Editorials
Drew Barrymore Doubles Down on Weird in 1993’s ‘Doppelganger’ [Through the Cracks]
As hardcore horror fans, sometimes it feels like you’ve seen it all. There are no surprises left to discover, no classic slasher film waiting around the corner to thrill you and slap a childlike grin on your face. You try to feed the fix by searching through lists of “The Best Horror Films You’ve Never Seen” only to come across the same titles constantly repeated.
That’s where I come in, dear reader. We’ll be taking a deep dive into the bowels of obscure horror from decades past and uncovering titles that might have fallen “Through the Cracks”. For this series, I’ll be trying to focus on films that are easily accessible across various streaming platforms.
DOPPELGANGER (1993)
Directed by: Avi Nesher
Three years prior to blowing the world of horror and Hollywood at large wide open in Scream, Drew Barrymore starred in this strange little film from Israeli director Avi Nesher. Only Nasher’s second Hollywood production, Doppelganger is a heady blend of Euro-horror tropes, sleazo Skinemax-lite noir sexcapades, DePalma/Argento stylings (complete with Bobo Suspiria lighting), and left field creature feature aspirations. This truly is a wild one.
The plot never fully makes a lick of sense, but part of the fun is trying to connect all the pieces. Whether the puzzle is complete by the time credits roll is almost irrelevant. As stated, we’re in American Giallo territory where style and intrigue far outweigh classic narrative structure. We’re introduced to Drew as Holly as she struts through the streets of New York in her best Vivien Leigh-inspired look, headscarf and dark as night sunglasses. After an “on top of the clothes stuff” sex scene (the first of several that happen so randomly you might develop whiplash), Holly appears at the door to her mother’s fancy apartment. As she knocks we see her nose begin to bleed, her fingers appear webbed, and she makes a strange animalistic grunt. WTF is going on? And we’re only at the five-minute mark.
After a stylish and bloody slashing, we leap forward to find Holly landing in LA, classified ads in hand. She makes quick work of finding an apartment with a struggling screenwriter, Patrick, who is happy to sleep on the couch and offer up the one bedroom to the attractive woman who just showed up at his door. Despite her murderous introduction, this version of Holly seems sweet and shy…not at all like a knife-wielding maniac. Of course, it isn’t long before Patrick begins spotting his new roomy out and about, even though Holly has supposedly never left the apartment. After a night of love-making on their gross apartment floor, Patrick is stunned that Holly denies it ever happened. You see, Holly has a doppelganger. Something she shares very matter of factly with a bewildered Patrick. No one believes her except for her doting psychiatrist played by Dennis Christopher (Fade to Black, It).
“He believes me! He went to Yale Medical School!”
From here the plot grows stranger and stranger at every passing turn. There’s an institutionalized brother who was convicted of murdering Holly’s father – the body of which was never found. A sketchy FBI agent who moves into the complex across the spookily-lit atrium to keep an eye on their new prime suspect. A gothic mansion that’s been boarded up for years simply screams “third act climax destination!” There are nightmarish visions and Drew Barrymore blood showers. We even get one of those cliched “explainer moments” where a specialist on doppelgangers shows up to fill our hero in on necessary background info. Only in this film, the role of “Exposition Specialist” is given to a former nun who now runs a phone sex operation! Gotta love it.
The finale twist is one you’re likely to never see coming. Then there’s the twist on the twist, and I’d ask you to refrain from asking me what exactly was happening (cause I don’t think the filmmakers even knew). It’s still a helluva lot of fun to watch.
It’s hard to discuss this film without digging into the third act revelations. Needless to say, they don’t really hold up to any form of scrutiny. I won’t spoil anything outright in terms of who is/who did what, but you may want to skip the next paragraph if you’re sensitive to knowing anything about a movie’s secrets prior to checking it out.
