I have no idea how the school system works in the US and don't get me wrong there is a LOT to pont out in our schools (I grew up in Poland) but If something like this happened in my school when I was a kid the teacher would get ballistic.
@@TheWoostergirl At my school a teacher can literally throw a chair at a student and get a slap on a wrist. Hell, today when we were doing our final exams some kid literally played the national anthem and stood in her chair while students were taking tests behind her. And. She. Didn't. Get. Punished. The teachers at my school will also barely do anything when I get stuff thrown at me in class.
Yeah, I was bullied pretty much during all my school years, and not one teacher or other employee ever done anything. In elementary school, the teacher was even my main bully cause she hated children despite being a teacher.
This is one of Stephen King's most straightforward and to-the-point novels I don't quite understand how hard it is to get right. Stranger Things nailed a similar concept.
I think because they writers and producers just wanted the theatrics that go along with the concept. They forget, that what made Stranger Things work was the story behind it as well.
@@shellsilvers it’s not terrible though, the first half is definitely boring and repetitive, but once it reaches the government facility I found it gripping, especially the horrifying manipulations of Rainbird such a fascinating character
Exactly! The book is SO good! I don't understand while the film versions are so poor. I never thought I would call the 1984 version more faithful to the novel. But compared to this shit storm it is. Blumhouse should never touch another Stephen King property. This and Pet Sematary were absolutely destroyed.
Fun fact, in the closest scene to the cat one in the book it’s actually a teddy bear and the lesson is “You shouldn’t use your powers because this is what happens” not a Palpatine “Do it”
The book did a great job explaining how the parents were forced to teach Charlie to suppress her powers for her own safety, scaring her with it to keep her from killing someone accidentally. Everything about this movie made me think no one involved ever read the book!
Not a fan of constant remakes, but Firestarter is in desperate need of one 10 years from now. Both adaptations failed and Stephen King now is too busy going on insane rants on Twitter than making sure his adaptations get the treatment they deserve. Hoping better directors take on Kings work and do something great with it all.
All I have to say is the Zefron as a father is both something that I refuse to accept and something that I need to mention to my therapist as to why I like it
He was a pretty good step dad in The Lucky One. Although I don't know if he technically was one as his girlfriend was a single mom and he had a strong bond with her son.
Honestly, the dodgeball bully scene was pretty accurate to American schools. Something similar happened to my friend in gym class, I almost started a fight with the bullies over it, and the teacher was more worried about my friend leaving class without permission and not the fact that she ran out crying after being chased by bullies in the first place.
Yeah a teacher watched as I had my stuff stolen and then damaged/destroyed in elementary school and when I flipped out about it (bully broke my gel pens- snapped in half, tore up my notebook and dumped out my homework binder so that pages tore) I was the one who was sent to the principle and told to not over react! And that It's just stuff! And that if I hadn't reacted then maybe my bully wouldn't have done that to me
Stephen King adaptations are either cinematic masterpieces or complete garbage. There is no in-between. By the way, the book does a much better job of explaining the experiments. And no. Rainbird did not have powers. He was just a creepy psychopath with an obsession. Idk why they changed the ending. The Rolling Stone thing is how the book ended by the way 😅
As to the teachers not caring, that was my exact experience. In middle school (when I was eleven), we were playing kickball in the gym. I kicked the ball, but got confused because everyone was yelling and I didn't know what to do. One of my teammates (a long-term bully of everyone) started screaming at me to get to first base. He marched up to me, backed me up against the wall, and screamed into my face as I tried to hide behind my hands while I cried. The teachers, who had been watching the whole thing, made me sit in the bleachers because I was too upset and it was keeping the others from continuing to play. He got no consequences. I got humiliated with no guidance or comfort. Welcome to the American public school system.
That sounds like a terrible experience and I’m sorry you had to go through that. I have no idea how an adult (never mind a goddamn teacher!) could see that and not react. Heartless bastards.
@@Thurston86 Thank you. I'm an adult now and I'm in a really good place. That was not the only bad experience I went through as a kid (and later as a teenager) with no support. But I got through to the other side. I felt compelled to share because of Amanda's utter disbelief that teachers wouldn't step in. They don't. Granted, that was a long time ago but I doubt it's any better now due to how badly teachers are treated here (and how little they're paid).
Yea once 3 guys pinned me to the ground because "it seemed like fun" and I had to go apologize to each of them in front of their whole classes for running as it "distracted them past the recess bell" in spite of being scared for my safety
As someone who grew up in the American school system, I can also attest to this. I was once beaten with a shoe on the swing set and not a single recess monitor did a thing about it lol
King's Critics: He always has the same boring, stereotypical bullies in all his books. Stephen King: *doesn't add any unnecessary bully characters to 'Firestarter'* Firestarter '22: *Literally adds unnecessary bully characters*
I'm convinced that what Stephen king does best is explore character flaws and inner dialog...a lot of the time the plot is secondary to why and how the characters do the things they do... I think its hard to portray this convincingly so a lot of king adaptations aren't great. It is frustrating
Honestly, the passing of time on its own has little to do with the success or failure of a remake. What really counts is the kind of changes society has experienced and how broad the gap between the present and the past has grown. This is the main reason a fair amount of remakes, especially of 50s’ horror movies, from the 80s have been hailed as modern classics over time. Particularly with horror, the acceptance/tolerance for the degree of violence that could be shown, as well as the themes that could be openly addressed, shifted drastically from the mid 70s onward, enabling a whole new generation of talented young filmmakers to permanently leave their mark in the industry and in the cultural zeitgeist of their time. The issue with the making of movies and series nowadays is two pronged. First, society hasn’t experienced enough profound changes, aside from a half-arsed push for more political correctness that gets unevenly implemented anyway, to either justify the need to remake a 30+ year old IP or impart it with a sufficiently different spin/identity to make it look fresh and cool again. Second, the new blood’s creativity has been severely restricted by the excessive greed of and corporate hold on the industry, ensuring that nothing truly experimental or boundaries pushing could ever see the light of day. Naturally, this leads actual talents to go looking elsewhere or quitting, leaving only a bunch of third or fourth choices, who mostly turn out to be either mediocre or one trick ponies, to handle the trite scripts their masters hand them over, with “profitability” as their single watchword.
I read the book this movie is..... Weird Like the mom is dead way earlier and a huge part is spent on the run with the dad and Charlie actually showing their bond and slowly ratcheting up the tension, then they both actually get captured and spend a few months in captivity sperated with the dad drugged into complacence and Charlie having her powers tested and pushed under the coercion that she'll get to see her dad if she listens until the final attempted escape attempt where the dad dies and Charlie completely destroys the facility. It's also a huge part that charlie can't control it. Once she activates her powers she has to use up the energy but the more often she uses it the more power. At first she can use like a sink of water but by the end she evaporates a whole lake after burning down the facility. She also doesn't get any of her parents powers.
@Elias Lionheart yeah I don't think that's the problem. More they wanted to turn a long drawn out psychological adventure into a quick action flick and cut all the wrong things. They wanted all the crazy action moments but they became flat and boring without the depth and context of the book and they tried some shitty dialogue to attempt to stitch together what was left. This was a shitty cash grab, plain and simple.
@Elias Lionheart Honestly I think that would either be awesome or I would not care. Because I’m not so closely identified with a work of pop art that I can’t handle change.
I felt sorry for the little girl. Being a kid, she’ll probably blame herself for the fact it flopped. Hopefully one day she realizes it was the adults in charge who made the wrong decisions. She still got that paycheck tho, and none of the pressure that comes with fame and popularity, so in my book she’s winning. I hope she’s gonna be okay ☺️
Jesus Christ ! The kid is gonnna be fine! Is her well being really a concern? The kid prob made 100 grand so place ur pity on something more deserving. Damn
As someone who got jumped in PE as an elementary student, I can vouch for teachers not giving a fuck. The coach was watching me the entire time. Three people kicking me in the spine. I was bedbound for a few weeks. Was the only one who got in trouble and no one called my mom. I got pulled out of that school after that.
@@theoistrying9904 That.... that sucks. I actually had to take a bit to process this. It sounds horrible and you have my empathy for sure. 🙏 I hope you're doing as well as can be had. 💛💙💜🌈
The way the teachers ignored the bullying was exactly my experience. I'm glad people have had more positive experiences to the point where they find that unbelievable. But for me, it was the most realistic part. I was once doing group work in the classroom, and I was put in a group with a bully. I got detention for running out of the classroom crying. Bully got nothing, even though the teacher heard it all. So yeah, completely real.
