John Carpenter scores the new adaptation for Stephen King’s “Firestarter” [trailer]

Firestarter is a science-fiction and horror-thriller novel written by Stephen King and first published in September 1980. The book centers on Andy McGee and Vicky Tomlinson, once college students looking to make some extra cash, volunteering as test subjects for an experiment orchestrated by the clandestine government organization known as The Shop. But the outcome unlocked exceptional latent psychic talents for the two of them manifesting in even more terrifying ways when they fell in love and had a child. Their daughter, Charlie, has been gifted with the most extraordinary and uncontrollable power ever seen: pyrokinesis, the ability to create fire with her mind. Now the merciless agents of The Shop are in hot pursuit to apprehend this unexpected genetic anomaly for their own diabolical ends by any means necessary, including violent actions that may well ignite the entire world around them as Charlie retaliates with a fury of her own.

A first movie adaptation of the novel was released 4 years after the publishing of the book, entitled Firestarter (1984), directed by Mark L. Lester and starring a young post-E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) Drew Barrymore. Early in the new century, the novel had a TV mini-series follow-up entitled Firestarter 2: Rekindled (2002) starring Malcolm McDowell and Dennis Hopper. Now, Universal Pictures and Blumhouse Productions have joined forces for a new adaptation of the original novel with Firestarter (2022).

Following the plot of the Stephen King book, for more than a decade, parents Andy and Vicky have been on the run, desperate to hide their daughter Charlie 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 is deployed to hunt down the family and seize Charlie once and for all. Charlie has other plans.

German awards-winner director Fatih Akin, known for essential films like Head-On (aka Gegen die Wand) (2004), The Edge of Heaven (2007), Soul Kitchen (2009), In the Fade (2017), and The Golden Glove (2019), was first approached to direct but soon left the project. The final film has been directed by Keith Thomas, the director of supernatural horror The Vigil (2019). The screenplay for the adaptation has been written by Scott Teems, known for being the writer and director of That Evening Sun (2009) and The Quarry (2020), and the writer of Halloween Kills (2021).

The main cast for Firestarter (2022) is formed by Zac Efron, Ryan Kiera Armstrong, Sydney Lemmon, Gloria Reuben, Michael Greyeyes, Tina Jung, Lanette Ware, Neven Pajkic, John Beasley, and Kurtwood Smith.

The movie is Rated R for violent content. John Carpenter and his son Cody Carpenter have been in charge of the soundtrack. Firestarter (2022) will have a theatrical release and will be available for streaming on Peacock on May 13, 2022. Here you can watch its first official trailer.