All 5 'Carrie' Adaptations, Ranked By Rotten Tomatoes

Back in 1974, Stephen King published his first novel, and the story of a bullied telekinetic teenager and her prom night has been retold on screen ever since: three theatrical films, a TV movie and, starting October 7, 2026, an eight-episode series on Prime Video. There was also a Broadway musical, with a book by the original film’s screenwriter, Lawrence D. Cohen, that opened on May 12, 1988, and closed three days later after 16 previews and five performances. It has no Rotten Tomatoes score, so it sits this one out. Here are the other five, from best to worst.

Carrie (1976)

Brian De Palma’s original holds a 94% Tomatometer score from 82 reviews, and it earned two Oscar nominations: Best Actress for Sissy Spacek, in the title role, and Best Supporting Actress for Piper Laurie as her mother, Margaret. Rotten Tomatoes’ critics consensus calls it “a horrifying look at supernatural powers, high school cruelty, and teen angst,” with “one of the most memorable and disturbing prom scenes in history,” and audiences are nearly as kind, at 77%. The cast of this Carrie also included Betty Buckley as gym teacher Miss Collins, 12 years before she played Margaret in the musical.

Carrie (2026)

Mike Flanagan’s series is the first time Carrie has been made for TV as a show rather than a movie, with Summer H. Howell as Carrie and Samantha Sloyan as Margaret, and it is Flanagan’s fourth Stephen King adaptation. Its score comes with an asterisk: as of this writing, it sits at 85%, with 74 reviews from critics who watched the show early. All eight episodes arrive on October 7, and the full-season reviews could move it in either direction.

Carrie (2013)

Kimberly Peirce’s remake starred Chloë Grace Moretz as Carrie and Julianne Moore as Margaret, and it lands at 51% from 185 reviews, the most any version has drawn. (Audiences liked it even less, at 44%.) It was a modest hit for Screen Gems, with $35.3 million in the U.S. and $84.8 million worldwide, but the critics' consensus is blunt: it “finds little new in the Stephen King novel” and “feels woefully unnecessary.”

Carrie (2002)

NBC’s version aired on November 4, 2002, as a three-hour TV movie, with Angela Bettis as Carrie and Patricia Clarkson as Margaret, and it scores 32% from 41 reviews. The critics’ consensus faults it as “overlong and underpowered by cheap production values,” though it credits Bettis as “a capable lead.” It was built to keep going: the network hoped to turn it into a weekly series, so this time Carrie doesn’t die. Its writer and executive producer, Bryan Fuller, explained the reasoning at the time, arguing that a show named after Carrie needed Carrie in it. No series followed.

The Rage: Carrie 2 (1999)

Strictly speaking, Katt Shea’s film is a sequel rather than an adaptation, and it earns its spot by bringing a piece of the original back. Emily Bergl plays Rachel Lang, Carrie’s telekinetic half-sister, and Amy Irving returns as Sue Snell, the classmate who lived through the first movie. It sits at 25% from 40 reviews, last place by seven points, under a consensus that calls it “as disposable as its predecessor is indispensable.”

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