Unlike others who blog aboard genre projects, I've generally been supportive of remakes ... but that's only when the new versions look to either correct some inferior treatment of the original or the updating brings something new to the table creatively. While there's no way to make that determination based solely on a coming attraction, I'm inclined at this juncture to think that 2022's Firestarter really looks an awful lot like 1984's undercooked version with young'un Drew Barrymore in the lead.
Yes, yes, yes: I wasn't all that thrilled with that version. I read part of the book -- a buddy of mine back in the day thought it was Stephen King's best, so he pointed out some passages that he thought might elevate my opinion of the movie after we saw it -- and the 1984 incarnation felt like a servicable attempt to capture some of the author's vision. There's no doubt that a modern attempt will likely correct a lot of effects sequences limited by the technology of the time, so maybe that'll help serve as a game changer when the new version in May, 2022.
Still, I do give the young Barrymore a lot of credit for what I liked about that flick. She had the right look and certainly did what she could with the material provided. I'm usually a fan of the oft-overlooked David Keith, but I vaguely recall not feeling he was right for the role of dear ol' dad. I honestly couldn't put my finger on what it was I didn't like; it's been decades since I've seen it, and I'm working entirely off reflections this morning. With the new one opening up in a few months, maybe I'll seek out and destroy the original if I can squeeze it in sometime between now and then.
I'll be copying and pasting the studio's press release below (after the trailer).
As always, thanks for reading ... and live long and prosper!
-- EZ
Yes, yes, yes: I wasn't all that thrilled with that version. I read part of the book -- a buddy of mine back in the day thought it was Stephen King's best, so he pointed out some passages that he thought might elevate my opinion of the movie after we saw it -- and the 1984 incarnation felt like a servicable attempt to capture some of the author's vision. There's no doubt that a modern attempt will likely correct a lot of effects sequences limited by the technology of the time, so maybe that'll help serve as a game changer when the new version in May, 2022.
Still, I do give the young Barrymore a lot of credit for what I liked about that flick. She had the right look and certainly did what she could with the material provided. I'm usually a fan of the oft-overlooked David Keith, but I vaguely recall not feeling he was right for the role of dear ol' dad. I honestly couldn't put my finger on what it was I didn't like; it's been decades since I've seen it, and I'm working entirely off reflections this morning. With the new one opening up in a few months, maybe I'll seek out and destroy the original if I can squeeze it in sometime between now and then.
I'll be copying and pasting the studio's press release below (after the trailer).
As always, thanks for reading ... and live long and prosper!
-- EZ
In a new adaptation of Stephen King’s classic thriller from the producers of The Invisible Man, a girl with extraordinary pyrokinetic powers fights to protect her family and herself from sinister forces that seek to capture and control her.
For more than a decade, parents Andy (Zac Efron; Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile; The Greatest Showman) and Vicky (Sydney Lemmon; Fear the Walking Dead, Succession) have been on the run, desperate to hide their daughter Charlie (Ryan Kiera Armstrong; American Horror Story: Double Feature, The Tomorrow War) from a shadowy federal agency that wants to harness her unprecedented gift for creating fire into a weapon of mass destruction.
Andy has taught Charlie how to defuse her power, which is triggered by anger or pain. But as Charlie turns 11, the fire becomes harder and harder to control. After an incident reveals the family’s location, a mysterious operative (Michael Greyeyes; Wild Indian, Rutherford Falls) is deployed to hunt down the family and seize Charlie once and for all. Charlie has other plans.
The film also stars Kurtwood Smith (Amityville: The Awakening, Hitchcock), John Beasley (The Purge: Anarchy, The Sum of All Fears) and Gloria Reuben (Lincoln, Mr. Robot). The Firestarter score is composed by the legendary John Carpenter (Halloween, Christine, The Fog) and his fellow Halloween franchise composers Cody Carpenter and Daniel Davies.
Directed by Keith Thomas (The Vigil), from a screenplay by Scott Teems (Halloween Kills) based on the novel by Stephen King, Firestarter is produced by Jason Blum (Halloween, The Invisible Man) for Blumhouse and Oscar® winner Akiva Goldsman (I Am Legend, Constantine) for Weed Road Pictures. The film’s executive producers are Ryan Turek, Gregory Lessans, Scott Teems, Martha De Laurentiis, J.D. Lifshitz and Raphael Margules.
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