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Firestarter
Produced by Frank Capra Jr.
Screenplay by Stanley Mann Based on the novel by Stephen King
Editing: Ronald Sanders and David Rawlins
Music: Tangerine Dream
Release Date: 11 May 1984
Aspect Ratio: 2.39 : 1
Color: Color
Stephen King's 1980 novel about a little girl who develops pyrokinesis due to an experimental program run by a secret government agency may be second-tier King, but it's a very enjoyable read. As a film, it's an ideal vehicle for the post-E.T. Drew Barrymore, who plays eight-year-old Charlie McGee. Charlie and her father, Andrew (David Keith), are on the run from the Department of Scientific Intelligence, an organization known as "The Shop" that sponsored the hallucinogen experiment Charlie's parents participated in. The Shop wants to weaponize Charlie's power, but her father is trying to teach her to control it.
Due to its budget limitations and the era in which it was made, Firestarter has a bit of a made-for-TV vibe, especially with Heather Locklear playing Charlie's mom. But it features a hilariously over-the-top performance by Martin Sheen as The Shop's leader. It's amazing that the man who would go on to embody the Aaron Sorkin fantasy ideal of calm, prudent, American governmental leadership was the go-to guy for playing crazed, corrupt, evil politicians in Stephen King movies of the 1980s.
Post-E.T. Drew Barrymore is ideal casting as Stephen King's runaway eight-year-old with pyrokinesis, but Mark L. Lester and Stanley Mann’s screen adaptation never fully ignites.