We never dissected frogs. The most I've dissected, besides the owl pellets, was of all things fruit flies. It was really difficult to dissect such a tiny bug idk why we had to do that
Okay so why didn't the dad...just hypnotize his kid in the beginning of the movie to not...be a destructive pyromaniac?? Since he can stop smokers? Edit: oh my god he's just an idiot. At least it's an explanation.
I haven't seen this movie, but in the book his power is dangerous for the other person as well as him. The more he pushes them, the more chance of some kind of catastrophic feedback loop. One guy puts his own arm in a garbage disposal. I have no idea why they changed it so the dad is using his power willy-nilly.
Apparently in the books his power is as dangerous for him than to other people. it can fuck them up, so imagine rewiring a big part of her brain, it could have just made things even worse for her
That was dumb as hell. Avatar and Stranger Things handled the grappling with morality of vengeance 1000% better. If someone is on a current manhunt for you and they've killed one parent and kidnapped another, you protect yourself.
He was only 33 when he shot this movie. Still possible to have a 10 year old kid at that age ofc, what I'm saying is that I forget some people have them really young.
Everyone born after 1990 seems to struggle with the idea that it is actually normal for people who want kids to have them in their 20s, and that the modern phenomenon of people who want kids choosing to hold off on it until their 30s is a sign of serious economic and social decline.
Pertaining to Zac Efron as the dad, I felt the exact way about Julia Stiles in the remake of The Omen. I couldn't believe, for a second, she was that child's mother.
The trailer for this unwanted remake annoyed the Hell out of me. Reading the synopsis only made me hate it even more. The only thing it managed to accomplish was convincing me to go out and find a copy of the OG 80s movie with Drew Barrymore (which I did - because that movie was epic and didn't stray far from the source material). Why Hollywood insists on remaking classics and tampering with the plot/characters in order to make it edgier confuses the Hell out of me.
@@averlinbc5680 Nah, they went edgier than that. Making Andy's eyes bleed when using his powers (instead of from his nose). Having Charlie set her mom's arms on fire in a fit of rage over seeing herself as a monster (instead of a two year old Charlie setting her mom's oven mitts on fire; giving all of them all a scare rather than any physical harm being caused). Charlie admitting she kind of likes hurting others(instead of Charlie hating hurting others; seeing as that incident where she almost hurt her mom had a lasting affect on her). And finally, whatever that ending was supposed to be (Andy using his Push ability to force Charlie to kill everyone, including himself, in order to escape the compound - Charlie seemingly enjoying what she was doing; rather than a dying Andy insisting Charlie use her abilities to escape the compound, otherwise they'd never leave her alone, something she took no joy in doing.
It kinda did need a remake if you read the book. I don’t mind remakes only if it’s a re adaptation of a book that was adapted into a bad film, but remaking an original movie that wasn’t based off a book or comic is wrong.
The Hanged Man in a tarot card reading is associated with surrender, but in a releasing kind of way, not in this dude's aggressive way. More like, letting go, taking a pause, and getting a new perspective (hence hanging upside down). I guess it's the closest to what he wants. Cool tattoo tho.
It feels like they were going for the edgiest-looking tarot card in the major arcana and that's always either the hanged man or death. Because neither of their associations are inherently bad.
The funniest thing was listening to all the middle aged women in my mom's stephan king fan group talking about how bad the trailer looked and making fun of it. And when the fan groups are calling a Stephen King adaptation lame you know it's gonna be bad Glad to know they were right
For me, the magic of Stephen King's work comes from his writing style and the scene building he does masterfully. I think a lot of the issues with modern King adaptations are they try to modernise the tone and feeling, wrapping in a lot of what has become modern horror cliche, while losing the original charm the books had. I know its common for screen writers and directors to want to put their own stamp and flare on their projects, but when so much of what works about a subject is the style the original author put into it, you're playing a huge gamble on an adaptation when you start cutting away at it
You're probably right. IT 2017 worked because it didn't really care about being scary or edgy, it just wanted to tell a story about kids growing up (which is what the novel did).
And they also try to be politically correct with his work by gender swapping his characters which is getting annoying at this point. King is pretty woke himself if you see his Twitter feed, but you have to at least respect the people who like his work and characters.
From what I've read of his books, they're mostly focused on the characters, so what makes the threat scary is that it's looming over people we grow to care for. Movies often focus too much on the threat itself and forgets the characters and how it affects them, because horror movies "are meant to be scary"
@@ericcartman7361 Is he woke? I’ve seen several excepts of his writing on r/menwritingwomen and the way he’s described some female characters is, uh, *somewhat problematic*
I haven’t read many of his books but I did read a Carrie and the Mist and I agree. A lot of the tension comes from the characters, not from “the threat”. Like in the Mist I was more scared of church lady than the monsters but the monsters were an interesting way to lock all these people together. I do think that modernizing some aspects of older stories can work, but only when you choose carefully and fully understand the original and what it is at the core. When you just add a cell phone in and have them use new lingo it doesn’t really work. But in a lot of ways that’s why classics are “classics” because the core concept is relatable no matter the era.
18:08 "Then they toss in a little prayer at the end for the mom - in case you forgot she died." *cuts to corpse thumping on the floor* lmao, comedic gold
I like to imagine that the casting director heard that people on the internet have been calling zach Efron daddy(especially since his documentary series from a while ago) and they thought "oh so he's giving off father figure vibes, let's cast him as a literal dad".
"I could never be scared of you" "Yeah lady we'll see" and "she runs off before she makes the rest of the kid match his hair" and "Evil Matilda" Better than the entire movie
There's also a Carrie sequel called The Rage Carrie 2 about Carrie's younger half sister. Stephen King has an insane number of adaptations, remakes, and spin offs based on his work.
I've learned from Amanda. One look at the Blumhouse logo in the trailer and I knew it was going to be a waste of time. I also knew it was only a matter of time before she made a video on it. Our queen is nothing if not reliable.
Does nobody else watch Blumhouse films as comedies? I always go in knowing full well my friend and I are gonna yell at the screen and point and laugh, which is why we usually watch them at home where we're not bothering anyone trying to take the movie seriously. Blumhouse makes terrible horror movies but great comedies if you just flip your perspective.
They could have done a profound movie about the fathers and daughters bond despite the overly destructive traits of her powers that the father can’t explain or understand because of his own powers that only affect people internally but instead they went with the most cookie cutter plot line they could think of I can’t with Hollywood anymore
That’s what so beautiful in the book, the whole point of it is a father’s love for his daughter. The screenwriters completely discarded that for ‘fire child cool’ explosions. This could have been so good and it’s so disappointing!!!
I think one thing about SK movie remakes, from what I've seen, is that they don't make use enough of the different setting. Like in this one, the most we get of technology is that the family doesn't use it for fear of being tracked and Charlie gets bullied because not having a smartphone makes her weird. It's like they used that so that they could write out technology completely, when it could've been used in a lot of ways. Like if Charlie used it to tell her story without having to find an unbiased media outlet like in the books, or if after destroying the lab, Charlie becomes a bit of a cryptid where people keep spreading videos and pictures of her around the country using her powers to the point that people are unsure if she's real or not. Also in Carrie (2017), the most technology is used is as a bit of the icing on the cake of the prom scene (with the video of Carrie's being bullied) and Carrie doing research. Could've used cyberbullying or social media in some way, like Carrie finding a community online that feeds into her want for revenge, leading to the prom massacre (like those mass shooters who get radicalized online). Or maybe show how after the bully is suspended, the school's online community shifts their entire opinion to Carrie's side and begins to bully the bully while Carrie becomes much more popular, and the bully did the pig blood prank to turn the tables back, because the popular opinion online changes sides so easily. Point is, there's a lot of ways for technology to add to the story if you ask how the story would change if it happened in a different era. But directors/writers don't make use of that, besides some throw away lines/scenes that if omitted, you could believe the story was still set in the 1980s. It makes the remakes redundant even if they had been good movies.
one of the biggest issues is that there's not one person that would buy Zac Efron as a dad. He's just too young looking, I feel the general public could buy Zac as the cool uncle who takes in his niece after she burned his brother and sister-in-law to death in a house fire more than him being her father. I also agree with it being boring, I dipped within the first five minutes.
