Firestarter (1984)

No, everyone, I'm not dead! Though some have wondered.

I'm moving, and my job is soaking up most of my time, which has crimped this blog output something nasty. 

Tonight's offering is Firestarter (1984), which I remember mostly for Drew Barrymore. It turns out, watching it all these years later, that is mostly features adults - her mom is Heather Locklear, her dad is (very good) character actor David Keith, and the villains are Martin Sheen and especially George C. Scott, who is evil as hell in his role. Sheen is surprisingly down to earth. I like him more and more in these '80s movies. Here he is essentially playing a less creepy version of Candidate Stillson from The Dead Zone (1983). He's got the same frozen eyes and smile even as he says lines like "You and me, we're going to be pals."  

The plot is based on the Stephen King book of the same name - a man and woman participate in some medical studies for money, and gain psychic powers. Then they have a daughter (Barrymore) in whom the powers are magnified several times. The mom can read thoughts and the dad can force people to do his will (an idea later seen in a couple X-Files episodes), but the daughter... well, the title kind of gives it away.

The daughter can start fires, and then some. She blows things sky high by the end of the movie - not mere fires, but CONFLAGRATIONS!! I always wanted to use that word in the real world. 

So the Psy Ops department of the government wants to basically dissect and "dispose" of the young family because they are very dangerous with their new powers... but having to go through the dad and daughter turns out to be trickier than anticipated. 

This movie was directed by Mark Lester, who went on quite a streak in the '80s. He directed Class of 1984 (1982), this movie, Commando (1985), and the great John Candy movie Armed and Dangerous (1986). Pretty solid run there. 

Cute little Drew Barrymore, of course, came RIGHT form E.T. (1982) to this movie. If E.T. made her a star, this movie cemented it. Although, oddly, the movie only broke even - according to IMDB it cost $15 mil to make, and made back $15.1 mil. However, when I was a kid, this movie was on TV always. Every weekend, I feel like it was coming on. 

The secret, unbilled star of the movie is North Carolina, which has never looked greener or more lush. Fantastic cinematography by Giuseppe Ruzzolini, whose work I perused on IMDB but I only recognized Teorema (1968).  The whole movie is a Dino De Laurentiis production (see Blue Velvet) which means great music, great visual, somewhat bizarre and risky story. 

The movie has issues - it goes on a little too long, and the tension is very uneven, but the dad is convincing and Barrymore is more than acceptable and even occasionally fun as the pyro-minded child who sets the world ablaze. Worth seeing.