The Cult Classic Stephen King Most Hated Is The Perfect New Year’s Eve Binge
Holiday season 2025 is here — skip the ho-ho-hum reruns. We’re kicking off the new year with a Stephen King standout about a young woman whose supernatural powers turn coming of age into pure dread.
We just rolled into holiday season 2025, which is prime time to binge something that is not another Christmas special. So let me point you toward a Stephen King staple that keeps coming back around like, well, a spark that will not die: Firestarter.
Stephen King still is not a fan of the 1984 movie
King recently talked to Cult Oddities and torched the 1984 adaptation, despite admitting it follows his book pretty closely.
"Firestarter is one of the worst of the bunch, even though in terms of story, it is very close to the original. But it is flavorless; it is like cafeteria mashed potatoes. There are things that happen in terms of special effects in that movie that make no sense to me whatsoever."
He singled out the effects work in particular, joking he had no idea why Drew Barrymore's hair blasts upward every time she is about to torch something. He also dinged aspects of the lead performance while saying the actor clearly had real potential. That is a pretty spicy take considering a lot of horror fans have since adopted the movie as a cult favorite.
Two Firestarters, two very different vibes
Quick refresher: Firestarter began as King's 1980 novel about a young girl, Charlie McGee, who can light things up with her mind. Hollywood has adapted it twice.
The 1984 film stars a very young Drew Barrymore (yes, the future Charlie's Angels star) as Charlie and David Keith as her telepathic dad, Andy. Martin Sheen and George C. Scott round out the government-agency-meets-shadow-ops bench. Directed by Mark L. Lester, it is drenched in that early-80s horror energy — the era when John Carpenter ruled and zombie fare like Re-Animator was elbowing into the canon.
The 2022 reboot puts Zac Efron in the Andy role. The casting alone got people paying attention, and the movie plays Andy as a guy who knows exactly what kind of experiment he and his daughter were dragged through — the brave face is there, but the fear is always in his eyes. The rest of the cast is new, and the project clearly aimed to click with King's diehards.
So which one actually hits?
Even with King's very public meh on the 1984 version, it is still the scarier watch overall. Part of that is the texture of the time — analog flames, synthy menace, and that slightly grimy government-thriller undertow — and part of it is Barrymore selling Charlie's whole emotional spectrum. The giggles, the terror, the pyrokinetic fury — it makes the world feel cruel to her in a way that lingers. It was also one of the earlier big-studio horror movies to lean hard on the horror of a kid being poked, prodded, and weaponized by adults. Not subtle, but it sticks.
Where to watch and how they stack up
- Firestarter (1984) — Drew Barrymore as Charlie; David Keith as Andy; with Martin Sheen and George C. Scott. Often filed under cult classic. IMDb: 6.1/10. Rotten Tomatoes: 40% Tomatometer | 52% Audience. Streaming: Crunchyroll.
- Firestarter (2022) — Zac Efron as Andy; new ensemble around him. Aiming for a cleaner, modern take. IMDb: 4.6/10. Rotten Tomatoes: 10% Tomatometer | 47% Audience. Streaming: Netflix.
If you want the creepier, moodier experience, start with 1984. If you are curious how a modern studio tries to rewire the same DNA, then queue up 2022 after. Either way, Charlie is going to light something on fire — the question is whether it is your nostalgia or your patience.
Which Firestarter is your favorite?