Zac Efron’s latest horror movie has turned out to be a hit with Netflix viewers – after bombing at the box office and being savaged by the critics.
Adapted from a Stephen King novel, Zac’s film Firestarter bowed in 2022 and made just $15 million against a budget of $12 million.
The reviews were similarly bruising, to the point the movie currently holds a catastrophic 11% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
However, audiences have rediscovered the picture on Netflix UK & Ireland, where it managed to climb into the top five this week.
Firestarter stars the steamy Hollywood hunk as the telepathic father of a little girl who is born with the ability to set fires with the power of her mind.
Zac Efron ‘s latest horror movie has turned out to be a hit with Netflix viewers – after bombing at the box office and being savaged by the critics
Firestarter stars Zac as the telepathic father of a little girl played by Ryan Kiera Armstrong (left) who is born with the ability to set fires with the power of her mind
Child actress Ryan Kiera Armstrong, now 14, plays the title character, with Succession alum Sydney Lemmon as her telekinetic mother.
The girl’s parents struggle to cope with the fallout from her destructive superpowers – which also attract the predatory attention of the CIA.
Stephen King’s original novel Firestarter was published in 1980, and four years later was adapted into a now obscure film with Drew Barrymore as the little girl.
In May 2022, the new Zac Efron version debuted in theaters, where it flopped financially and drew overwhelmingly scornful notices.
Referring to the movie as a ‘damp squib,’ the Daily Mail blasted the ‘clunky, lumbering script which some-how never engages the audience’s emotions.’
‘The effects are dodgy and unconvincing. The emotional investment is nil. The running time is only 94 minutes long, thus proving there may, in fact, be a merciful higher power out there. It’s still a four-alarm disaster,’ per Rolling Stone.
In the Austin Chronicle, the movie was called ‘the most incoherent, unengaging, and weirdly mean-spirited’ of any Stephen King adaptation.
A review in the Radio Times took aim at the ‘uniformly wooden performances, unconvincing special effects and a plot that fails to engage.’
Adapted from a Stephen King novel (pictured), Zac’s movie Firestarter bowed in 2022 and made just $15 million against a budget of $12 million
The reviews were similarly bruising, to the point the movie currently holds a catastrophic 11% rating on Rotten Tomatoes
Stephen King’s original novel Firestarter was published in 1980, and four years later was adapted into a now obscure film with Drew Barrymore as the little girl (pictured)
‘The only mood conjured by this dud is one of extreme torpor, and the only response it elicits is confusion as to why anyone – including headliner Zac Efron – thought this was worthy of their time or energy in the first place,’ marveled the Daily Beast.
Some reviews did spare a few warm words for the score by John Carpenter, who at one point was attached to direct the 1984 film before being replaced by Universal.
‘Only a thrilling throwback synth score from John Carpenter keeps this inferior, modernized take on Firestarter off the lower end of a list of Stephen King adaptations,’ opined Empire magazine.
‘John Carpenter’s soundtrack alludes to a melancholy and suspense that are simply missing from the screen,’ read a review in the Puerto Rican paper El Nuevo Dia.