@@CheziahKatt Also, a lot of people (like me) didn't follow Zac Efron so we aren't biased by his teenybopper movie phase or whatever. So, it makes perfect sense to have him as a dad, as he looks about the right age. However, I'm not going to see this movie regardless, since it is universally panned.
@@EugWanker I never caught highschool musical either. And being around his age and having friends with kids about Charlie's age. Idk, seems fine to me. I may or may not see it, I'm not sure. I'm a huge Stephen King reader which is why I might.
Zac Efron is only a couple years younger than me and he is like a year younger than my youngest sister. She's got young teenagers. My older sister is a grandma. One of my friends had kids "late" and the kids is like six. I have friends who have kids that are like in their mid twenties. I'm just saying that there are definitely people who can buy Zac Efron is the dad of an elementary school kid.
The secret scientific experiment facility is honestly one of my least favourite tropes, because I want to say at least 60% of the time they don't even bother to explain what the purpose of the experiments is. It's just like, "Well, why *wouldn't* government scientists spend a bunch of money just kind of messing around with stuff to see what it does, with no real aim or goal in mind?"
If I personally were in charge of a remake, I would be all up in to recreating the whole backstory of the OG experiments, and their lives. I would end the film the day the girl was in her crib and she started her first fire. There you go. Like what is going to happen? How are they gonna deal with that?Roll credits.
@@sarahtaylor4264 exactly, they signed up to make money as college students needing cash. In a drug trial. This happens every day in America. Its not a reach whatsoever.
By the time I was forced to read Firestarter, in high school, I had already read it a dozen times. It baffles me that no one can even get the basic themes right, never mind actually make a functional adaptation of the novel.
I thought the girl wasn’t a great actress, especially if she was supposed to pull off that childlike innocence instead of more sociopathic instincts. I also didn’t think there was enough pyrokinesis in this movie about a pyrokinetic. Also, on the teacher/bullying situation: I called the teacher out on the gym scene too, but then I remembered that when I was in high school someone bullied me right in front of the teachers desk while she was sitting there and she didn’t say anything.
The reason the road trip with Irv is a highlight of the novel is that it plays to King's strength as a writer - character building and making us care about the people in the story before burning it all down (in this case, literally). In the book it's paced brilliantly.
Amanda, I freaking love that you always find a way to bring even the most innocuous things back to Twilight. "La Push, baby." I do the same thing but with The West Wing LOL. It's my touchstone.
The hanged man means getting a new perspective. He wasn’t hanged by others, he put himself into this position to see everything up-side-down. That’s at least the explanation I know of this card.
It's my understanding that dissection is being phased out due to the relatively low effectiveness as a teaching resource vs. the comparatively demanding logistics, set up, and emotional turmoil associated
Ooo I hope so! I was so happy that via some unorthodox school moving I was able to avoid dissecting anything more than an earth worm. That was miserable enough. With technology these days, there is just better ways to teach it. Although, if you’re in the medical field a human cadaver is the best way to learn/teach gross anatomy, because there is a ton of natural variation in human anatomy (anatomy in general) that would be really hard to replicate with models and mannequins. It’s why many internal surgeries try to get imaging first to make sure things are where they think they are.
I read that book! I was glad they made another movie, but now I’m pretty bummed out Thanks for not talking about the cat thing too much. It really bothered me just to hear that short bit about it
I am 37, happily childless but every time that I see actor/ess younger than me that I remember being teenage/young adults stars now playing somebody older/married/with children, I am utterly confused.
“Psychic fire abilities.” Ah yes, the rare fire psychic type Pokémon. I remember how Victini was a big deal when they were announced, and the pairing is still pretty rare.
The dodgeball scene is pretty accurate…I one time got hit in the face with a ball so hard in the face that It broke my glasses and the teacher kinda just pretended he didn’t see it.
I am glad you watched this so I didn't have to. I LOVE this book and reread it a lot, and the 80s version with Drew Barrymore was thankfully much closer to the source material. The bond between Charlie and her dad was the most important thing about the book. The fact that they've written Zefron's version to be more antagonistic toward her completely undermines that but doesn't replace it with anything else. Also the friendly connection she had with the old couple was very important for the ending. Sad that yet another Stephen King remake was altered to be crap.
That's such a heartbreaker. I actually got into Stephen King BECAUSE of the first FIRESTARTER movie. Looking back, it was clearly cheesy as fuck, but my dad showed it to me when I was a little kid in the early 2000s and I loved it. Started watching more of the movies based on his works and eventually reading his books because of it. Was really excited for this remake. It's a bummer they did a classic so dirty like this.
I actually first read Firestarter because I was reading Jumper, and it is referenced in the book. On that note, that’s another great book with a crap adaptation.
Watched this movie because I was bored... First thing I thought was "damn I'm definitely old now if zac Efron can be believable in the role as a dad to a 10 year old now." Then the rest of the movie nothing else happened as there was a surprising lack of fires being started.
...I dissected a sheep and cow's eye and pigs lung, heart, and trachea in elementary school...the US is unhinged, but the education system was really unhinged back in the day. Especially because we also used to play dodgeball with those plastic ass balls that would leave welts
The mom in this remake, played by Sydney Lemmon, she also plays Satan’s Daughter, Satana Hellstrom, in the MCU. That is a MUCH better “good girl with bad powers” take. Helstrom, on Hulu. 😍
While she is probably awesome in it, I have to be the annoying weirdo and point out that it's not the MCU, but just marvel. Which is super confusing. And now I need to watch this show. The satan show, not this movie.
I wonder if the writer who decided Satan's daughter should be named Satana Hellstrom was howling with as much laughter as I am right now. That's one of the dumbest things I've ever heard and I love it.
@@cynderhazelworth4467 they retconned daredevil and the defenders to be in the mcu so yeah helstrom , cloak and dagger , agents of shield and runaways are all in the mcu as well. The only marvel baswd properties that aren't officially part of the mcu is new mutants , legion , hit-monkey , modok and the sony films which takes place in the mcu multiverse venom , morbius and upcoming kraven etc.
Every once in a while, that peeled apple on the wallpaper starts to look like an eyeball and I'm weirded out for a second until I remember what it actually is!
My mom and sister wanted to see it. I think thatgirl actor is awful. I don't want to watch however long of a child screeching to summon her powers and "liar liar pants on fire'? What cringe. She was awful in American Horror Story too
I remember watching the first trailer of this movie and only thinking: oh,another movie about a kid with powers that goes evil... Yay... (that's what the trailer told me it was) So I'm glad you're covering it,I was slightly curious but I truly don't wanna watch it
I can tell you from solid interest and expecting Stranger Things vibes, you're not missing anything. Painfully stupid and uncomfortably funny throughout. At least I can watch 30 Rock on Peacock 'cuz they took my 5 bucks lol.
Okay, have you watched the 80s version? This one isnt so bad and not too long. It ended quickly straight to the point. Also it has a cool easter egg when she come back to dress like Drew Bartimore before the last fight. So it gives a lil flashback to the original movie
Drew Barrymore in the 84' adaptation, she and Art Carney do not go to Rolling Stone magazine. They go to The New York Times. Other than that mistake, I agree with everything else you said. Just thankful I did watch it on Peacock rather than spending money in the theater. And even on Peacock, I feel it was a massive waste of time.
That means Zac's character would have had the kid at 23. I know someone who had their THIRD kid at 23. The only egregious thing is the infantilization of adult people in the US cultural hegemony.
@@KyrieFortune Please.....this is not the way I want to know that my kid will be 11 sooner than I think. Like....dang, I'm really about to be 30 with an 8 year old.
Thank you for mentioning the cat :( I was going to watch this movie and I am glad to know to avoid it. I have EXTREMELY adverse reactions to animal cruelty in movies (especially cats), so this is very appreciated. Also good to know I'm not missing much, lol
Same. I stopped watching game of thrones after the part in the first episode where they killed the wolf. I just don’t want to spend my relaxing time watching that.
Does anyone expected this to be good? The moment Blumhouse was announced as producer, you know it's not gonna be any good. Their track record in horror has been pretty bad lately
I think we, as a society, need to move past the "super-powered child with incompetent parents" trope. It peaked with Frozen, and it just went downhill from there.
Lol, when my parents were 34, I was in middle school and my sister was in high school. Blows my mind sitting here at 38. My sister has a high schooler and middle schooler but she's like 42.
