Did You Spot These Horror Maestros In Carrie's Penultimate Episode?
After teasing the impending devastation for six episodes, during the final moments of Carrie’s seventh and penultimate episode, the story finally arrives at the infamous prom.
Although a sophomore, telekinetic teen Carrie is allowed to attend as the date of senior student, Tommy. All is going well until Carrie is crowned Prom Queen. Thanks to a horrible prank by Chris and Billy, Carrie’s coronation comes with a bloody surprise and Carrie's rage at the action results in the deaths of hundreds of attendees.
It is the big moment of the Carrie story no matter the adaptation, but Mike Flanagan’s version comes with the unexpected inclusion of some very familiar horror creatives.
Who Is At The Prom?
As Carrie and Tommy take to the stage as King and Queen, the camera starts to focus on who is in the crowd. The camera picks out a range of characters that the audience have been following, such as gym teacher Miss Desjardin and Chris’ minion, Tina, but the camera lingers on another two gentlemen for longer than is necessary. These men are completely new to the story, but not to the world of horror as they are none other than Bryan Fuller and Don Mancini, the minds behind Hannibal and Child’s Play.
Although Bryan Fuller and Don Mancini are both friends with Carrie showrunner and director Mike Flanagan, their inclusion is more than just a fun nod for the horror crowd. Both Fuller and Mancini have a deeper connection to Carrie that explains their presence
Bryan Fuller Wrote the 2002 Carrie Adaptation
Before he helped create one of the best horror shows in TV history, Hannibal, Bryan Fuller worked as a writer on the 2002 Carrie TV movie. This version is an underseen adaptation that came in the wake of the surge of teen-focused horrors around the turn of the millennium. Carrie White was played by Angela Bettis, who horror fans will know better for her role in Lucky McKee’s May. Patricia Clarkson featured as Margaret White, and Lost’s Emilie de Ravin and Ginger Snaps’ Katharine Isabelle played two of Carrie’s bullies, Chris and Tina.
Fuller’s Carrie’s biggest crime is that, although set in the early ‘00s, it doesn’t do enough to differentiate itself from the source novel and original film. Instead it treads the remake route and although faithful, lacks the originality required to help it stand on its own feet. The venture wasn’t an entire failure, however, as it introduced Bryan Fuller to Katharine Isabelle who would later feature in Hannibal as Margot Verger.
Fuller evidently has fond feelings about the project as he willingly agreed to attend Flanagan’s spin on the prom scene.
The Connection Between The Child’s Play Movies And Carrie
While Bryan Fuller being invited to appear in Carrie can be traced back to his own attempt at adapting the story, the tie between the new show and Don Mancini is a little harder to identify.
Don Mancini originally began his career as a writer, most notably being the mind behind Child’s Play before eventually shifting into the directing chair. A man completely enamoured with that murderous doll known as Chucky, after the success of Ronny Yu’s Bride of Chucky, Mancini decided it was time that he had full creative control over his creation. His first feature, Seed of Chucky was not initially well-received, but over the years its audience has grown — particularly within the Queer community — and it is often viewed as being well ahead of its time. Due to its reception, Mancini decided to pivot for his next venture, Curse of Chucky, which ultimately followed through all the way up to the recent Chucky television series.
Not only did Curse of Chucky fully revive the story of Charles Lee Ray, the film also gave eight-year-old Summer H. Howell her first acting role. Howell stars in that show as Alice, a young girl who befriends the Good Guy doll, much to the dismay of her aunt, Nica. Being a lead in a Child’s Play movie so early in anyone's acting career could be daunting, but Howell handled the challenge well.
Now in her twenties, Summer H. Howell is Mike Flanagan’s Carrie White. Whether Mancini had any involvement in her hiring is unclear, but his appearance at the prom makes for a fun reunion between a director and his former star.
