On the one hand, it’s cool that this made-for-television miniseries version of Stephen King’s classic novel embraces the wider scope of King’s novel than Brian De Palma was able to do with his 1976 adaptation. However, beyond that attempt to stay close to its source material, nothing else works. Angela Bettis gives an off-putting titular performance that plays more like a parade of acting tics than a character, while Patricia Clarkson conversely underplays her role as Carrie’s mother and neutralizes the character’s menace in the process. The rest of the cast is fairly negligible while the over-the-top direction has an unfortunate tendency to highlight just how cheap the sets are. The movie doesn’t just fail as an adaptation but it fails as a movie, because it chains itself to the novel and forgets to build a believable narrative on its own or develop its characters.
Rating: ★★ (out of 5)
