Review of Firestarter (2022) by Rebecca31 — 17 May 2022

The Stephen King remake parade continues with another addition to the horror genre, Firestarter. With the financial success of IT Chapter I and II it’s not surprising we’re seeing more King adaptations and even though there’s plenty of new material to bring to the big screen for some reason we’re stuck with yet another dull remake. No, Firestarter isn’t quite as bad as Pet Sematary but then again that’s not saying much.

Carlie (Ryan Kiera Armstrong) is a young girl trying to understand how she has the power to set things on fire with her mind. After years of staying under the radar, Charlie’s parents Andy (Zac Efron) and Vicky (Sydney Lemmon) fear her power is becoming too strong for her to control and the risk of being discovered imminent.

Films like Firestarter are the reason many people believe originality in Hollywood is dead. There is literally no point to this movie at all, it’s bland, boring and honestly not worth your time. Considering we already have a decent version of Firestarter it seems like rather than remaking this perhaps something new would have been more successful. The whole secret lab of evil scientists kidnapping children with telekinetic powers could have been done for the big screen by adapting the 2019 novel, The Institute by King, which has a very similar theme but with less fire. It’s a book that hasn’t yet been adapted for either film or TV and it would have been far better to have a new idea rather than yet another cash grab remake. IT saw the potential to reinvent itself and it’s a remake worthy of your time, Chapter I definitely is anyway. Pet Sematary was a catastrophic failure and now Firestarter is the very definition of “meh”.

I really don’t see the point in this remake at all, Firestarter just shows up and presents a mediocre version of a story you’ve already seen before. Blumhouse productions have done far better movies than this, and putting “from the producer of The Invisible Man” on the poster isn’t fooling anyone. That’s a far better movie which you’d be better off watching and skipping Firestarter altogether. Also for all the Efron fans, don’t be tempted, his performance is nothing special and he’s a better actor than this. Not recommended.