Stephen King is one of the most prolific working authors today and so many of his books contain subject matter that’s perfect for adaptations. King’s novels have such a voice that they were being turned into movies only a few years after he was first published, with Carrie being the first of the lot.
Many of Stephen King’s books and short stories have received adaptations and the tactic is even seeing a bit of a Renaissance at the moment. Stephen King adaptations have turned out to be so popular in some cases that several of his works have received multiple adaptations, with Carrie being the most adapted at this point.
Salem’s Lot had three adaptations: a 1979 TV mini-series, a sequel in 1987, and another TV version in 2004. However, Carrie gains an even larger lead if you take into consideration other projects like the various Broadway and off-Broadway productions, or even the Riverdale episode that brings the maligned musical to life). The painful coming of age story of a shy girl who’s plagued with telekinetic abilities and some vindictive bullies has resonated across generations. There are four major adaptations of Stephen King’s Carrie, and here’s how they all rank.
4. Carrie (2002)
There were initially high hopes for the official Carrie sequel, The Rage, but when it turned out to be a lost opportunity there was still interest to do more with this premise in a modern context. A few years later in 2002, Hannibal mastermind Bryan Fuller would script a made-for-television movie version of King’s classic. Fuller’s take on King’s material was technically more accurate, but it also largely repeated much of what De Palma’s film did, albeit to lesser effect. This experiment was also supposed to function as a backdoor pilot that could usher in a TV series, so Carrie also remains alive at the end, which obviously robs it of its lasting impact.
3. The Rage: Carrie 2 (1999)
Horror sequels are nothing new and while they can sometimes pay off, they are also occasions to shamelessly milk a property dry. Nobody was asking for a sequel to Carrie, especially with the bulk of the cast dead at the end of the film, but the ‘90s were a crazy time. The Rage: Carrie 2 is a lazy follow-up to King’s source material that followed more than two decades after the original movie. Carrie 2 operates with the most tangential of connections to the original film (Sue Snell’s back and the film’s protagonist turns out to be a half-sister to Carrie). In spite of its name, for all intents and purposes, The Rage repeats the beats of its predecessor, right down to ending on a jump scare, albeit in a more modern setting.
2. Carrie (2013)
The most recent version of Carrie to crop up was in 2013 and starred Chloe Grace Moretz. It’s definitely the biggest profile of the various Carrie adaptations and the film does a strong enough job with the source material. This version again tries to capitalize on modern bullying and teen pressures, and while it succeeds more than the 2002 attempt, it still mostly feels like a redundant version of the original movie. It’s even harder for this film to work when three other versions have preceded it, but it still achieves moments of originality.
1. Carrie (1976)
Brian De Palma’s original 1976 film is still a masterpiece that holds up today. He brings Carrie White’s pain to life in what feels like a haunted daydream. Both Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie give iconic performances and it’s one of De Palma’s more consistent films. It’s the success of this film that showed that Stephen King adaptations were a goldmine. It’s the perfect mix of saccharine sweet and venomously evil. Plus, its final jump scare is still one of the best in the genre. De Palma got it right from the start with this one, but perhaps another take on the tortured Carrie White isn’t far away.
More: Why Carrie Defined Stephen King’s Career
