If you go through all the books that Stephen King has written, you know he has written some bangers. He is the pinnacle of the literary horror genre. Horror is also one of the better movie genres in its money-making ability. Depending on the type of horror film, they can be made cheaply, and they are typically good box office draws, and that draw increases even more if it has a name like Stephen King attached to it. The problem is converting literature to film, it never works well, because whoever makes the film can never create it in the same way in which the reader imagines it, and the maker also must decide what to take out, otherwise the movie would be way too long. This problem persists for King’s movies as well, and for Firestarter, this problem was compounded by the fact that they chose a lower tier King story, and it released on Peacock on the same day it came out in theaters, not a good way to rake in the cash.
Firestarter is the story of a family that has telekinetic powers. The mom, Vicky, can use her mind to throw objects, the dad, Andy, can use his mind to control others, and the daughter, Charlie, has a combination of the powers, and she can also become a human flame thrower. The family has been in hiding from the government agency that did the tests on them, and they want to take Charlie in and train her. When Charlie has a blow up in the school bathroom, she reveals her family’s location, and the danger becomes real. Rainbird, who also has a telekinetic power of being able to read others’ minds, shows up at their house. He kills Vicky, but Charlie has another blow up, allowing her and her father to escape. They end up getting taken in by a farmer, and Charlie is able to communicate with his disabled wife, thus cementing their relationship, and the farmer helps Charlie escape when the police arrive, but Andy is captured. Leaving Charlie to rescue her dad.
This movie started out strong. They set an ominous and unsettling tone, and the music was hitting hard, but then once the mom died, the movie just went way downhill. It lost the intensity that it had, and it started to drag, and you know it is bad when a movie barely over 90 minutes feels like it is dragging. I even enjoyed the opening credits. They showed a grainy aged interview of Andy and Vicky being interrogated before they were given their experimental medicine. The opening credits being long and drawn out with a video made it feel like a classic horror film, which I always enjoy, and it was interesting that it was like ten minutes into the movie when the opening credits started.
One of the more interesting choices of the movie was when Charlie’s Dad made her kill him and the leader of the agency. Charlie had already been through so much trauma, she had caught her mom on fire, and she killed a few other people as well. Now her dad is making her kill him, and everyone else in the building as well. To me that just seems like bad parenting. She probably would have been able to save him, if he had not mind controlled her and made her do it. It just seemed so unnecessary, because she is so overpowered. There was also the scene towards the beginning of the movie when he is yelling at her, knowing full well that she has human torch powers, and it led to his wife getting caught on fire, so he is definitely not the dad or the husband of the year. Also she saw her mom’s corpse, and she burned a cat to a crisp, just not what you want a child to go through.
I did not want the movie to be longer, but it did feel like most of the side characters were totally undeveloped. Characters that played big roles in the book were basically sidelined for Andy and Charlie. They sprinted through many parts of the plot. The relationship between Andy, Charlie, and the farmer was much deeper in the book. There was more exposition on their relationship, and how it came to be that the farmer was willing to fight for them. Also Rainbird played a way bigger role in the book, but in the movie, he barely talked. There was no real explanation as to why he ended up helping Charlie escape in the end, or why Charlie was willing to let him live. It just felt like so much was missing and rushed.
The one thing the movie did have going for it was the soundtrack. It was made by John Carpenter, the maker of Halloween. He did an excellent job of setting the tone. The initial scenes created some tension and made it feel like it had some serious horror potential. Then towards the end of the movie, when Charlie is incinerating the facility, the music is very similar to the main theme in Halloween, and it literally made me tilt my head, because I thought they were stealing it, but little did I know that the creator of Halloween was actually the one making it, but why he would help this film, I will never know.
Also it was wild going into this movie and not knowing Zac Efron was in it. I found out the day before, when I looked up the movie on Letterboxd. I feel like he is a big enough name to get some serious play, or maybe I was just not paying close enough attention during the trailers, but it was shocking. They did give him a few scenes where he could be seen without his shirt on, which I feel like is in his contract that it must happen, but he felt too big for this movie. No one else in it seemed recognizable, and it was bad, so it just did not seem like an Efron movie, not that he has been in anything good recently. The sound effect for Efron using his power was cringe inducing, it sounded so gross, like he was creaking his neck, but worst, it was pretty effective.
Overall I was disappointed, the opening does a good job, but the rest is rushed and done poorly. It is hard to adapt books to screen, and it is even harder when the time limit is 90 minutes. Also they picked one of the lower tier King stories in my opinion, which also does not help the cause, especially considering how much great source material there is out there by him. There was no need to retread this movie. I give this film 2.5 stars, and I will continue to say that someone needs to turn Revival into a movie, or they could also do The Long Walk, which is basically The Hunger Games and an ultra-marathon mixed together, it does not get more up my alley.
Other movies this week:
Ouija: A classic Blumhouse horror film, exactly what you would expect and want.
It: As far as CGI Horror blockbusters go, this one is good! I didn't like it too much the first time I saw it because I had just read the book, and nothing compares to the source text ever, but years removed from reading it, this was awesome!
Hostel: This was bad. I thought it was supposed to be good, but that was not true. Nothing of importance the whole first half of the movie, then it gets a little gory, but it is never interesting. How is Tarantino’s name on this?
House of 1,000 Corpses: Rob Zombie makes some wild movies.
New Nightmare: This was super meta, and I am glad I am done going through all the
Nightmare on Elm Street Movies now. An interesting franchise, but I am way more into Halloween and Friday the 13th.
Killer Klowns From Outer Space: As far as creepy clowns go, these might be worst than Pennywise. For a movie from 1988, the clowns were a little CGIed, but I imagine in 1988 this was pretty scary, and as far as my deep dive into bad old horror movies this weekend, this was one of the better ones.
New Rankings:
Fire Starter: 2.5 Stars
Ouija: 3 Stars
It: 4 Stars
Hostel: 2 Stars
House of 1,000 Corpses: 2.5 Stars
New Nightmare: 2.5 Stars
Killer Klowns From Outer Space: 3 Stars
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