Mike Flanagan's new take on Carrie is drawing an unflattering comparison — to his own back catalog. Polygon argues the adaptation is missing the one ingredient a Carrie story can't do without: fear.

The piece points viewers instead to The Haunting of Hill House, Flanagan's ten-episode Netflix series, calling it everything the Carrie project should have been. Where the new adaptation reportedly comes up short on dread, Hill House delivers it in volume — the series remains dense with ghosts, both the literal background apparitions fans still hunt for on rewatches and the generational trauma that powers its story.

It's a critique with some sting precisely because Flanagan set the bar himself. Hill House established him as one of the defining horror voices of the streaming era, and subsequent projects like Midnight Mass cemented that reputation. When a filmmaker known for marrying scares to emotional weight releases something light on scares, his own masterpiece becomes the measuring stick.

For viewers underwhelmed by Carrie, the recommendation is simple: the better Flanagan binge is already sitting on Netflix.