In the video introduction for the Fantastic Fest screening of Carrie, series creator Mike Flanagan said that he’s been asked many times: “Why Carrie now?” And the miniseries makes that case many times over, incorporating everything from school shootings to an assistant manager with a nose ring into Flanagan’s latest adaptation of his favorite author’s work. These blend with the basic premise of the story more seamlessly than you might think.
But there’s another question that needs to be answered: Why Carrie on TV? Although it’s based on a novel — and restores some details that were excised from previous movie versions of the story — the demands of stretching out Carrie over eight hours of television drive Flanagan’s biggest changes to the story.