Ok. For those of you who stuck around, let’s chat. Doppelganger walks an intriguing tightrope of “is it or isn’t it supernatural?” Does Holly actually have an evil doppelganger or is someone just messing with her head? The answer is nowhere near as clear-cut as you might think. While the two halves of the mystery don’t gel in any logical way, Nesher goes all-in on wild excess in the film’s final moments. There’s Scooby Doo-style reveals and goopy body horror. KNB steps in to deliver one of the worst-looking creature designs of their career, but it’s charming in its absurdity. If you watch this film, as the credits roll I want you to think back on one of the several sex scenes earlier in the runtime. Exactly what went down there? We may never know, but I’ve got an idea.
Doppelganger is a film that genuinely freaked me out when I caught bits and pieces of it on basic cable late one night as a kid. While I didn’t watch the whole thing, I switched back and forth between channels daring myself to endure just a bit more of the film’s off kilter madness. For years in my mind, I actually had this mixed up with Hellbound: Hellraiser II. I’m not sure if these two films played back to back that night or if I just happened to see them in close proximity to one another. But I always had a vision of Drew Barrymore slinking around skinless like Julia from Hellraiser. Rewatching the film all these years later, I see how I got the two mixed up in my tiny kid brain (you’ll know it when you see it). While I can safely say Doppelganger is not the absolute nightmare fuel I found it to be as a child, it is a peculiar exercise in pulpy style and noir trappings where the femme fatale also happens to be the damsel in distress.
This is the type of film ripe for reappraisal once it gets the inevitable Blu-ray release. Honestly, this has Vinegar Syndrome written all over it. Barrymore plays her dual roles quite admirably. Sure, it’s all camp as can be, but Barrymore seems to know exactly what type of film she’s in and imbues the goody-goody version of Holly with an almost Disney Princess level of wide-eyed wonder. Her evil headscarf-wearing alter ego is all stone-cold stares and occasional wild bursts of violence. The supporting players make a nice impression as well. Aside from the always enjoyable Dennis Christopher, Leslie Hope (TV’s Slasher, 24) delivers as Patrick’s fast-talking and quippy writing partner who continuously gets to point out how insane everything is.
Director Nesher has almost entirely stayed away from horror for the remainder of his career. He’s been quite prolific and wracked up several Israeli Oscars for his output. He did, however, direct the ill-fated Ritual starring Tim Curry that was originally meant to be the third Tales From the Crypt Presents feature following Bordello of Blood. I can’t vouch for that one, but I certainly think he shows promise here as a genre director. He’s got great reference points and an interesting blend of visual styles that may have served him well had he continued down the horror path.
For fans of Brian De Palma and Dario Argento, Doppelganger is an endlessly fascinating curio worth checking out. Luckily, you can catch this flick streaming for free right now on TubiTV!
Now when is Drew going to discuss this on her talk show?
Five decades ago, Stephen King published the story of a bullied girl with telekinetic powers and forever changed the world of horror.
Carrie follows a high school misfit who seeks revenge for a hideous prank by psychically destroying her senior prom. The name Carrie White has become synonymous with the concept of a formal dance thanks to a flawless adaptation from Brian De Palma. Now fifty years after the film’s release, Mike Flanagan is putting his own stamp on the troubling story.
Rather than a feature film, the writer/director will expand King’s relatively slim debut novel into an eight-episode miniseries for Amazon Prime set to premiere on October 7.
Flanagan is no stranger to the world of Stephen King. A long-time Constant Reader, he first made waves with his daring adaptation of Gerald’s Game (2017), a novel many fans considered un-filmable. His underrated Doctor Sleep merges the disparate plot of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining with King’s original source material, and his 2024 genre-bending tearjerker The Life of Chuck faithfully executes one of the author’s most metaphysical novellas.
He’s currently mired in pre-production for an expansive adaptation of The Dark Tower series, keystone to King’s connected universe, and Warner Bros. recently announced that Flanagan will helm a new version of The Mist, King’s 1980 novella which sees a small Maine town overrun by otherworldly monsters.
