series that takes the core elements of King’s classic novel and reimagines them for today.
— Cassondra Feltus, Black Girl Nerds
Flanagan isn’t remaking a classic, but rather giving Carrie a modern makeover befitting our digital age and proving the enduring themes of King’s book.
— Saloni Gajjar, AV Club
Carrie 2026 is as much an exploration of what it means to be an outcast in the modern-day world of Instagram as it is about a telekinetic girl who goes on a rampage at prom.
— Eric Diaz, Nerdist
Amazon’s Carrie is probably the adaptation of Carrie that 2026 and the current TV landscape deserve, a collection of big authorial choices that are at best admirable and at worst defensible.
— Daniel Feinberg, The Hollywood Reporter
Infusing Carrie with modern context could feel issue-driven – and it is; the show is definitely saying a lot about the constant spectre of death our high school students now live under – but it feels par for the “real” teens in the show.
— Alexander Zalben, Comic Book Club
It’s a plea instead of a roar, and the modern world, with all its problems, calls for screams.
— Ben Travers, IndieWire
What if we’re all too familiar with the iconic 1976 movie?
Flanagan is appropriately respectful of De Palma’s film, with nods ranging from outright visual homage to the names of several supporting characters to a fleeting glimpse at a movie theater marquee that made me snort aloud.
— Daniel Feinberg, The Hollywood Reporter
Wisely, the show acknowledges it right out of the gate and doesn’t pretend the audience is ignorant about what the big climax is… It uses our knowledge to make the journey to that destination surprising and full of mounting tension.
— Lauren Sarner, New York Post
This show is not what you think, and at least on this viewer’s end, my jaw dropped when the twists started falling, and every hair on my body stood on end.
— Alexander Zalben, Comic Book Club
Does it bring anything new to the story?
It honors the original, while tweaking enough details to make it fresh.
— Lauren Sarner, New York Post
Margaret White, a one-dimensional and unexplained fundamentalist nightmare on the page and in previous adaptations, becomes a fully explained fundamentalist nightmare here.
— Daniel Feinberg, The Hollywood Reporter
To fill out the space of eight 45-minute episodes, the writers invent subplots for supporting characters; Some of them add meaningful twists.
— Saloni Gajjar, AV Club
There are also big, unexpected swings here that I must confess left me slightly puzzled.
— Chris Evangelista, Slashfilm
Will it remind us of any other show?
Think of the series as Gossip Girl meets X-Men.
— Saloni Gajjar, AV Club
What Amazon’s Carrie resembles far more than Carrie is Netflix’s 13 Reasons Why — the good first season, not the two subsequent awful seasons.
— Daniel Feinberg, The Hollywood Reporter
How does it compare to Mike Flanagan’s other work?
It’s less of a slow-burn than his other works but still maintains his exploration of existentialist and spiritual themes.
— Nate Richard, Collider
Carrie‘s prom night is undoubtedly one of the greatest achievements in Flanagan’s career thus far.
— Jordan Williams, Screen Rant
For fans of Flanagan’s work, Carrie lands solidly in the middle. It may be underwhelming if you want the Gothic atmosphere and chills of Hill House and Midnight Mass, but it’s better than The Haunting of Bly Manor and The Midnight Club.
— Lauren Sarner, New York Post
While Carrie lands closer to The Midnight Club than Midnight Mass in its showrunner’s oeuvre, it makes the most of Flanagan’s mesmeric monologues.
— Ben Travers, IndieWire
Is it scary?
While there are bursts of horror in Carrie (as you’d expect), the series works best when it finds kinder, more emotional moments for Carrie to grab hold of.
— Chris Evangelista, Slashfilm
Carrie is technically a horror series, but there’s a lack of gore and violence featured throughout most of the series. That may sound like a flaw, but it’s a detail that only adds to the emotional experience.
— Aaron Pruner, CNET
This [show has] a version of Margaret White you might actually know in real life, which is mildly terrifying.
— Eric Diaz, Nerdist
I’ve always found Flanagan far better at building a mood of horror than delivering actual frights, and here even the reliable jump scares don’t have much effect.
— Daniel Feinberg, The Hollywood Reporter
How is Summer H. Howell’s portrayal of Carrie White?
