Carrie is a 16-year-old high school student living in Chamberlain, Maine.
She is endlessly bullied at school as well as abused at home by her extremely religious mother, Margaret.
The novel and its movie adaptation center on Carrie as she discovers she has telekinetic powers.
Carrie is one ofmany Stephen King characters to possess psychic abilities.
Carrie’s movie adaptationwas an instant success, and has continued to garner fame since its release in 1976.
It’s often called one of the greatest horror movies in existence.
The remake took place in the modern day rather than the 1970s, but ended up paling in comparison.
However, while the movie is renowned, it does often differentiate from its source material.
For instance, the movie tells the story in a different way.
Plus, the famous movie ending is completely different from the one King wrote into the novel.
Here’s every difference between Stephen King’s book and De Palma’s movie, explained.
In the movie, though, she is small and wiry.
Additionally, the book explores Carrie’s powers more deeply.
This scene couldn’t be included in the movie because it was too hard to portray on the screen.
She is portrayed as a woman who is estranged from her parents and extremely driven by her religion.
More notably, Margaret is even more emotionally and physically abusive toward Carrie in the book.
Additionally, Margaret’s death in the movie is different than her death in the book.
In the book, Carrie telekinetically stop her mother’s heart, killing her.
Piper Laurie actually approachedCarrieas a black comedy after she read the script and interpreted Margaret’s lines as comical.
In it, the woman describes the circumstances of her niece, who is developing telekinesis.
The ending leaves readers wondering whether this girl will be the next Carrie.
In the movie, this aspect was completely ignored.
Instead, the movie ends on Sue Snell.
The last shot is of Sue screaming and her mother comforting her.
King himself has actually said thatthe movie has a better ending than the book.
The movie version is arguably the more definitive version of the story.
Plus, visually seeing Carrie White’s telekinetic powers in action is perhaps more entertaining than reading about them.
Next:Why Carrie Defined Stephen King’s Career