Considering the vast array of the author’s previously unadapted material, an obvious question arises. Why reimagine Carrie in 2026? Noting the timeless nature of the content, Flanagan expressed his desire to bring the story of a bullied girl into modern times, mirroring his approach to Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House and Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher. He explained, “The only way to approach it was to build something new out of the ingredients of Carrie. Otherwise, there’s really no purpose in trying to retread ground that’s been so beautifully walked before.”
His miniseries will maintain the novel’s bloody bookends while delivering “big surprises” along the way.
A New Prom Night Nightmare
The roughly 60-second teaser introduces Summer H. Howell as Carrie White just before the moment of catastrophe. Standing in a prom dress, she smiles at her applauding classmates with an ominous crown perched upon her head. Moments later, Carrie unleashes a rage-filled scream into the night air while promgoers rush for the exit doors. But careful examination of this scene shows Carrie wearing a different, albeit dirty dress as she seems to telekinetically punish her peers.
In an exclusive first look with Entertainment Weekly, Flanagan explains that in his version of the story, “the events of that prom are going to be completely different.” An open trunk emitting a crimson glow does hint at the pig’s blood dumped on Carrie’s head, but it’s likely Flanagan’s formal dance will be a different kind of horror altogether. Despite these changes, the series may end with the widespread destruction outlined in the source material. Unlike any previous adaptations, King’s novel ends with the near-total destruction of Chamberlain, Maine. A flaming street in Flanagan’s trailer promises similar carnage no matter what prank sparks Carrie’s deadly revenge.
The Monstrous Addition of Social Media
On the opposite end of this fiery conclusion is an extreme act of bullying that brings together the story’s main cast. King’s novel begins as Carrie gets her first period while showering in the girls’ locker room. Completely unaware of the concept of menstruation, the sheltered girl thinks she’s bleeding to death. Her classmates respond with vitriolic rage. Led by ultra-mean girl Chris Hargensen (Alison Thornton), they mock the terrified teen while pelting her with tampons. Glimpses of this disturbing event reveal that Flanagan has excised the scene’s nudity while adding a seismic update. As Carrie sobs in the shower stall, Chris and her friends film the breakdown with their phones.
Other scenes note the presence of social media, bringing King’s fifty-year-old story into the digital age.
Flanagan’s adaptation promises to explore the destructive power of social media, an often invisible entity with a potential for harm rivaling Carrie’s own powers. While King’s tormented heroine suffers in front of a small group of girls, Flanagan’s version of the incident will likely become a viral video, potentially circling the globe on social media. Similar to Katt Shea’s criminally underrated The Rage: Carrie 2, which includes elements of revenge porn exploitation, Flanagan’s modern retelling will distinguish itself by exploring the nebulous cruelty of online bullying, a force ten times more powerful than the irl pranks King first envisioned.
A Completely Reimagined White Family
In addition to modernizing these canon events, Flanagan hints at updates to Carrie’s oppressive upbringing at the hands of her mother, Margaret White (Samantha Sloyan). Dead before the novel begins, we never meet Carrie’s domineering father Ralph, known to carry a bible alongside his gun. Flanagan’s White household will be an altogether different beast. In his version of the story, Carrie and her mother have been hidden away in the unassuming home, forced out of hiding by Ralph’s unexpected death. Perhaps we will finally meet this elusive man whose shadow hangs over his wife and child. Considering the White family’s fundamentalist lifestyle, this reimagining hints at tradwife culture and a home ruled by staunch patriarchal control.
Whereas King’s Carrie has been tormented by her classmates since Kindergarten, Flanagan’s Carrie will be a wide-eyed newcomer to public school, eager to make friends and engage with her peers. We glimpse Carrie cozying up to Chris and the equally popular Sue Snell (Siena Agudong) as she navigates a new social scene. Of course, we know this kindness is part of an elaborate plot designed to lull Carrie into a false sense of camaraderie, setting up an atrocious act of public humiliation. These brief moments of feigned compassion put Sue’s own complicity into question. Will Flanagan’s version of the character find the courage to defend Carrie from vicious bullies or will she succumb to peer pressure and join in the mob mentality?
