Carrie launched King's career as an author;[66] the $200,000 King received when Carrie was accepted for mass-market publication allowed King to quit his job as a teacher and become a full-time author.[19] The novel established King as a horror writer[67] who wrote about "the supernatural, the dark, and the bizarre".[68] Following Carrie's publication, King underwent a six-month period of prolific writing.[69] During this period, King wrote rough drafts for Blaze and 'Salem's Lot, the latter of which became his second published novel, being published in 1975.[67] Both Carrie and its 1976 film adaptation brought King into the mainstream,[70][71] and he has since become one of the most successful authors in the modern era,[61] with his novels consistently becoming best sellers.[69]
For decades prior to the 1970s, horror literature had not been in the mainstream; the last novel to reach the Publishers Weekly best-seller list was Rebecca (1938).[72] Carrie is credited as one of four novels to created contemporary mainstream interest in horror literature.[73][72][a] This interest was especially bolstered by their respective adaptations, allowing these novels to become best sellers.[74] Carrie has been influential among contemporary horror writers, with writers such as Sarah Pinborough, James Smythe, and Sarah Lotz claiming to be influenced by Carrie.[61] The prom scene when Carrie is covered in pig blood has been referenced in pop culture, with examples including Monsters University, My Little Pony comics, and horror media such as It Follows, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Treehouse of Horror.[75] Author Jeff VanderMeer said of Carrie's influence:
Carrie changed the paradigm by announcing a very American form of horror that broke with the past. That process might've been ongoing anyway, but a lot of horror and weird fiction was still in a kind of post-MR James/Lovecraft mode of parchment and shadowy alleys and half-seen horrors, and here was King dropping buckets of blood over everything and making characterisation both more relaxed and more contemporary. But just as sophisticated, if more naturalistic, less stylised.[61]
Carrie has received three film adaptations and a musical adaptation.[71] The first, directed by Brian De Palma and starring Sissy Spacek in the title role, was released on November 3, 1976, to critical acclaim and commercial success,[71][76] and is considered a noteworthy example of 1970s horror films and a major factor to King's success.[77] A sequel to the 1976 film adaptation titled The Rage: Carrie 2 was released in 1999 to mixed reviews.[77][78] From May 12–15, 1988, a musical adaptation was performed five times by the Royal Shakespeare Company at the Virginia Theater before closing. It was a commercial and critical failure, losing more than $7 million, among the most expensive failures by Broadway theatre.[79] A 2002 film adaptation received negative reviews,[80] and a 2013 film adaptation received mixed reviews.[81] An off-Broadway revival of the musical was performed from March 1–April 8, 2012.[82] The television series Riverdale aired an episode titled "Chapter Thirty-One: A Night to Remember" in 2018 based on the musical.[83]