Chris Evans and Dakota Fanning are in a film called *Push.* It's a damned shame this film never got a sequel. The "push" power, the experiments, the agents... Same cinematic universe? 🤔 Amanda, I know it's not a "new" film exactly, but if you haven't yet seen it, go watch Push.
Wtf I dissected mine in med school physiology lab. Don't think this is a thing that children need to see . There is also an ethical side to it I think.
i wasn't even aware of what the movie was before, genre or anything, I just saw zac in the trailer and child wth powers so I sat down to watch it, and I assumed it was like one of those low budget indie movies, and I was really impressed, I was like oh sure its a bit messy and the end is underwhelming, but it's good quality for a low budget movie about people with powers. but then I saw it was in theatres and I was like what the hell??? not good enough for that? i liked the movie I thought it had a lot of potential but it wasn't a "real" movie so I judged It based on that, but knowing what it's meant to be, damn it's not good
"Teacher sees kid get bullied and does fuck-all" is probably the most accurate thing in this movie.
I have no idea how the school system works in the US and don't get me wrong there is a LOT to pont out in our schools (I grew up in Poland) but If something like this happened in my school when I was a kid the teacher would get ballistic.
@@TheWoostergirl damn, thats lucky, over here in england, teachers barely care, i know cuz i was someone bullied for 6 years
@@TheWoostergirl ot depends on the area, my school never had Bullies, they all got expelled so fast its actually insane how on top of it they were.
@@TheWoostergirl At my school a teacher can literally throw a chair at a student and get a slap on a wrist. Hell, today when we were doing our final exams some kid literally played the national anthem and stood in her chair while students were taking tests behind her. And. She. Didn't. Get. Punished. The teachers at my school will also barely do anything when I get stuff thrown at me in class.
Yeah, I was bullied pretty much during all my school years, and not one teacher or other employee ever done anything. In elementary school, the teacher was even my main bully cause she hated children despite being a teacher.
don’t feel old, but…..
highschool musical was 16 years ago.
AUGH
I watch your channel. You’re the best beardo.
no
...... Oh my god. LMAO.
why would you hurt me like this
This is one of Stephen King's most straightforward and to-the-point novels I don't quite understand how hard it is to get right. Stranger Things nailed a similar concept.
I think because they writers and producers just wanted the theatrics that go along with the concept. They forget, that what made Stranger Things work was the story behind it as well.
It's just not that good of a book tbh
@@shellsilvers it’s not terrible though, the first half is definitely boring and repetitive, but once it reaches the government facility I found it gripping, especially the horrifying manipulations of Rainbird such a fascinating character
Exactly! The book is SO good! I don't understand while the film versions are so poor. I never thought I would call the 1984 version more faithful to the novel. But compared to this shit storm it is.
Blumhouse should never touch another Stephen King property. This and Pet Sematary were absolutely destroyed.
I could tel this was a bad movie just from the trailer....
Fun fact, in the closest scene to the cat one in the book it’s actually a teddy bear and the lesson is “You shouldn’t use your powers because this is what happens” not a Palpatine “Do it”
Thank you! I was trying to remember if there was a cat in the book.
If it’s showing a cat on fire then I’m not watching it. Why can’t they just follow the original story in the book?
The book did a great job explaining how the parents were forced to teach Charlie to suppress her powers for her own safety, scaring her with it to keep her from killing someone accidentally. Everything about this movie made me think no one involved ever read the book!
Not a fan of constant remakes, but Firestarter is in desperate need of one 10 years from now. Both adaptations failed and Stephen King now is too busy going on insane rants on Twitter than making sure his adaptations get the treatment they deserve. Hoping better directors take on Kings work and do something great with it all.
🤣🤣🤣 I could hear Palpatine’s voice when I read this
All I have to say is the Zefron as a father is both something that I refuse to accept and something that I need to mention to my therapist as to why I like it
I'm a sucker for young single dads lol though I like Andy from the 80s movie better....he never told his Charlie "tough" 😝
I don’t know if I should like this comment because it kinda freaks me out in a bad way.
He was a pretty good step dad in The Lucky One. Although I don't know if he technically was one as his girlfriend was a single mom and he had a strong bond with her son.
Seeing actors that are your age peers become film parents is an eye opening experience! lol
As a therapist, I’m sure they’ll love it
Honestly, the dodgeball bully scene was pretty accurate to American schools. Something similar happened to my friend in gym class, I almost started a fight with the bullies over it, and the teacher was more worried about my friend leaving class without permission and not the fact that she ran out crying after being chased by bullies in the first place.
Yeah, as someone who was bullied, that seemed pretty realistic. Just, shrug and ignore.
My PE teacher joined in the laughing after they threw/kicked balls at me so this checks out honestly, I think PE teachers just tend to be trash.
Unfortunate truth in media, the dodgeball scene
Yeah a teacher watched as I had my stuff stolen and then damaged/destroyed in elementary school and when I flipped out about it (bully broke my gel pens- snapped in half, tore up my notebook and dumped out my homework binder so that pages tore) I was the one who was sent to the principle and told to not over react! And that It's just stuff! And that if I hadn't reacted then maybe my bully wouldn't have done that to me
For real, people threw balls at my face to the point I was bleeding out of my mouth, but still I was seen as the problem child for leaving gym class
I mean, the trailer had her say “Liar Liar, pants on fire” I wasn’t expecting it to be good.
Tbf the trailer was pretty cool except for that cheesy line
Tbh I love chesy lines like that in movies. They're bad but in a good way.
Yeah the trailers did a sh!tty job of hyping this movie. Hoping 10 years later, Firestarter will get a proper adaptation.
I started laughing when I heard that 😭 it totally killed the vibe for the movie
@@hunterprice3320 "I like being bad. It makes me happy."
- Eric Forman as Venom
Cracks my shit up every time. 🤣
Stephen King adaptations are either cinematic masterpieces or complete garbage. There is no in-between. By the way, the book does a much better job of explaining the experiments. And no. Rainbird did not have powers. He was just a creepy psychopath with an obsession. Idk why they changed the ending. The Rolling Stone thing is how the book ended by the way 😅
I was thinking of this. The great adaptations are human stories without much horror or magical elements.
@thereal finalgirl those are the standouts 💜
@@haleymist09 And It
As to the teachers not caring, that was my exact experience. In middle school (when I was eleven), we were playing kickball in the gym. I kicked the ball, but got confused because everyone was yelling and I didn't know what to do. One of my teammates (a long-term bully of everyone) started screaming at me to get to first base. He marched up to me, backed me up against the wall, and screamed into my face as I tried to hide behind my hands while I cried. The teachers, who had been watching the whole thing, made me sit in the bleachers because I was too upset and it was keeping the others from continuing to play. He got no consequences. I got humiliated with no guidance or comfort. Welcome to the American public school system.
That sounds like a terrible experience and I’m sorry you had to go through that. I have no idea how an adult (never mind a goddamn teacher!) could see that and not react. Heartless bastards.
@@Thurston86 Thank you. I'm an adult now and I'm in a really good place. That was not the only bad experience I went through as a kid (and later as a teenager) with no support. But I got through to the other side. I felt compelled to share because of Amanda's utter disbelief that teachers wouldn't step in. They don't. Granted, that was a long time ago but I doubt it's any better now due to how badly teachers are treated here (and how little they're paid).
My own thinking, teachers not seeming to care is sadly the most realistic part of this movie.
Yea once 3 guys pinned me to the ground because "it seemed like fun" and I had to go apologize to each of them in front of their whole classes for running as it "distracted them past the recess bell" in spite of being scared for my safety
As someone who grew up in the American school system, I can also attest to this. I was once beaten with a shoe on the swing set and not a single recess monitor did a thing about it lol
Having your main character kill an animal for literally no reason is a good way to get me to want that character to die horribly.
There was a reason…the cat bite her so her fire was a knee jerk reaction…. Plus leaving the cat burning and suffering would be worst
@@bribro23 yeah, but snap it's neck, don't lite it on fire again, it takes time to die that way....
@@Celebrian666 she's a kid lmao not an assassin
@@vaqexp5648 her being a kid literally doesn't matter, when i was 12 i knew that hurting animals was bad.
@@vaqexp5648 The dad was right there. He should have either taught her how to kill it more humanely or better get killed it himself.
King's Critics: He always has the same boring, stereotypical bullies in all his books.
Stephen King: *doesn't add any unnecessary bully characters to 'Firestarter'*
Firestarter '22: *Literally adds unnecessary bully characters*
What happens a lot with SK adaptations is that his books are about the people and about their relationships, but the movies are about the monsters 😕
this actually is an excellent point.