Perhaps the biggest deviation from King’s original text is the relationship between Carrie and her mother. King’s Margaret White is a horrifically abusive religious zealot whose worldview has been hardened by internalized misogyny. She shames Carrie for menstruating, locks her in a closet to “pray,” and regrets not killing her child in infancy. She’s also responsible for Carrie’s social ostracization. Known to berate her neighbors for their “sins,” Margaret forces her daughter to live by an extreme code of conduct and disallows any potential friends lest they corrupt the girl with their worldly ways.
Flanagan’s version of the character is perhaps just as much a victim as Carrie herself. Also trapped inside her home, his Margaret is overly vigilant, her own trauma manifesting as strict control. Describing a more sympathetic depiction of the iconic villain, Flanagan explains, “Our Margaret White is a woman who fiercely loves her daughter and wants to protect her from this world … [She] doesn’t know how to do that and thinks the way to protect her is to close her off; not punitively, but to create this private utopia.”
Despite this potential softening, Sloyan’s Margaret may still have a sharp edge. Though she has appeared in many Flanagan projects, from Hush (2016) to The Fall of the House of Usher (2023), she is best known for her role as the abhorrent Bev Keane in the poignant saga Midnight Mass (2021). Perhaps inspired by King’s Margaret White, Bev is pious and sadistic, willing to punish anyone who does not adhere to her warped approximation of Catholicism.
Flanagan specifically wrote Margaret with Sloyan in mind, likely remembering the actress’s eerie ability to create deceptive empathy and shift our allegiances on a dime.
Expanding Stephen King’s Telekinetic Universe
While most of King’s story deals with an unthinkable prom night in Chamberlain, Maine, large sections of the semi-epistolary novel see experts debating the nature of telekinesis. Do Carrie’s frightening abilities represent a new phase in human evolution or is the prom night carnage merely a fluke? King settles the debate with a shocking denouement in which a young mother recounts her infant daughter’s ability to dangle her crib toys in midair. We’re left to wonder if she will become another tormented girl who surprises the world with metaphysical strength.
Flanagan plans to build out this brief scene while amplifying themes of female empowerment. After introducing our main cast of characters, episode two will open with an unrelated story in which we meet another girl with the TK gene. Each subsequent chapter will expand this world, building out a roster of telekinetic young women. Considering King’s fondness for stories about powerful kids, often described as possessing “the shining,” Constant Readers will no doubt have their eyes peeled for various Easter Eggs nodding to the author’s vast catalogue.
Giving Carrie Her Own Voice
Perhaps the most striking distinction in Flanagan’s new trailer is the extent to which we hear Carrie’s voice. The sneak peek is fully narrated by the titular prom queen as she demands accountability. “I want to know why,” she explains while detailing Chris’ elaborate plan. Aside from the aforementioned coda, King’s book essentially ends with the aftermath of the prom night tragedy, leaving little time for Carrie to reflect. His shifting narrative does bring the reader into her fragile mind, though not before she’s been cowed by relentless cruelty. We watch Carrie sink into bloodthirsty revenge, but never hear a considered desire for justice or repair.
Flanagan’s original monologue allows Carrie to voice her pain and mourn the life she could have had. We’re also treated to a mug shot-style photo of Chris with a bruised and bandaged face, implying that the mean girl will have to answer for her senseless sadism.
Flanagan is known for filling his series adaptations with heartwrenching speeches that cut to the heart of his thematic intentions, and this teaser seems to follow suit. After years of fans, critics, and scholars analyzing Carrie’s pain, perhaps his modern retelling will offer the titular anti-hero a chance to finally speak for herself.
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