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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.
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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.
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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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