I'm convinced that what Stephen king does best is explore character flaws and inner dialog...a lot of the time the plot is secondary to why and how the characters do the things they do... I think its hard to portray this convincingly so a lot of king adaptations aren't great. It is frustrating
I mean, the first movie came out in 1984. Doesn't feel like enough time has passed for a remake, it's only been...
Oh. Oh no.
Almost 40 years.
I know. I know.
Drew Barrymore was the kid in that one, yeah?
Honestly, the passing of time on its own has little to do with the success or failure of a remake. What really counts is the kind of changes society has experienced and how broad the gap between the present and the past has grown. This is the main reason a fair amount of remakes, especially of 50s’ horror movies, from the 80s have been hailed as modern classics over time.
Particularly with horror, the acceptance/tolerance for the degree of violence that could be shown, as well as the themes that could be openly addressed, shifted drastically from the mid 70s onward, enabling a whole new generation of talented young filmmakers to permanently leave their mark in the industry and in the cultural zeitgeist of their time.
The issue with the making of movies and series nowadays is two pronged. First, society hasn’t experienced enough profound changes, aside from a half-arsed push for more political correctness that gets unevenly implemented anyway, to either justify the need to remake a 30+ year old IP or impart it with a sufficiently different spin/identity to make it look fresh and cool again. Second, the new blood’s creativity has been severely restricted by the excessive greed of and corporate hold on the industry, ensuring that nothing truly experimental or boundaries pushing could ever see the light of day. Naturally, this leads actual talents to go looking elsewhere or quitting, leaving only a bunch of third or fourth choices, who mostly turn out to be either mediocre or one trick ponies, to handle the trite scripts their masters hand them over, with “profitability” as their single watchword.
@@Zeburaman2005 Society has completely changed, due to the 4th industrial revolution. The existence of smartphones alone upheavals most horror plots.
I read the book this movie is..... Weird
Like the mom is dead way earlier and a huge part is spent on the run with the dad and Charlie actually showing their bond and slowly ratcheting up the tension, then they both actually get captured and spend a few months in captivity sperated with the dad drugged into complacence and Charlie having her powers tested and pushed under the coercion that she'll get to see her dad if she listens until the final attempted escape attempt where the dad dies and Charlie completely destroys the facility. It's also a huge part that charlie can't control it. Once she activates her powers she has to use up the energy but the more often she uses it the more power. At first she can use like a sink of water but by the end she evaporates a whole lake after burning down the facility. She also doesn't get any of her parents powers.
@Elias Lionheart yeah I don't think that's the problem. More they wanted to turn a long drawn out psychological adventure into a quick action flick and cut all the wrong things. They wanted all the crazy action moments but they became flat and boring without the depth and context of the book and they tried some shitty dialogue to attempt to stitch together what was left. This was a shitty cash grab, plain and simple.
@@kyab2815 but the woke mob!!! they’re ruining our art!!!!! /s
Lol, some neckbeard ALWAYS whines about wokeness, i.e. "this thing I dislike that I'm going to slap the label "woke" on".
@@reneedailey1696 have pity. critical thinking isn’t necessarily their strong suit
@Elias Lionheart Honestly I think that would either be awesome or I would not care. Because I’m not so closely identified with a work of pop art that I can’t handle change.
I got big "have you tried NOT being a mutant?" vibes from ZacDaddy... But I was too bored to do anything more than roll my eyes.
That's funny! Partly because I was imagining the senator from X1 using Amanda's lines here in the hearing: "Out here! Reproducing! Willy-nilly!"
@@TitularHeroine OMG yes! 🤣 * high fives *
@@Desaki65 ✋
Mom: This is all my fault.
Pyro: Actually, studies have proved that men carry the genetic mutation for the X-gene, so it's your husband's fault.
Lol
@@LoveMyUnusual 😭😭😭😭 *chef's kiss*
I felt sorry for the little girl. Being a kid, she’ll probably blame herself for the fact it flopped. Hopefully one day she realizes it was the adults in charge who made the wrong decisions.
She still got that paycheck tho, and none of the pressure that comes with fame and popularity, so in my book she’s winning. I hope she’s gonna be okay ☺️
Jesus Christ ! The kid is gonnna be fine! Is her well being really a concern? The kid prob made 100 grand so place ur pity on something more deserving. Damn
@@lsimon343 relax homie
@@brysonius lol ur right- too much coffee😂😂
@@lsimon343 I appreciate you and relate
The original movie bombed big time, and Drew Barrymore lived through it.
As someone who got jumped in PE as an elementary student, I can vouch for teachers not giving a fuck. The coach was watching me the entire time. Three people kicking me in the spine. I was bedbound for a few weeks. Was the only one who got in trouble and no one called my mom. I got pulled out of that school after that.
Jesus.... I hope no long-term damage?
@@TitularHeroine i honestly don’t know. I already have a connective tissue disorder that affects my joints. The situation certainly didn’t help
@@theoistrying9904 did you press any charges
@@theoistrying9904 That.... that sucks. I actually had to take a bit to process this. It sounds horrible and you have my empathy for sure. 🙏 I hope you're doing as well as can be had.
💛💙💜🌈
@@aubreyackermann8432 no i was 11 in 4th grade
The dad telling Charlie to push her powers down and hide them is the same advice Elsa's dad told her as a kid. Worked real well 🙄
The way the teachers ignored the bullying was exactly my experience. I'm glad people have had more positive experiences to the point where they find that unbelievable. But for me, it was the most realistic part.
I was once doing group work in the classroom, and I was put in a group with a bully. I got detention for running out of the classroom crying. Bully got nothing, even though the teacher heard it all.
So yeah, completely real.
Society itself often bullies others.
In my region of America we didn't dissect frogs until 7th grade. The most we dissected in elementary school was like owl pellets.
We never dissected frogs. The most I've dissected, besides the owl pellets, was of all things fruit flies. It was really difficult to dissect such a tiny bug idk why we had to do that
We dissected owl pellets in 8th and fetal pigs in 9th. For some reason, we seemed to skip frogs entirely and go to pigs.
@@Faith-Trust-Pixie-Dust idk why this is hilarious but it is
@@sonorasgirl I'm laughing too haha! Worst thing, they were still alive! Some of them kept waking up and flying around
I went to a marine biology centered elementary school and they made us dissect baby sharks 😭
Okay so why didn't the dad...just hypnotize his kid in the beginning of the movie to not...be a destructive pyromaniac?? Since he can stop smokers?
Edit: oh my god he's just an idiot. At least it's an explanation.
I haven't seen this movie, but in the book his power is dangerous for the other person as well as him. The more he pushes them, the more chance of some kind of catastrophic feedback loop. One guy puts his own arm in a garbage disposal. I have no idea why they changed it so the dad is using his power willy-nilly.
Apparently in the books his power is as dangerous for him than to other people. it can fuck them up, so imagine rewiring a big part of her brain, it could have just made things even worse for her
"Don't kill the bad man!"
"Why not?"
*Looks at camera* "Because nobody ever thinks about the families of evil henchmen."
That was dumb as hell.
Avatar and Stranger Things handled the grappling with morality of vengeance 1000% better.
If someone is on a current manhunt for you and they've killed one parent and kidnapped another, you protect yourself.
My initial reaction to Efron being cast was that he is way too young, but then I realized people do, in fact, have kids in their early 20's...
Zac is almost 40
He was only 33 when he shot this movie. Still possible to have a 10 year old kid at that age ofc, what I'm saying is that I forget some people have them really young.
Everyone born after 1990 seems to struggle with the idea that it is actually normal for people who want kids to have them in their 20s, and that the modern phenomenon of people who want kids choosing to hold off on it until their 30s is a sign of serious economic and social decline.
Love it when a protagonist only decides not to kill people when face to face with the main antagonist
If I kill them I am as bad as they are. Oh shut up hero give me the gun .
I think it's the counter of Rainbird's Power, remember Charlie was still being hypnotized when she killed those people.
Charlie isn't 8 in the remake, just the original. Here, she's 12. This explains a lot of the issues.
I own both on dvd
Pertaining to Zac Efron as the dad, I felt the exact way about Julia Stiles in the remake of The Omen. I couldn't believe, for a second, she was that child's mother.
Or Chris Evans being a father in _‚Defending Jacob‘,_ lmao. Couldn‘t believe it a second.
