Mike Flanagan Brings ‘Carrie’ Into the Modern Age With Disturbing Trailer

I was bullied quite a bit growing up. It mostly leveled off in high school, so it didn’t happen as much, but people would find ways, and they could be pretty nasty. I particularly remember rehearsing for Oklahoma, and a cast member named Grant, who claimed to be my friend, gave me a big pat on the back, telling me that he thought I was doing a good job, and I took it as such. I would find out later that he had just been using that hand to get to third base with someone, wiped the results on my back, and told everyone.

Pretty awful, right?! But I can at least be a little relieved, because if that had happened even five years later, there’s a decent chance I would have found out not because someone felt guilty and told me, but because someone posted an explanation video on YouTube or Instagram and tagged me in it. The world has found new ways to be horrendous, and those elements appear to be front and center in Mike Flanagan’s adaptation of Carrie, especially in the new trailer that just dropped.

Stephen King has explained that his inspiration for Carrie was seeing how mean high school girls can be, and Flanagan is certainly tapping into that, but here, when Carrie gets her period and is scared and alone, she isn’t just laughed at by her peers. Instead, someone films it and gives it its own Instagram account. It’s truly horrifying, and made even worse by the fact that the trailer slow-plays what happens to poor Carrie. It feels like a dream come true at first, and then devolves into a nightmare.

There’s a lot to be excited for here, as odd as that sounds, as the trailer does feel genuinely unsettling, and I’m sure Flanagan will pack it with emotional gut punches. Matthew Lillard, who plays the principal, was in way more than I expected. And Samantha Sloyan, who plays Carrie’s mom, was not in it much at all, but that could be because it’s very likely that she’s going to steal the whole show. It feels like a part that she was made for, and I can’t wait to be upset with her character.

The miniseries drops in early October, just in time for spooky season, and I will be seated, excited, and hopeful that it doesn’t awaken any high school memories I may have justifiably tucked away.