NEW YORK, NY – SEPTEMBER 26: (EXCLUSIVE COVERAGE) Author Stephen King visits the SiriusXM Studios on Septemin New York City. Even in the original Firestarter, the climax was much more epic and made much more sense with the story, something that the 2022 film is severely lacking. With Carrie, the climax of the movie feels like it has been properly and eloquently built up to, but sadly when it comes to Firestarter (2022) the climax feels more as if it was a bullet point on a checklist.

Though Firestarter (2022) has similar beats to a movie like Carrie, unfortunately, the remake stands more with the Pet Sematary remake and The Dark Tower in being some of the worst Stephen King adaptations. While this isn’t always a problem, Firestarter (2022) never makes a good enough case for this as it results in rushed and sloppy moments that completely disorientate the viewer. The 2022 remake is around twenty minutes shorter than the original and the first half of the remake happens in the first twenty minutes of the 1984 film. It is also important to note that not only is the film not a frame-by-frame remake, but a lot of the story beats are also different than the original film and not for the better. From mediocre writing and acting to bad and awkward editing choices to even having special effects that somehow look worse than the original movie, Firestarter (2022) is unfortunate from so many different angles. The decision to put the movie on Peacock simultaneously was absolutely the right move as this movie does not give the feeling that it is necessary to see on the big screen at all. When I was watching Firestarter (2022) I couldn’t believe this was a movie that was being put in theaters.

This new Firestarter isn’t only a bad adaptation but is just an all-around bad movie. It’s sad to say but the 2022 version of Firestarter falls on the side of bad Stephen King adaptations. This then leads to the question, how does this movie hold up when looking at both the original film and other King adaptations? A new Stephen King book adaptation has now been released in both theaters and on Peacock, this time in the form of a remake of the 1984 film Firestarter.

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