He’s older than Efron by a few years so it’s kinda more realistic
I think it's not just their looks but also their personality, I just feel like some actors give off 0 parental vibes.
wasn't he a father in that film that was about him adopting a little girl? that was a good role for him
The trailer for this unwanted remake annoyed the Hell out of me. Reading the synopsis only made me hate it even more. The only thing it managed to accomplish was convincing me to go out and find a copy of the OG 80s movie with Drew Barrymore (which I did - because that movie was epic and didn't stray far from the source material).
Why Hollywood insists on remaking classics and tampering with the plot/characters in order to make it edgier confuses the Hell out of me.
Which is weird because I don’t think they made it edgier…😅 They just killed the cat 🐈
@@averlinbc5680 Nah, they went edgier than that.
Making Andy's eyes bleed when using his powers (instead of from his nose).
Having Charlie set her mom's arms on fire in a fit of rage over seeing herself as a monster (instead of a two year old Charlie setting her mom's oven mitts on fire; giving all of them all a scare rather than any physical harm being caused).
Charlie admitting she kind of likes hurting others(instead of Charlie hating hurting others; seeing as that incident where she almost hurt her mom had a lasting affect on her).
And finally, whatever that ending was supposed to be (Andy using his Push ability to force Charlie to kill everyone, including himself, in order to escape the compound - Charlie seemingly enjoying what she was doing; rather than a dying Andy insisting Charlie use her abilities to escape the compound, otherwise they'd never leave her alone, something she took no joy in doing.
It kinda did need a remake if you read the book. I don’t mind remakes only if it’s a re adaptation of a book that was adapted into a bad film, but remaking an original movie that wasn’t based off a book or comic is wrong.
The Hanged Man in a tarot card reading is associated with surrender, but in a releasing kind of way, not in this dude's aggressive way. More like, letting go, taking a pause, and getting a new perspective (hence hanging upside down). I guess it's the closest to what he wants.
Cool tattoo tho.
It feels like they were going for the edgiest-looking tarot card in the major arcana and that's always either the hanged man or death. Because neither of their associations are inherently bad.
@@teapartypenguin1353 extremely true
@@teapartypenguin1353 You'd think they'd throw a Tower in there from time to time... lol
@@pagingdrbitchcraft or The Devil, on the off chance no one can tell a burning tower is a bad thing!
The funniest thing was listening to all the middle aged women in my mom's stephan king fan group talking about how bad the trailer looked and making fun of it. And when the fan groups are calling a Stephen King adaptation lame you know it's gonna be bad
Glad to know they were right
The sheer number makes it easier. Stephen King movies could practically be an entire genre unto themselves.
For me, the magic of Stephen King's work comes from his writing style and the scene building he does masterfully. I think a lot of the issues with modern King adaptations are they try to modernise the tone and feeling, wrapping in a lot of what has become modern horror cliche, while losing the original charm the books had. I know its common for screen writers and directors to want to put their own stamp and flare on their projects, but when so much of what works about a subject is the style the original author put into it, you're playing a huge gamble on an adaptation when you start cutting away at it
You're probably right. IT 2017 worked because it didn't really care about being scary or edgy, it just wanted to tell a story about kids growing up (which is what the novel did).
And they also try to be politically correct with his work by gender swapping his characters which is getting annoying at this point. King is pretty woke himself if you see his Twitter feed, but you have to at least respect the people who like his work and characters.
From what I've read of his books, they're mostly focused on the characters, so what makes the threat scary is that it's looming over people we grow to care for. Movies often focus too much on the threat itself and forgets the characters and how it affects them, because horror movies "are meant to be scary"
@@ericcartman7361 Is he woke? I’ve seen several excepts of his writing on r/menwritingwomen and the way he’s described some female characters is, uh, *somewhat problematic*
I haven’t read many of his books but I did read a Carrie and the Mist and I agree. A lot of the tension comes from the characters, not from “the threat”. Like in the Mist I was more scared of church lady than the monsters but the monsters were an interesting way to lock all these people together. I do think that modernizing some aspects of older stories can work, but only when you choose carefully and fully understand the original and what it is at the core. When you just add a cell phone in and have them use new lingo it doesn’t really work. But in a lot of ways that’s why classics are “classics” because the core concept is relatable no matter the era.
18:08 "Then they toss in a little prayer at the end for the mom - in case you forgot she died."
*cuts to corpse thumping on the floor*
lmao, comedic gold
Rainbird doesn't think he will get powers in the book. He thinks he can fully understand death by looking into their eyes as they die.
I like to imagine that the casting director heard that people on the internet have been calling zach Efron daddy(especially since his documentary series from a while ago) and they thought "oh so he's giving off father figure vibes, let's cast him as a literal dad".
I 10000% believe this is why he was cast in this role. It’s the only thing that makes sense.
Oh my goodness 😂😂😂
He was fine in my opinion. Only bad casting choice was Gloria Reuben. Hoping Firestarter gets a better adaptation 10 years later.
"I could never be scared of you"
"Yeah lady we'll see"
and
"she runs off before she makes the rest of the kid match his hair"
and
"Evil Matilda"
Better than the entire movie
I can't think of a better time to use the term "Zaddy" than when a Zac is being a father. Perhaps the only acceptable time...
Every time someone I went to school with gets married or pregnant I’m like “but why? We’re only 17!” And then I remember I’m 30…🤣
I still think 1980 was only like 20 years ago 😭😭
@@hannahbeanies8855 hard same
Wow, I must be among the few who does the math and is aware of the time.
@@emanuelespinoza9325 oh yes. No one else can do basic arithmetic. You are so unique. 👏
@@hannahbeanies8855 so I've been told.
There’s also the made for tv one that follows Charlie as an adult. Firestarter Rekindled, I believe. You can’t miss that one.
Yeah. SyFy was still Sci Fi Channel back then, right?
Peacock actually has that streaming as well lol.
Or was it labeled "Firestarter 2?" I remember watching it and loving it. Its a much better story.
There's also a Carrie sequel called The Rage Carrie 2 about Carrie's younger half sister. Stephen King has an insane number of adaptations, remakes, and spin offs based on his work.
@@David-un4cs she died in that one after killing everyone at a house party.
That "Evil Matilda" bit, as short as it was, killed me. Love it.
It’s terrible. It looks VERY cheap. The ending made my theater erupt in “huh?!” I only saw it because I have a Season Pass for Alamo Drafthouse.
I've learned from Amanda. One look at the Blumhouse logo in the trailer and I knew it was going to be a waste of time. I also knew it was only a matter of time before she made a video on it. Our queen is nothing if not reliable.
True, though Happy Death Day is an exception. It’s a pretty good film for a Blumhouse Production movie.
Does nobody else watch Blumhouse films as comedies? I always go in knowing full well my friend and I are gonna yell at the screen and point and laugh, which is why we usually watch them at home where we're not bothering anyone trying to take the movie seriously. Blumhouse makes terrible horror movies but great comedies if you just flip your perspective.
@@StummerVogel That... Is an amazing idea. I know what I'm doing next time my bestie and I get a day off.
I feel like Blumhouse used to be pretty good just a few years ago. Not A24 or anything but definitely solid. I wonder what went wrong...
The Hunt was actually a fun movie.
They could have done a profound movie about the fathers and daughters bond despite the overly destructive traits of her powers that the father can’t explain or understand because of his own powers that only affect people internally but instead they went with the most cookie cutter plot line they could think of I can’t with Hollywood anymore
That’s what so beautiful in the book, the whole point of it is a father’s love for his daughter. The screenwriters completely discarded that for ‘fire child cool’ explosions. This could have been so good and it’s so disappointing!!!
I think one thing about SK movie remakes, from what I've seen, is that they don't make use enough of the different setting. Like in this one, the most we get of technology is that the family doesn't use it for fear of being tracked and Charlie gets bullied because not having a smartphone makes her weird. It's like they used that so that they could write out technology completely, when it could've been used in a lot of ways. Like if Charlie used it to tell her story without having to find an unbiased media outlet like in the books, or if after destroying the lab, Charlie becomes a bit of a cryptid where people keep spreading videos and pictures of her around the country using her powers to the point that people are unsure if she's real or not.
