REVIEW: FIRESTARTER (2022)

 

Firestarter...

The name is familiar cause this is not a remake of sorts but a new updated adaption of the Stephen King novel. We're familiar with the Drew Barrymore version from 1984 cause cause it follows the book to a degree with some minor detail changes but that film stands up after thirty-eight years while this one falls flat and fails in comparison to its predecessor. 

Where do I begin? I mean we know what happens when remakes or new adaptations of source material happens. We get shit. Now granted Stephen King isn’t hard to adapt cause its mainly jump scares and all that fun stuff. But here they could have easily made a new fresh take on the original from 1984 and they spin like they had to film in a week. Now there are similar scenes between the two movies but the ‘84 version feels more fleshed out compared to this one. Give props to my boy Efron on trying to add more depth to resume but the neck cracking to activate his powers felt like a joke and the daughter comes off like the little boy from Brightburn all this power and only wants to kill animals and people who hurt her.

 

Granted there were moments in this film that stood out but you can't rely on moments of shock and awe to sell this film. It feels like this could have been something completely different had it not been tied to the Stephen King novel.  I'm easily going to say I avoided this film in theaters cause I felt this could be bad and opted to watch it on Peacock when it was first released and then when it was on digital hoping that a second viewing could help change my tone towards this film and sadly its still the same. This film is not what its suppose to be. I feel like I said it could have been something completely different but they wanted to call it "Firestarter" in hopes that they cash in on the nostalgia of the original film and or book. 

But.....

In the end which made zero sense cause it deviated from the book and tried to expand on something that's truly not there.Keith Thomas the director of this film has a much better horror movies under his belt, "The Vigil" which stands out as one of last years sleeper hits but with this film it feels like Universal just took this indie darling and tossed him into the deep end of the pool with hopes that this product will keep him afloat but becomes a slight anchor pulling him under the crushing wave of despair knowing his big movie is a flop. If Blumhouse has hopes of producing a sequel for this film it’ll be for that cash grab which I can hopefully say it lands on Amazon Prime or digital cause a theatrical release after this nightmare will probably be the iceberg that sinks the ship for any other Stephen King properties for the foreseeable future for the time being.