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Critically panned horror movie Firestarter has found newfound success on Netflix almost two years after its release. The Stephen King adaptation is currently sitting at number four in the UK movie charts, and it's also cracked the top 10 in Ireland and Turkey.
Released in 2022, the Blumhouse film stars Zac Efron as Andy McGee, a man with telepathic powers after being subject to an experimental clinical trial. His daughter, Charlie (Ryan Kiera Armstrong), is born with pyrokinesis that she struggles to control, and the pair of them are on the run from the shadowy organization that gave them their powers. It's based on the King novel of the same name, first published in 1980, which was previously adapted for the big screen in 1984 and starred Drew Barrymore as Charlie.
However, it was unpopular with both critics and audiences when it was first released, with a lackluster critics' score of 11% on Rotten Tomatoes. "To call the film a wasted opportunity doesn’t quite do justice to what an abject failure it is," says Vulture, while the Los Angeles Times writes that "it joins the long list of Stephen King movies that are all gimmick, no guts."
RogerEbert.com's review goes one step further, calling Firestarter "a film that goes through the motions with such apathetic predictability and pure cinematic laziness that you may want to set whatever device you’re watching it on ablaze." Ouch.
Firestarter is streaming now on Netflix UK. For more, check out our picks of the best Netflix movies to add to your watch list.
