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.

Get books, comics, graphic novels and more at bunny17media.com. Use the code CHC at checkout for 15% off your purchase!

Follow Cinema Head Cheese:
Website: cinemaheadcheese.com
Facebook: /cinemaheadcheese
Twitter: @CinHeadCheese
Email: cinemaheadcheese@yahoo.com
Instagram: abnormalpodcast 
Pinterest: /abnormalpodcast/cinema-head-cheese/
RSS Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/CinemaHeadCheese
iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/cinema-head-cheese-movie-reviews-news-a-podcast-and-more/id393261942?mt=2
Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=18843&refid=stpr

You can support Cinema Head Cheese and Abnormal Entertainment on our Support Us page.

Cinema Head Cheese: Podshort! - Gerald's Game (Netflix, 2017)

A look at the first Stephen King movie to debut on Netflix.

Click here to listen or right click and choose "Save Link As..." to download.

Follow Cinema Head Cheese:
Website: cinemaheadcheese.com
Facebook: /cinemaheadcheese
Twitter: @CinHeadCheese
Email: cinemaheadcheese@yahoo.com
Instagram: abnormalpodcast
Pinterest: /abnormalpodcast/cinema-head-cheese/
RSS Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/CinemaHeadCheese
iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/cinema-head-cheese-movie-reviews-news-a-podcast-and-more/id393261942?mt=2
Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=18843&refid=stpr

Cinema Head Cheese is sponsored by MoviePass. See unlimited movies at a theater near you for a low monthly rate.

You can support Cinema Head Cheese and Abnormal Entertainment on our Support Us page.

TV Review: 11.22.63 (Hulu Original, 2016)

Stephen King is no stranger to having his books turned into miniseries. Some, like It, are considered classics. Others, like The Langoliers or the 1970s version of Salem's Lot, are kind of cheesy or even plain terrible. Still more, like the Steven Weber led The Shining, which is superior to the Kubrick film (Not sorry. That movie is awful and dull.), will never get their proper due. To me, most of King's works are told best in long form. It gives them room to breathe. This doesn't take away from the amazing features made from his books, but sometimes miniseries is bettah. See what I did there? I'm hilarious.

This is the case with 11.22.63. My wife and I just called it the Franco show, because while the numbers make the title look short, Eleven Twenty-two Sixty-three is a mouthful. The story is interesting. What if you could stop the Kennedy assassination? That's the task diner owner Al (Chris Cooper) gives to his friend Jake (James Franco). Al has tried many times, but every time he gets close, something goes wrong. Now he's at the end of a losing battle with cancer, and he's passing the torch. A portal exists in the back of his diner, and when you walk through it, you're in the same spot exactly three years before the assassination. Whatever you do in the past becomes part of the timeline when you come back, but if you pass through the portal again, time resets. This comes in handy if you screw up.

Movie Review: Room 237 (2013, Blu-ray)

The Shining  is without a doubt one of the most influential films of our time. It's not only all over pop-culture, to many, including myself it’s a fantastic film. That doesn't mean it’s without its detractors - including the creator of the best-selling novel Stephen King. Director Stanley Kubrick is a fascinating cat and what he was going for with his vision of King's baby seems to have brought questions to some that think there is some deeper meaning into certain scenes and shots.

Rodney Ascher's Room 237 basically gathers up several folks who have some interesting and some completely ludicrous hypothesis of The Shining cut together over many of the most well known scenes, such as when Danny is lost in the labyrinth or when Jack locked in the cooler. One of the participants examines a scene when the characters are in the walk-in pantry and our large container of Calumet Baking Powder showing in Indian had some big significance to Kubrick's "hidden message". This did nothing for me and felt like The Shining expert was really reaching for stuff.

Where's My Cake??? "Creepshow" Coming to Blu-ray From Second Sight Films!

One of the classic horror anthologies, Creepshow is the gloriously ghoulish collection of comic book tales served up by the masters of macabre Stephen King and George A. Romero. It finally makes its much-anticipated Blu-ray debut thanks to Second Sight Films.

Relish the family reunion and the murdered father who still wants his cake; the backwards farmer who discovers a meteorite with a life of its own; one husband’s vengeful plan that will leave his cheating wife and her lover up to their necks in it; another’s hope that the vicious occupant of a mysterious crate may be the answer to his nagging wife problem; and in the final gross-out tale a malicious millionaire with an insect phobia gets a scuttling surprise.

Movie Review: Christine (Blu-ray)

Man's fascination with the automobile - specifically the sports car - seems to never go away. To some car enthusiasts it's for it's become a replacement for a relationship. After watching Twilight Time's Blue-ray release of John Carpenter's Christine after about 20 years from the last time a viewed it, I couldn't help but remember an old neighbor I used to have who was similar to the title character. Our neighbor, Mr. Rushing, was a portly angry s.o.b who loved to show off his corvette to the neighborhood. He'd baby the thing and treat it with more love than both his wife and kids. At one point, in public, at a barbecue he slapped the shit out of his eight year-old because the kid sprinkled water on the car's tire. Father of the year, he ain't.

Stephen King may have seen a few of these guys during his life, which may or may not have inspired his popular best-selling novel. The only thing really different from my neighbor is that in King’s vision we have little possession sprinkled in with the obsession. And, it's also entertaining.

Arnie (Keith Gordon, Dressed to Kill, Back to School) is an awkward teen who doesn't have too many friends aside from a jock named Dennis, (John Stockwell, Top Gun). Naturally, he's not much of a ladies’ man either - that is until he meets Christine, a 1958 Plymouth Fury from hell. No one will get in the way of Arnie’s obsession with Christine – not his parents, a group of bullies or even his new girlfriend. She’s a true fatal attraction.

Movie Review: Children of the Corn V and VI (1998, 2001, Blu-ray)

I really, really dig the original The Children of the Corn film (and Stephen King’s story). The latter part of my growing up was in a rural-ish area with large, scary cornfields. Anything can happen in there and if you are unfortunate enough to meet some of the humans that tend these fields you would be scared, too. So, the idea that a vegetable god, at war with Christianity, using children to build a demonic army is cool. The coolness definitely wears thin for the first sequel. Number three is rough… four is rougher. I’m not liking things very much anymore. Suddenly we’re at number five and number six. I don’t even remember these things getting VHS release, but here they sit on Blu-ray. Two ‘movies’ on one disc. Children of the Corn V: Fields of Terror from 1998 and Children of the Corn 666: Isaac’s Return from 2001… I have gone to hell. There is actually a rumor that Stephen King was struck by a mini-van in 1999 because of these films. The world may never know.

Buy Children of Corn V and Children of the Corn VI on Blu-ray!