Carrie On

It’s 2026, and we’re getting another adaptation of Carrie. Why? Has any other version of this story resonated as much as 1976’s version? I rewatched it yesterday and, like many other De Palma films, it does have its flaws. That said, it said what needed to be said and does not need a sequel, and multiple remakes, a TV show, and a musical.

And why keep ignoring her description from the book:

In the novel, Carrie is described as being a “chunky girl with pimples on her neck and back and buttocks.” She has pale skin, blonde hair, and blue eyes. As a child, she was described as being very pretty. However, her mother refused to allow her to look after her appearance, causing her to have greasy hair and being constantly bullied for said appearance.

She was thick through the waist only because sometimes she felt so miserable, empty, bored, that the only way to fill that gaping, whistling hole was to eat and eat and eat—but she was not that thick through the middle. She could be (what o what o what) could stop the chocolates and her pimples would go down.

– https://stephenking.fandom.com/wiki/Carrie_White

That said, it is Mike Flanagan, and he’s adapted a number of Stephen King and other horror novels. Maybe this one will have something new to say.

Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace

I’ve always been a bit of an insomniac.  And with that affliction comes some really odd TV watching.

In middle and high school it was Tom Baker-era Doctor Who reruns on PBS, Dream On and Tales from the Crypt on HBO, and Friday the 13th: The Series (which had nothing to do with Jason Vorhees or Camp Crystal Lake).
One of my favorite late-night discoveries came a few years later in the form of Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace.  It was essentially a pastiche of low budget British programs, Stephen King-esque storylines, a hospital soap, and behind-the-scenes documentary all in one.  Oddly, it shares some ideas with Stephen King’s Kingdom Hospital (based on Lars Von Trier’s Riget/The Kingdom) from the same year (namely a haunted hospital).

It’s hard to describe… it’s a show within a show with the actors reminiscing about their now forgotten work.  It’s gory, purposefully offensive and dumb, and just kind of brilliant.  If the behind the scenes interviews hadn’t been included, I’m not sure it would have worked as well as it did.

Instead of trying to describe it, you can watch the first episode: