Carrie is not the sacred text you might think. Sure, Stephen King’s first published book is still a cornerstone of horror canon, and the Brian De Palma movie that followed soon afterward is an almost flawless psychological thriller that holds up remarkably well. But anyone wringing their hands because Mike Flanagan’s new TV adaptation ruined Carrie should probably do a bit more research.
There have been three Carrie movies released since De Palma’s 1976 adaptation, and two of those were poorly received remakes (a made-for-TV movie in 2002, and an ambitious retelling in 2013 starring Chloë Grace Moretz and Julianne Moore). The third Carrie movie not directed by Brian De Palma, however, is arguably the worst of the bunch. It’s also the most important to consider in the wake of Flanagan’s plans to continue the story with additional seasons that stretch beyond King’s original ending.
An unlikely sequel
The Rage: Carrie 2 wasn’t originally supposed to be a Carrie sequel. Hackers screenwriter Rafael Moreu envisioned an original film titled The Curse, but when that project stalled out, the story was reshaped into something Hollywood could sell more easily.
The 1999 thriller stars Emily Bergl as Rachel Lang (you might recognize her as Susie Myerson’s sister on The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel). When Rachel is a child, her mother Barbara (Succession‘s J. Smith-Cameron) has a mental breakdown and claims her daughter is possessed. Barbara is taken to a psychiatric institution, and because the dad is nowhere to be found, Rachel winds up living with a foster family.
Fast-forward to high school: Rachel is an outcast goth. Her adoptive parents treat her terribly, and her only friend is Lisa (Mena Suvari). Tragedy soon strikes when Lisa takes her own life and jumps off the roof of the school, triggering an investigation into a group of jocks at the school who have been competing to see who can sleep with and then dump the most girls. (This plotline, inspired by a real-life incident, makes Carrie 2 feel painfully relevant today in a way that the original story rarely does. Even Flanagan’s update, which explores bullying in the social media era, feels toothless compared to the events of The Rage.)
The incident also unleashes Rachel’s nascent telekinetic abilities, setting up an inevitable, violent climax just like the one in Carrie. This time, however, it all goes down at a high school party at some rich kid’s mansion instead of the prom.
Eventually, it’s revealed that — spoiler alert — Rachel and Carrie are half-sisters with the same father, suggesting that their shared powers were passed on genetically. (This clashes with Flanagan’s new series, but we’ll get to that shortly.) But aside from this big, mostly inconsequential reveal, The Rage doesn’t have much in common with Carrie.
The studio apparently did reach out to original Carrie actor, Sissy Spacek, about returning for a flashback cameo; she declined, but agreed to let them cut in footage of her from the De Palma film. The only repeat cast member is Amy Irving, who reprises her role as Sue Snell, the one high school student to survive the infamous prom incident. Sue now works as a guidance counselor and keeps a watchful eye on Rachel.
In an episode of the Blank Check podcast, Irving put it bluntly.
“I’m sorry I ever made that film,” she said. “Except they paid me a shitload of money.”
Biting podcast quotes aside, The Rage: Carrie 2 isn’t a particularly bad movie. It’s nothing special, but it’s a serviceable horror flick with some decent twists and an impressive ending. In fact, I’d go so far as to argue that it’s probably a better follow-up to Carrie than whatever Mike Flanagan has planned.
Carrie season 2… The Rage?
Spoilers ahead for the ending of Prime Video’s Carrie season 1.
Flanagan’s take on Carrie changes the source material in several key ways. Most notably, Carrie White isn’t the only person in his story with powers. Instead, there’s an entire network of women with similar abilities, who show up just in time to witness the events of the prom, cover up the evidence, and rescue Carrie from the authorities. Season 1 ends with a clear setup for a bigger story about various women with the “Shine,” as one of them puts it, and Flanagan has confirmed in interviews that he has a three-season arc planned.
Obviously, none of this happens in the original book or De Palma’s movie, mostly because King hadn’t yet begun to build out his sprawling, connected universe. However, it does seem like the kind of thing King might have done if he wrote his books in a different order. It’s not an absurd leap to make, although it undercuts the show’s more complex message about mob justice and social media-inflicted trauma by dangling some Easter eggs in front of the audience at the very last minute in a bid to secure a second season.
Whether Flanagan gets that season remains to be seen, but in the meantime, Carrie fans might want to check out The Rage: Carrie 2 for a unique take on where the story could head next. I doubt Flanagan is basing his plans on this forgotten ’90s sequel. Then again, maybe he should.
The Rage: Carrie 2 is streaming for free on Tubi, Pluto TV, and YouTube.