A Binge too Far #51: The Firestarter duo (1984 – 2022)

 

Drew Barrymore as Charlene in Firestarter (1984)

Stephen King’s Firestarter (1980) horror novel about a young girl with the rare ability of pyrokinesis is one of the best examples of his early work, and it was adapted for the big screen as a blockbuster film in 1984, a mini-series in 2002, and a bombastic remake ensued recently, in 2022. For this article we give a brief look to the two theatrical releases, while the mini-series will be tackled in the next instalment of the more appropriate Static Age column.

 

Firestarter (1984) poster

Firestarter (1984)

 

While hippies in college and desperate for money, Andrew McGee (David Keith) and Vicky Tomlinson (Heather Locklear) participated in a medical experiment that involved a dodgy hallucinating drug. Most of the participant had horrible side-effects, but the protagonist couple gained the power of telepathy. What’s more, years later, their daughter Charlene (Drew Barrymore) inherited a variation of the power, in the form of pyrokinesis. Now the government (specifically a team lead by Geoge C. Scott) is after the young girl and her ability to set things on fire.

 

Looking like a John Carpenter film all the way through (and the horror legend was indeed attached to the project early on), this 1980s horror classic was instead directed by Mark Lester [a masterful craftsman who in the next year would offer us the last word on action cinema, in the form of Commando (1985)], and while it is a bit slow during its first half, the finale becomes a spectacle like no other, with real fire special effects dominating the proceedings (the generous $12 million budget allowed the film to look big and rich). It’s a pity that it didn’t set the box-office at fire though, as it grossed a mere $18.9 million in worldwide rentals.

 

Firestarter (2022) poster

Firestarter (2022)

 

Andrew McGee (Zac Efron) and Vicky Tomlinson (Sydney Lemmon) participate in a medical experiment involving a hallucinating drug that ends up giving them the powers of telepathy and telekinisis. As a bizarre result, their daughter Charlene (Ryan Kiera Armstrong) ends up with the power of pyrokinesis, and is now the most wanted person by the Department of Scientific Intelligence (DSI) that wants to study and use her ability to set the world on fire, literally.

 

Produced by Jason Blum and Akiva Goldsman (for Blumhouse Productions and Weed Road Pictures) on a comparatively generous $12 million budget (that cannot explain the terribly CGI fires on display) and with director Keith Thomas [The First Omen (2024)] at the helm, this plays like a standard modern horror programmer, that is never scary, nor atmospheric. The score by John Carpenter (who finally got involved with this), Cody Carpenter, and Daniel Davies is much better than the actual film. It was hated by critics, and it grossed a mere $15 million, but audiences caught up with it on Peacock.

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A Binge too Far #50 - Singing and Dancing with The Blues Brothers duo (1980 – 1998)

John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd in The Blues Brothers (1980)

The Blues Brothers (1980)

The Blues Brothers (1980)

 

Recently-released from prison Jake Blues (John Belushi) is reunited with his brother Elwood (Dan Aykroyd) and in order to find enough dough to save the catholic orphanage in which they grew up, they re-assemble their old blues band, resulting in adventures with the law and the Nazis.

 

Written by John Landis (who also directed) and Dan Aykroyd (developed from the same-titled sketch that originally appeared on NBC’s Saturday Night Live) this fun musical comedy is full of wild (but safe, within the limits of its R rating) humour and spectacular musical numbers by a variety of Blues legends, including James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, and John Lee Hooker.

 

Made on an excessive $27.5 million budget, it was distributed by Universal Pictures and went on to gross a stunning $115.2 million at the box-office, and following positive reviews from critics and enthusiastic word-of-mouth from audiences it also became a VHS phenomenon too, essentially one of the most iconic films of the 1980s.

 

Featuring car crashes and shootouts, as well as a fascinating cast (Frank Oz, Carrie Fisher, John Candy, Paul Reubens, Charles Napier, Twiggy, Steven Spielberg, and Steve Lawrence), and a R&B soundtrack for the ages, this is classic Hollywood at its best.

 

Blues Brothers 2000 (1998)

Blues Brothers 2000 (1998)

 

Recently-released from prison where he was serving for 18 years for the felonies depicted mostly in the finale of the first film, Elwood Blues (Dan Aykroyd, who also penned the screenplay with the film’s director John Landis) and with his brother now dead, he must re-assemble his old band for a new “Mission from God” that will result in new adventures with the law and even communists.

 

Produced by Dan Aykroyd, John Landis, and Leslie Belzerg on a massive $30 million budget that went to a spectacle that is featuring car crashes, shootouts, a large cast of extras, and some terrible CGI, this is essentially a rehash of the original and it was indented as a comeback project for its director. It delivers the most fun you could possibly have at the movies in the late 1990s with entertaining singing and dancing that is giving you the feel and magic of R&B, but you shouldn’t be expecting the greatness of the first film. It grossed a disastrous $32.1 million.

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