Summary

King is pleased with recent adaptations like The Institute and compliments Flanagan's work.
The author is critical of past adaptations like the Firestarter films for their lack of logic.
The 2022 Firestarter remake had a low rating and was not engaging, faring worse than the original.

While Stephen King has been honest in the past about the movie adaptations that didn't excite him, he seems to be pleased with the versions of his stories that have come out so far in 2025. The author likes The Institute, the MGM+ series based on his 2019 book about Luke Ellis, who is brought by his abductors to a terrifying place for children who have telekinetic powers. He complimented Mike Flanagan's The Life of Chuck and also recently posted about the upcoming The Long Walk adaptation on his Threads account.

But, although King seems happy with the filmmakers and showrunners adapting his work right now, that hasn't always been the case. In one interview, the author, known for supernatural horror stories like Carrie and The Dead Zone, compared a movie adaptation to "cafeteria mashed potatoes" and explained the reasons why.

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By Aya Tsintziras

Stephen King Once Shared His True Feelings About The 1984 Movie Adaptation Of His Novel Firestarter

Stephen-King-Firestarter — Drew Barrymore in Stephen King's Firestarter

In a 1986 interview with American Film, Stephen King shared how much he disliked the movie adaptation of his 1980 novel Firestarter. He said:

"Firestarter is one of the worst of the bunch, even though in terms of story it's very close to the original. But it's flavorless; it's like cafeteria mashed potatoes."

Although King has talked about several movies that he thinks fall short, including Quentin Tarantino's popular action film Kill Bill, he was particularly harsh about Firestarter. He continued that the film has some perplexing moments and said:

"There are things that happen in terms of special effects in that movie that make no sense to me whatsoever.Why this kid's hair blows every time she starts fires is totally beyond my understanding. I never got a satisfactory answer when I saw the rough cut. By that time, Dino [De Laurentis] was regularly asking me for input. Sometimes he'd take it. In that case..."

David Keith starred in the film as Andy McGee, the father of young Charlie McGee (Drew Barrymore), who has pyrokinesis. While King praised the movie's "great actors," he was critical of Keith and said he didn't think he "was very good." Other characters include Captain James Hollister (Martin Sheen), Charlie's mother, Vicky Tomlinson McGee (Heather Locklear), and Dr. Joseph Wanless (Freddie Jones).

Firestarter didn't fare any better with audiences or critics. The movie has a 40% Rotten Tomatoes rating and only 52% on the Popcornmeter. However, while it's not one of King's better adaptations, it's fun to watch a young Drew Barrymore at the beginning of her impressive career. She gave the performance her all and was compelling and endearing as a child who is terrified of the powers she has.

Given the strong premise of King's impressive novel, it's a shame that the movie adaptation wasn't more logical and compelling. Like many of his popular books, the source material has all the necessary elements for a good film, from a quirky and endearing main character to a huge problem that needs to be solved. King criticized The Shining for not giving Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) enough character development, and the same thing can be said here. Ufortunately, Firestarter focuses too much on flashy, fiery effects and not enough on Charlie's character.

The 2022 Firestarter Remake Has Only 10% On Rotten Tomatoes

If the original Firestarter had a low Rotten Tomatoes rating, the 2022 Blumhouse remake was even less popular. It only has 10% on Rotten Tomatoes and 47% on the Popcornmeter. Although Blumhouse has released some genuinely unnerving and interesting remakes, such as Speak No Evil, Firestarter isn't very engaging.

Ryan Kiera Armstrong, who is playing the main character in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot, starred as Charlie McGee, and Zac Efron played her father, Andy. According to Box Office Mojo, the remake had a budget of $12 million and only grossed just over $15 million worldwide. Hopefully, the upcoming remake of Stephen King's The Running Man will fare much better.

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