FAQ

Carietta "Carrie" White (Angela Bettis), a shy and mousy high school senior and the daughter of a religiously fanatical mother (Patricia Clarkson), is constantly taunted by her classmates. One of the girls, Sue Snell (Kandyse McClure), takes pity on Carrie and talks boyfriend Tommy Ross (Tobias Mehler) into asking Carrie to the senior prom. However, another of the girls, Chris Hargensen (Emilie de Ravin) hates Carrie enough that she gets her boyfriend, Billy Nolan (Jesse Cadotte), to pull a trick on Carrie, embarrassing her in front of the whole school when she is named prom queen in a rigged election. What no one realizes is that Carrie has the power of telekinesis (moving things with her mind) that is violently released when she gets angry.

Carrie is also a 1974 novel by American horror writer Stephen King. The novel was adapted for this teleplay by American screenwriter Bryan Fuller. It is the second of three adaptations of the novel, preceded by Carrie (1976) (1976) and followed by Carrie (2013) (2013).

No, the book explains that telekinesis (at least in the context of the novel) works similarly to a condition like haemophilia. Carrie's father had the gene which was homozygous and didn't show up in the males and Margaret was a carrier. If they had had a boy, he would have been a carrier but since Carrie was a girl, she had the gene and the powers. In the book, Margaret's grandmother is mentioned to have had the powers as well.

More time was allowed and therefore more elements of the book could be shown in this version. Also the addition of CGI helped with certain scenes that would have been difficult to achieve in the 1970s. This version keeps the original plotline of the novel, with the prom incident having already happened and the story unfolding through a series of police interviews. Also included is the scene from Carrie's childhood where she makes stones rain down on the house, a scene where Chris's father attempts to have his daughter's suspension lifted as well as more overall character time. This version does include the destruction of the town and Carrie's mother being killed in the same way as the book. However this version changes the ending drastically from the book, as Carrie survives the aftermath of the prom and confronting her mother, being brought back to life by Sue with CPR and leaving Chamberlain for Florida. This was done in the hopes of a Carrie TV series which never got off the ground. Also, the characterizations are closer in the original version; Carrie is not treated as though she went into a trance and didn't remember attacking the prom kids, as she is in this version, but as both sympathetic and dangerous. Differences in this film from the book also include the survival of the coach who sympathized with Carrie. The original overall spent more time on music and getting a strong feel for the story similar to the book. Also this version updates the text and the setting to suit a modern audience whereas the book and the DePalma film are set in the 1970s.

More like the set up for a pilot. The ending was left open (with the title character still alive and on the run) in order to become a weekly TV series. Interest in a TV show wasn't strong, and the ratings of this movie weren't high enough, so a series was never made.

The songs from the film (predominantly by indie band Hypnogaja) were pressed on a CD that was given away as promotion. Although the CD was never available for sale in stores, copies turn up on eBay from time to time, and sound files/streams aren't difficult to find online. The film's musical score by Laura Karpman has never had a CD release, but selected tracks have been made available on the composer's official website.

The DVD features the same version of the film which was originally broadcast on NBC on a single evening in a three hour time slot. According to early promotional materials, the movie was intended to air over four hours as a 2-part mini-series. An entire subplot featuring actress Jasmine Guy as a psychic investigator was removed prior to broadcast and has never seen the light of day.