Firestarter Movie Review | Common Sense Media

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Parents' Guide to

Firestarter Movie R 2022 94 minutes Firestarter Movie Poster
  • Common Sense Says
  • Parents Say 5 Reviews
  • Kids Say 11 Reviews

Common Sense Media Review

Jeffrey M. Anderson By Jeffrey M. Anderson , based on child development research. How do we rate?

age 15+

Violent, uninspired Stephen King adaptation fails to spark.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Firestarter is an uninspired sci-fi thriller based on a 1980 Stephen King book (previously made into a movie in 1984). It tells the story of a young girl (Ryan Kiera…

 Why Age 15+? Violence & Scariness

Baby crib on fire, baby in peril. Young girl in peril. Guns and shooting. Blood

Language

Several uses of "f--k," "s--t," "son of a bitch," "goddamn," "bastard," "hell,"

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Secondary character stays up all night drinking beer and is shown to be drunk. C

 Sex, Romance & Nudity

Brief shirtless male. Partial nipple seen while baby is breastfeeding.

 Products & Purchases

Netflix mentioned.

 Any Positive Content? Positive Messages

Themes include training to control your abilities, but unfortunately those abili

 Positive Role Models

Not much admirable behavior. Characters are either violent or victims, with litt

 Diverse Representations

Actors of color are featured in smaller roles that tend to fall on the villainou

  • Parents Need to Know

    Parents need to know that Firestarter is an uninspired sci-fi thriller based on a 1980 Stephen King book (previously made into a movie in 1984). It tells the story of a young girl (Ryan Kiera Armstrong) with pyrokinesis, i.e., the ability to use her mind to start fires. Characters are killed, and you can expect to see guns/shooting, blood spurts, characters being set on fire and burned, charred skin, kids in peril, a cat being burned and killed, plucked-out eyeballs, bleeding from eyes, fighting, hitting, bullying, and more. Language includes several uses of "f--k" and "s--t," plus "son of a bitch," "goddamn," and insults like "loser," "weirdo," and "freak." A secondary character drinks too much beer and gets drunk, quitting smoking is discussed, and taking experimental drugs at a clinical trial is mentioned. Zac Efron also stars.

    To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

  • Violence & Scariness

    a lot

    Baby crib on fire, baby in peril. Young girl in peril. Guns and shooting. Blood spurts. Characters killed. Burned cat, killing it to put it out of its misery. Plucked-out eyeballs. Person bleeds from eyes. Character's arms on fire, charred skin; dressing burn wounds. Person hit in face with rifle butt. Explosions and fireballs, characters burned. Fighting. Jump scare. Kids dissecting frogs in school. School bully.

    Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

    Get started Close

  • Language

    a lot

    Several uses of "f--k," "s--t," "son of a bitch," "goddamn," "bastard," "hell," "turd," "my God" (used as exclamation), plus "loser," "weirdo," and "freak."

    Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

    Get started Close

  • Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

    a little

    Secondary character stays up all night drinking beer and is shown to be drunk. Characters are given "psychedelic" drugs during clinical trial. Quitting smoking is discussed.

    Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

    Get started Close

  • Sex, Romance & Nudity

    very little

    Brief shirtless male. Partial nipple seen while baby is breastfeeding.

    Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

    Get started Close

  • Products & Purchases

    very little

    Netflix mentioned.

  • Positive Messages

    very little

    Themes include training to control your abilities, but unfortunately those abilities tend to be used for violent purposes. Also suggests that scary shadow organizations are secretly in charge of all of us.

  • Positive Role Models

    very little

    Not much admirable behavior. Characters are either violent or victims, with little gray area between.

  • Diverse Representations

    very little

    Actors of color are featured in smaller roles that tend to fall on the villainous side.

    Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update .

Where to Watch

  • FirestarterMovie Review 1:00
  • Firestarter Trailer Firestarter
  • Firestarter Movie: A young girl whose hair is blown back by an unseen force
  • Firestarter Movie: A man and a young girl hide underneath a table. The man holds a finger to his lips signaling to be quiet.

Firestarter

Parent and Kid Reviews

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  • Parents Say (5)
  • Kids Say (11)
age 11+

Based on 5 parent reviews

See all 5 parent reviews age 9+

Based on 11 kid reviews

See all 11 kid reviews

What's the Story?

In FIRESTARTER, Vicky (Sydney Lemmon) and Andy McGee (Zac Efron) once participated in a clinical trial for a mysterious drug and came away with strange powers. Vicky won't use hers, but Andy has "the push" that can create suggestions in people's minds, even though using it comes with a price. Their child, Charlie (Ryan Kiera Armstrong), was born with the power to create fire. As she gets older, the power becomes harder to control. She blows out a bathroom stall at school and accidentally sets her mother on fire. Once aware of Charlie's powers, Captain Hollister (Gloria Reuben) -- head of a shady organization related to the experiments -- sends in a bounty hunter named Rainbird (Michael Greyeyes) to capture Charlie and bring her in. So Andy and Charlie go on the run as she attempts to learn to control her powers. But a showdown is inevitable.

Show more

Is It Any Good?

Our review: Parents say (5 ): Kids say (11 ):

Thoroughly bland and uninspired, this cheap-looking adaptation of Stephen King's 1980 novel just goes through the motions, failing to deliver any thrills or scares and feeling utterly pointless. From its twitchy "decaying video" opening titles to its bleary, blobby digital gore effects, everything about Firestarter is numbingly familiar. The original 1984 movie (starring Drew Barrymore and George C. Scott) isn't exactly remembered as a high point of King adaptations, and it should have been ripe for reinterpretation. And director Keith Thomas, whose spookily atmospheric The Vigil relied on strong character development and strange storytelling, was a great choice for the job. What went wrong is anyone's guess.

Perhaps too many corners were cut. Attempts to flesh the characters out simply come across as lazy exposition (the movie was written by Scott Teems, whose Halloween Kills has the same problem), and the clunky camerawork seems designed to hide the subpar effects. On the plus side, the movie has a fun music score by none other than John Carpenter, his son Cody Carpenter, and collaborator Daniel A. Davies (even if the music is simply draped over the scenes with little rhyme or reason). And star Efron -- many of whose previous performances can be kindly described as "vacant" -- has finally learned to fit in, appearing to actually interact with others. But those two things aside, Firestarter is far too soggy to make any kind of spark.

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Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about Firestarter's violence. How did it make you feel? Was it exciting? Shocking? What did the movie show or not show to achieve this effect? Why is that important?

  • Is the movie scary? What's the appeal of horror movies? Why do people sometimes like being scared?

  • How does the movie compare to Stephen King's novel? To the 1984 movie?

  • What are some of the movie's themes? Is it ever OK to let your emotions go wild? Why, or why not?

  • How does the movie depict drinking and drug use? Are they glamorized? Are there consequences? Why is that important?

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Movie Details

  • In theaters : May 13, 2022
  • On DVD or streaming : May 13, 2022
  • Cast : Ryan Kiera Armstrong , Zac Efron , Sydney Lemmon , Gloria Reuben
  • Director : Keith Thomas
  • Inclusion Information : Female Movie Actor(s) , Black Movie Actor(s)
  • Studio : Universal Pictures
  • Genre : Horror
  • Topics : Book Characters
  • Run time : 94 minutes
  • MPAA rating : R
  • MPAA explanation : violent content
  • Last updated : September 29, 2025
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Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

Firestarter

Suggest an Update

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