Summer H. Howell is something of a revelation… [Her] performance so believable and total that she manages to make the character entirely her own.
— Chris Evangelista, Slashfilm
Howell is a revelation in the series, slowly turning from sheltered good girl into something more rounded, occasionally much angrier, but never a full-on monster.
— Alexander Zalben, Comic Book Club
She’s more than capable of shifting back and forth between Carrie’s withdrawn moments and the increasing confidence that might come from realizing you can lift objects with your mind.
— Daniel Feinberg, The Hollywood Reporter
Howell’s gentle approach to Carrie had me cheering her on, which made seeing her so quickly broken down even more heartbreaking.
— Megan Garside, GamesRadar+
Summer H. Howell’s performance as Carrie is utterly heartbreaking… She’s simply transcendent in the role.
— Aaron Pruner, CNET
Howell should get most of the (well-deserved) attention for her complete ownership of a role that Sissy Spacek has had on lock for half a century.
— Warren Cantrell, The Playlist
Summer H. Howell has undeniably cemented a place in the new generation of scream queens.
— Jordan Williams, Screen Rant
Does anyone else in the cast stand out?
Carrie’s biggest standout is Samantha Sloyan as Margaret White… [She] has a deep understanding of the character, which shows every time she is on-screen.
— Nate Richard, Collider
Sloyan stands out among a stacked cast, doing exquisite work, and carves out a sliver of sympathy for Margaret that has never existed in the other tellings.
— Warren Cantrell, The Playlist
Samantha Sloyan [comes] close to reaching her Midnight Mass levels of excellence here.
— Saloni Gajjar, AV Club
Samantha Sloyan’s take on Margaret White is an absolute surprise.
— Aaron Pruner, CNET
Lillard, Midthunder, and Agudong are particular standouts.
— Katie Doll, CBR
What are its biggest problems?
Flanagan expands the story maybe a little too much. He hints at other women through history with similar powers, an interesting but an underdeveloped idea.
— Maria Lattila, Film Stories
Only when series showrunner and occasional writer/director Mike Flanagan branches off from the core text does he get the show in some trouble, reaching for a connected universe that isn’t just unnecessary but downright distracting.
— Warren Cantrell, The Playlist
The conclusion isn’t entirely satisfying. Flanagan takes some dicey swings that end up feeling quite cheap.
— Katie Doll, CBR
[One] addition disappointingly takes away from Carrie’s agency in major moments.
— Saloni Gajjar, AV Club
Will it leave us wanting more seasons?
Although the first season of Carrie would have worked better as a limited series, I am still excited to see where Flanagan takes it next.
— Megan Garside, GamesRadar+
While there are ways to expand Carrie, the direction the Prime Video series seems to be heading in by the finale isn’t nearly as interesting or fresh.
— Nate Richard, Collider
Hints of other King works like The Institute and Firestarter… could help extend the series’ run to multiple seasons—a move that robs Carrie of its singular coming-of-age motifs to become something else entirely.
— Saloni Gajjar, AV Club
By hinging some of the most important moments of Carrie‘s finale on set-up for another season with an original story, the strength and effectiveness of this narrative’s ending are undermined, leaving the last moments with a weaker punch than other Flanagan shows.
— Jordan Williams, Screen Rant
These first eight episodes certainly hint at bigger things to come, but it leaves this season feeling a little half-baked.
— Maria Lattila, Film Stories
Should Flanagan keep on making Stephen King adaptations?
Mike Flanagan’s Carrie confirms no one is better at adapting Stephen King material than he is, even ones that have multiple versions out there already.
— Eric Diaz, Nerdist
By the final two episodes, Carrie becomes the strongest example of Mike Flanagan’s deep understanding of Stephen King’s work.
— Jordan Williams, Screen Rant
It also confirms, mostly for the better and sometimes for the worse, that Mike Flanagan and Stephen King remain a storyteller match made in heaven.
— Saloni Gajjar, AV Club
When it comes to Stephen King, Mike Flanagan can do whatever he wants.
— Alexander Zalben, Comic Book Club
Carrie premieres on Prime Video on October 7, 2026.