Also in Carrie (2017), the most technology is used is as a bit of the icing on the cake of the prom scene (with the video of Carrie's being bullied) and Carrie doing research. Could've used cyberbullying or social media in some way, like Carrie finding a community online that feeds into her want for revenge, leading to the prom massacre (like those mass shooters who get radicalized online). Or maybe show how after the bully is suspended, the school's online community shifts their entire opinion to Carrie's side and begins to bully the bully while Carrie becomes much more popular, and the bully did the pig blood prank to turn the tables back, because the popular opinion online changes sides so easily.
Point is, there's a lot of ways for technology to add to the story if you ask how the story would change if it happened in a different era. But directors/writers don't make use of that, besides some throw away lines/scenes that if omitted, you could believe the story was still set in the 1980s. It makes the remakes redundant even if they had been good movies.
I am in agreement with everything you said. If it's bad it's one thing. But when it's boring? It's a crime.
one of the biggest issues is that there's not one person that would buy Zac Efron as a dad. He's just too young looking, I feel the general public could buy Zac as the cool uncle who takes in his niece after she burned his brother and sister-in-law to death in a house fire more than him being her father. I also agree with it being boring, I dipped within the first five minutes.
Respectfully disagree. It's Zac Efron Dad bod era
@Beastbombshell He just doesn't give off 'young dad energy' to me
@@CheziahKatt Also, a lot of people (like me) didn't follow Zac Efron so we aren't biased by his teenybopper movie phase or whatever. So, it makes perfect sense to have him as a dad, as he looks about the right age. However, I'm not going to see this movie regardless, since it is universally panned.
@@EugWanker I never caught highschool musical either. And being around his age and having friends with kids about Charlie's age. Idk, seems fine to me.
I may or may not see it, I'm not sure. I'm a huge Stephen King reader which is why I might.
Zac Efron is only a couple years younger than me and he is like a year younger than my youngest sister. She's got young teenagers. My older sister is a grandma. One of my friends had kids "late" and the kids is like six. I have friends who have kids that are like in their mid twenties.
I'm just saying that there are definitely people who can buy Zac Efron is the dad of an elementary school kid.
The secret scientific experiment facility is honestly one of my least favourite tropes, because I want to say at least 60% of the time they don't even bother to explain what the purpose of the experiments is. It's just like, "Well, why *wouldn't* government scientists spend a bunch of money just kind of messing around with stuff to see what it does, with no real aim or goal in mind?"
If I personally were in charge of a remake, I would be all up in to recreating the whole backstory of the OG experiments, and their lives. I would end the film the day the girl was in her crib and she started her first fire.
There you go. Like what is going to happen? How are they gonna deal with that?Roll credits.
Logically, yes. In reality, it sounds about right for my government,
@@sarahtaylor4264 exactly, they signed up to make money as college students needing cash. In a drug trial. This happens every day in America. Its not a reach whatsoever.
omg can't wait for this! ever since i saw the trailers i knew it would be a dumpster fire, sooooo cheesy
pun intended?
Badum tssst!
Bro, that Mario Bros. ass fireball. 21:40
I laughed so hard, I couldn't believe how bad that looked.
By the time I was forced to read Firestarter, in high school, I had already read it a dozen times. It baffles me that no one can even get the basic themes right, never mind actually make a functional adaptation of the novel.
You were forced to read Stephen King in high school? That is awesome!
The sequal, "Firestarter 2" or "Firestarter Rekindled," is a much better film that functions very well as a continuation of the book.
Ikr. Hoping for a better adaptation in the future
Seeing Zack play a dad was real disconcerting considering I just saw him play a kid in a re-binge of firefly
Oh my God I forgot that he played babby Simon ...
"Its la push baby la push"
Is my absolute favorite twilight quote lmaoo be whispering that shit to myself all the time and just cackling
It's one of those "quote to yourself while bored at work" type things
Missed opportunity to have the title "FIRESTARTER is a Dumpster Fire" sounds better off the tongue
Dumpster Fire Starter
I thought the girl wasn’t a great actress, especially if she was supposed to pull off that childlike innocence instead of more sociopathic instincts. I also didn’t think there was enough pyrokinesis in this movie about a pyrokinetic.
Also, on the teacher/bullying situation: I called the teacher out on the gym scene too, but then I remembered that when I was in high school someone bullied me right in front of the teachers desk while she was sitting there and she didn’t say anything.
The reason the road trip with Irv is a highlight of the novel is that it plays to King's strength as a writer - character building and making us care about the people in the story before burning it all down (in this case, literally). In the book it's paced brilliantly.
Amanda, I freaking love that you always find a way to bring even the most innocuous things back to Twilight. "La Push, baby." I do the same thing but with The West Wing LOL. It's my touchstone.
My favorite is the new maps scene.
"You can't do that."
"Why?"
"Because it's FREAKING me OUT!"
@@swiftfated Ginger, get the popcorn!
“Tough luck Charlie” + Zac Efron makes me think this is a spin-off to Good Luck Charlie
"Look, I'm sorry but Jesus doesn't want to hear from you today" killed me!
The hanged man means getting a new perspective. He wasn’t hanged by others, he put himself into this position to see everything up-side-down. That’s at least the explanation I know of this card.
It's my understanding that dissection is being phased out due to the relatively low effectiveness as a teaching resource vs. the comparatively demanding logistics, set up, and emotional turmoil associated
Ooo I hope so! I was so happy that via some unorthodox school moving I was able to avoid dissecting anything more than an earth worm. That was miserable enough. With technology these days, there is just better ways to teach it. Although, if you’re in the medical field a human cadaver is the best way to learn/teach gross anatomy, because there is a ton of natural variation in human anatomy (anatomy in general) that would be really hard to replicate with models and mannequins. It’s why many internal surgeries try to get imaging first to make sure things are where they think they are.
As soon as I saw the trailer and heard "liar liar, pants on fire" I knew this movie was gonna be a 10/10 masterclass in cinema
I read that book! I was glad they made another movie, but now I’m pretty bummed out
Thanks for not talking about the cat thing too much. It really bothered me just to hear that short bit about it
Same! Ive never been a fan of needless animal murder in films. Im like why, what did that accomplish? It never makes anything more impacrful
Same. I was so traumatised by that bit with the dog in Butterfly Effect that I've never gotten it out of my head. Don't want to relive that, thanks.
It always just feels like that add it in for shock :( I hate it. Although it’s cute to think about the cat ‘actors’!
It's Stephen King in the 80's, the antagonist didn't need a personality, it was cocaine wearing a mask the whole time.
It’s probably still the best dark Phoenix movie
I am 37, happily childless but every time that I see actor/ess younger than me that I remember being teenage/young adults stars now playing somebody older/married/with children, I am utterly confused.
“Psychic fire abilities.”
Ah yes, the rare fire psychic type Pokémon. I remember how Victini was a big deal when they were announced, and the pairing is still pretty rare.
The dodgeball scene is pretty accurate…I one time got hit in the face with a ball so hard in the face that It broke my glasses and the teacher kinda just pretended he didn’t see it.
Weird - I was bullied in elementary school, but my vague memories of dodgeball feel non-traumatic. Better teachers or have I repressed the horror?
I am glad you watched this so I didn't have to. I LOVE this book and reread it a lot, and the 80s version with Drew Barrymore was thankfully much closer to the source material. The bond between Charlie and her dad was the most important thing about the book. The fact that they've written Zefron's version to be more antagonistic toward her completely undermines that but doesn't replace it with anything else. Also the friendly connection she had with the old couple was very important for the ending. Sad that yet another Stephen King remake was altered to be crap.
I got to watch this with someone. Neither of us could understand why it ended it the way it did. And I'm not a book purist/OG movie either.
That's such a heartbreaker. I actually got into Stephen King BECAUSE of the first FIRESTARTER movie. Looking back, it was clearly cheesy as fuck, but my dad showed it to me when I was a little kid in the early 2000s and I loved it. Started watching more of the movies based on his works and eventually reading his books because of it. Was really excited for this remake. It's a bummer they did a classic so dirty like this.
Yeah, I saw Firestarter as a kid and it got me interested in Stephen King novels. Read several of them while I was in high school.
I actually first read Firestarter because I was reading Jumper, and it is referenced in the book. On that note, that’s another great book with a crap adaptation.
Not a fan of constant remakes, but Firestarter is in desperate need of one 10 years later.
Watched this movie because I was bored... First thing I thought was "damn I'm definitely old now if zac Efron can be believable in the role as a dad to a 10 year old now." Then the rest of the movie nothing else happened as there was a surprising lack of fires being started.
