College student Andy McGee (David Keith) and Vicky Tomlinson (Heather Locklear) try to get some extra cash by signing up for an experiment with the LOT-6 drug. After they gor married and had a daughter named Charlene "Charlie" (Drew Barrymore) and soon realize that the drug they induced gave them superpowers especially Charlie who has the gift of setting fire by way of using her mind when angry or provoked. Andy too can use his mind to get people to do thing for him and now with Vicky dead, Andy and Charlie are now on the run from a government known as The Shop who want to isolate them and use their powers for their own personal gain. Under the leadership of Captain James Hollister (Martin Sheen) and hired assassin John Railbird (George C. Scott) to either bring her in or have her killed.
Under the direction of Mark Lester "Firestarter" is a sci-fi, horror,thriller based off of a 1980 Stephen King novel of the same name and was met by mostly negative reviews. John Carpenter was originally going to direct this movie, but he was labeled "box-office poison" after the poorly received reception he got with the 1982 movie "The Thing". The movie was composed by a German synth band called Tangerine Dream.
I was a very small child when I saw the novel "Firestarter" on display at a bookstore. That along with "Cujo" was the first time that started to get invested in the works of Stephen King. Like the novel, the movie was not very well made, but the nostalgia has enough material to be identified as a cult classic, and the campy nature delivered here prevented this movie from becoming generic.
The pacing tends to extremely convoluted and the blame has to do with the abysmal editing. The exciting scene are when Andy and Charlie are being chased by The Shop, but then, the movie hits a dead end once they get captured. They proceed by giving Charlie some tests, while Rainbird uses some kind of manipulative forces that make his character an interesting fellow abeit a very disturbing one. The ending is anything but satisfying and when you leave, you'll feel like they left something out. It's unknown whether it's intentional or not, but it will leave you completely underwhelmed.
Though she was still very young in age, Drew Barrymore performed a very complex and emotionally versatile role. Her sadness and tears felt very organic and authentic in its delivery. However, her anger and other emotions felt very forced and seemed like she was having a hard time pulling off these emotions. Maybe she naturally felt emotionally sad and dreary while making this movie. David Keith turned a fine performance as a protective dad defending his daughter every way he could. Martin Sheen was convincing as a corrput government official. Heather Locklear is only on for a brief moment as Charlie's mother and Andy's wife, but gets killed off very early. The worst cast choice was George C. Scott as the villain character of John Rainbird. Though Rainbird was supposed to be Native American, Scott never looked or even convinced the audience that he was. Maybe it was to protect the image of Native Americans by keeping them protagonists so be hiring a non-Native actor to play the villain was a way that Hollywood could save face by not villifying a certain group of people by saving face either through fear of retribution. Besides that Scott is just too good for this B-movie and deserves much better roles than what was given to him. The creepiness to his character is also over-the-top in his obsession with the young girl. Okay I get it, we need a villain to keep the story with some level of interest which he does deliver. However, the way he handles Charlie comes very close to the tactics pedophiles use to seduce their young victims, even though he would like nothing more than to kill her.
The technical features can come across around the borders of average to highly impressive. The pyro effects are quite fascinating, but it seems to only really take charge through the climax when Charlie goes on a vengeful rampage and starts burning up everybody and every building she feels threatened by. There are some great visuals in the movie, however the only thing that annoys me the most is the blowing hair from Charlie's long blond locks.
Though "Firestarter" has a place in the annals of fans of Stephen King novels and movie adaptations and fans who love Drew Barrymore in her younger days, the movie didn't go completely unnoticed. In 2002 a long awaited sequel happened called "Firestarter 2: Rekindled" which was a direct-to-video. This year they rebooted "Firestarter" under the Blumhouse Productions which also wasn't met with positive feedback.
Under the direction of Mark Lester "Firestarter" is a sci-fi, horror,thriller based off of a 1980 Stephen King novel of the same name and was met by mostly negative reviews. John Carpenter was originally going to direct this movie, but he was labeled "box-office poison" after the poorly received reception he got with the 1982 movie "The Thing". The movie was composed by a German synth band called Tangerine Dream.
I was a very small child when I saw the novel "Firestarter" on display at a bookstore. That along with "Cujo" was the first time that started to get invested in the works of Stephen King. Like the novel, the movie was not very well made, but the nostalgia has enough material to be identified as a cult classic, and the campy nature delivered here prevented this movie from becoming generic.
The pacing tends to extremely convoluted and the blame has to do with the abysmal editing. The exciting scene are when Andy and Charlie are being chased by The Shop, but then, the movie hits a dead end once they get captured. They proceed by giving Charlie some tests, while Rainbird uses some kind of manipulative forces that make his character an interesting fellow abeit a very disturbing one. The ending is anything but satisfying and when you leave, you'll feel like they left something out. It's unknown whether it's intentional or not, but it will leave you completely underwhelmed.
Though she was still very young in age, Drew Barrymore performed a very complex and emotionally versatile role. Her sadness and tears felt very organic and authentic in its delivery. However, her anger and other emotions felt very forced and seemed like she was having a hard time pulling off these emotions. Maybe she naturally felt emotionally sad and dreary while making this movie. David Keith turned a fine performance as a protective dad defending his daughter every way he could. Martin Sheen was convincing as a corrput government official. Heather Locklear is only on for a brief moment as Charlie's mother and Andy's wife, but gets killed off very early. The worst cast choice was George C. Scott as the villain character of John Rainbird. Though Rainbird was supposed to be Native American, Scott never looked or even convinced the audience that he was. Maybe it was to protect the image of Native Americans by keeping them protagonists so be hiring a non-Native actor to play the villain was a way that Hollywood could save face by not villifying a certain group of people by saving face either through fear of retribution. Besides that Scott is just too good for this B-movie and deserves much better roles than what was given to him. The creepiness to his character is also over-the-top in his obsession with the young girl. Okay I get it, we need a villain to keep the story with some level of interest which he does deliver. However, the way he handles Charlie comes very close to the tactics pedophiles use to seduce their young victims, even though he would like nothing more than to kill her.
The technical features can come across around the borders of average to highly impressive. The pyro effects are quite fascinating, but it seems to only really take charge through the climax when Charlie goes on a vengeful rampage and starts burning up everybody and every building she feels threatened by. There are some great visuals in the movie, however the only thing that annoys me the most is the blowing hair from Charlie's long blond locks.
Though "Firestarter" has a place in the annals of fans of Stephen King novels and movie adaptations and fans who love Drew Barrymore in her younger days, the movie didn't go completely unnoticed. In 2002 a long awaited sequel happened called "Firestarter 2: Rekindled" which was a direct-to-video. This year they rebooted "Firestarter" under the Blumhouse Productions which also wasn't met with positive feedback.