Mike Flanagan’s Carrie Makes Its West Coast Premiere at Beyond Fest—and Diana Prince Sees a Fresh Way Into the Story
By Seth Metoyer | MoreHorror.com Reporting, and photos by Diana Prince
Stephen King’s Carrie has left enough blood on the screen to make another adaptation feel like a dangerous proposition. We know the girl, the mother, the cruelty waiting at school and the night when everything finally breaks. At Saturday’s Beyond Fest screening, More Horror correspondent Diana Prince went in with that history on her mind. She came out wanting to see where Mike Flanagan takes the story next.
Beyond Fest at American Cinematheque presented the West Coast premiere of the first two episodes on September 26 at the MUBI Theatre at the Aero. Flanagan and Samantha Sloyan, who plays Margaret White, joined the audience for a Q&A afterward. Summer H. Howell stars as Carrie White in the eight episode Prime Video series.
“I wasn’t sure we needed another Carrie adaptation tbh, but Mike Flanagan truly found a fresh way to do it,” Diana Prince
“Carrie and her mom feel different than we’ve ever seen before, and putting them in this modern world of social media and school violence adds a whole new layer. Plus, it has Matthew Lillard, and I’ll literally watch him in ANYTHING. I will definitely be checking out the rest of the series.”
Her reaction gets at the challenge facing any new Carrie: the story has to reach beyond its most famous images. Flanagan’s version places Carrie in a world where humiliation can travel through a school and across a screen before she has a chance to catch her breath. Beyond Fest describes a viral bullying scandal at the center of the series, giving the familiar cruelty surrounding Carrie a contemporary reach.
Diana’s response also points toward the relationship that anchors the story. Carrie and Margaret White have always made for an unsettling pair, and these first two episodes left her feeling that both characters had changed in ways worth following. Her verdict remains a reaction to the premiere chapters; the rest of the series still lies ahead.
One part of this new approach has me especially curious. Flanagan described his Carrie in an interview with Teen Vogue:
“open, earnest, curious and kind, and wanting to be part of the world.”
That makes the bullying feel more vicious. She walks into school hoping to find a place in it, and the cruelty hits someone who still expects people to let her in. I’m looking forward to seeing how that side of Carrie develops across the rest of the series.
About Carrie: Mike Flanagan brings Stephen King’s novel into the social media age with a new eight episode series starring Summer H. Howell as Carrie White, Samantha Sloyan as her mother Margaret, and Matthew Lillard as Principal Grayle.
All eight episodes arrive on Prime Video October 7, 2026. Watch the official trailer below.