When I saw that all the trailers were always the girl screaming and then fire I knew it wasn’t gonna be good
...I dissected a sheep and cow's eye and pigs lung, heart, and trachea in elementary school...the US is unhinged, but the education system was really unhinged back in the day. Especially because we also used to play dodgeball with those plastic ass balls that would leave welts
The mom in this remake, played by Sydney Lemmon, she also plays Satan’s Daughter, Satana Hellstrom, in the MCU. That is a MUCH better “good girl with bad powers” take. Helstrom, on Hulu. 😍
While she is probably awesome in it, I have to be the annoying weirdo and point out that it's not the MCU, but just marvel. Which is super confusing. And now I need to watch this show. The satan show, not this movie.
I wonder if the writer who decided Satan's daughter should be named Satana Hellstrom was howling with as much laughter as I am right now. That's one of the dumbest things I've ever heard and I love it.
@@shockmesane4158 Her brother's name is Daimon. Daimon Hellstrom. His super"hero" (he's an anti-hero) name is Hellstorm... Hey, it was the 70's.
Helstrom is underrated it should have had gotten a second season.
@@cynderhazelworth4467 they retconned daredevil and the defenders to be in the mcu so yeah helstrom , cloak and dagger , agents of shield and runaways are all in the mcu as well. The only marvel baswd properties that aren't officially part of the mcu is new mutants , legion , hit-monkey , modok and the sony films which takes place in the mcu multiverse venom , morbius and upcoming kraven etc.
The only trailer I saw was one on instagram and it looked like a super low budget, super hero kids movie from the 90s.
When I saw the first trailer I already knew it was going to be bad.
right?? when i saw the trailer, I thought of CW.
All that damn screaming Charlie was doing sealed it for me. It’s too bad since I really enjoyed the book
It'll probably sweep the Razzies.
Every once in a while, that peeled apple on the wallpaper starts to look like an eyeball and I'm weirded out for a second until I remember what it actually is!
it does kinda look like an eyeball tho
My mom and sister wanted to see it. I think thatgirl actor is awful. I don't want to watch however long of a child screeching to summon her powers and "liar liar pants on fire'? What cringe. She was awful in American Horror Story too
She's really awful. I'm not even sorry. She played Minnie Mae in Anne with an E. And oh my god every one of her scenes was painful.
As soon as I saw her screeching in the trailer, I knew it was going to be bad.
she was amazing in AHS, but this whole movie was just awful
@@peytonjames The monotone delivery and constant tightening lips to emote just don't do it for me
She’s a baby… jeez
Firestarter is one of my favorite Stephen King novels and holy shit this was SO bad, they changed and cut out so many things.
10 years from now, they should try again, but this time actually be faithful to the novel.
I remember watching the first trailer of this movie and only thinking: oh,another movie about a kid with powers that goes evil... Yay...
(that's what the trailer told me it was)
So I'm glad you're covering it,I was slightly curious but I truly don't wanna watch it
Yeah I got Bright Burn vibes from this one and I knew it was gonna be ass. Probably from the same producers under a different studio name
I can tell you from solid interest and expecting Stranger Things vibes, you're not missing anything.
Painfully stupid and uncomfortably funny throughout. At least I can watch 30 Rock on Peacock 'cuz they took my 5 bucks lol.
Okay, have you watched the 80s version? This one isnt so bad and not too long. It ended quickly straight to the point. Also it has a cool easter egg when she come back to dress like Drew Bartimore before the last fight. So it gives a lil flashback to the original movie
Drew Barrymore in the 84' adaptation, she and Art Carney do not go to Rolling Stone magazine. They go to The New York Times. Other than that mistake, I agree with everything else you said. Just thankful I did watch it on Peacock rather than spending money in the theater. And even on Peacock, I feel it was a massive waste of time.
note: zac efron is playing father to an ELEVEN year old, not an eight year old. even more egregious.
I know people younger than Zac with teenage kids…
That means Zac's character would have had the kid at 23.
I know someone who had their THIRD kid at 23.
The only egregious thing is the infantilization of adult people in the US cultural hegemony.
@@KyrieFortune Hollywood has ruined us in terms of the ages of people.
Early 30s is not too old to have a 12 year old.
@@KyrieFortune Please.....this is not the way I want to know that my kid will be 11 sooner than I think. Like....dang, I'm really about to be 30 with an 8 year old.
Thank you for mentioning the cat :( I was going to watch this movie and I am glad to know to avoid it. I have EXTREMELY adverse reactions to animal cruelty in movies (especially cats), so this is very appreciated. Also good to know I'm not missing much, lol
Same. I stopped watching game of thrones after the part in the first episode where they killed the wolf. I just don’t want to spend my relaxing time watching that.
Does anyone expected this to be good? The moment Blumhouse was announced as producer, you know it's not gonna be any good. Their track record in horror has been pretty bad lately
I'm old enough to have read the book back in the late 80s. I quite liked it.
I think we, as a society, need to move past the "super-powered child with incompetent parents" trope. It peaked with Frozen, and it just went downhill from there.
uh, this story is older than frozen wtf
Matilda was a better movie than Frozen and it was made in 1990's. it slayed the "superpower child with incompetent parents" trope.
It's even more annoying because Andy wasn't like that in the book. They just made him worse lmao
@@2cat4life They mean the new movie, Frozen came out before this movie.
Lol, when my parents were 34, I was in middle school and my sister was in high school. Blows my mind sitting here at 38. My sister has a high schooler and middle schooler but she's like 42.
A bully hit my stomach full force with a closed fist next to a teacher who just passed by without saying anything, so 10:30 isnt that suprising
Chris Evans and Dakota Fanning are in a film called *Push.* It's a damned shame this film never got a sequel. The "push" power, the experiments, the agents... Same cinematic universe? 🤔
Amanda, I know it's not a "new" film exactly, but if you haven't yet seen it, go watch Push.
Push was meant to riff off the X Files. Where Stranger Things used “Firestarter” for El’s storyline inspiration.
I love that movie! I always feel like I’m the only one who’s ever seen it!
Push is one of my favorite films! Definitely underrated. I can't find the soundtrack anywhere. Those needle drops are bangers. 🤘🏻
I love that movie so much but when ever I talk to people about it they have no clue what I’m talking about
@@123marksalot I know! It's a hidden gem with a cult following.
This book was written in the 80's. During the time when King was typing out novels in a weekend on cocaine benders. So yeah, high quality stuff.
Firestarter was one of my absolutely favorite movies as a kid.
Okay I'll admit, it was a bit rough. *However* I cackled like a madman when I saw the baby burst into flames. 10/10 Would watch again.
Just finished this book, never knew there was a movie lol
But then, ✨the book is always better✨
I attended an elementary school near Boston, and my parents had to write me a note so I could skip the frog dissection in science class
Wtf I dissected mine in med school physiology lab. Don't think this is a thing that children need to see . There is also an ethical side to it I think.
Just wanted to let you know that we actually do have dissections of animals in elementary school. I did owl pellets in 4th grade and dead fish in 5th.
Holy shit I had no idea this remake was out yet. Funny to see that they didn't improve on the original.
It's like they watched the 1984 version. And said "Oh we can make this MUCH worse. *evil laughter* "
Especially Drew Barrymore going batshit crazy at the end. None of that in the remake.
Not a fan of constant remakes, but Firestarter needs one maybe 10 years later.
I don't know which line was better 'before she makes the rest of the kid match his hair' or evil Matilda 🤣
I think I might have been better off not knowing there was a recent remake an hour ago.
I love your background in your parents kitchen. It’s so cute, reminds me of my childhood in the 90s. Country decor was popular. Sweet ❤
i wasn't even aware of what the movie was before, genre or anything, I just saw zac in the trailer and child wth powers so I sat down to watch it, and I assumed it was like one of those low budget indie movies, and I was really impressed, I was like oh sure its a bit messy and the end is underwhelming, but it's good quality for a low budget movie about people with powers. but then I saw it was in theatres and I was like what the hell??? not good enough for that? i liked the movie I thought it had a lot of potential but it wasn't a "real" movie so I judged It based on that, but knowing what it's meant to be, damn it's not good
in 4th grade (around age 8/9) there is a disection lab, but its usually of an owl pellete and you have to try to find out what the owl ate
"I'm stil young!" Me turning 30 this year.
I'm supposed to be an Adult but I don't know how to do it xD
This should've been a mini series.
Exactly. When watching the movie I kept thinking that.