Firestarter is a 1984 American science fiction thriller horror film based on Stephen King’s 1980 novel of the same name.[4] The plot concerns a girl who develops pyrokinesis and the secret government agency known as The Shop which seeks to control her. The film was directed by Mark L. Lester, and stars David Keith, Drew Barrymore, Martin Sheen and George C. Scott. Firestarter was shot in and around Wilmington, Chimney Rock, and Lake Lure, North Carolina.
A miniseries follow-up to the film, Firestarter: Rekindled, was released in 2002 on the Sci-Fi Channel and a remake feature film produced by Blumhouse Productions was released on May 13, 2022.
As college students, Andy McGee and Vicky Tomlinson participated in an experiment in which they were given a dose of a low-grade hallucinogen called LOT-6. While the other participants suffered terrible side effects, the experiment gave Vicky and Andy telepathic abilities; Vicky can read minds and Andy can control others to do and believe what he wants, though the effort sometimes gives him nosebleeds, limiting this otherwise very strong power. Now married, they have an eight-year-old daughter named Charlene “Charlie” McGee, who has pyrokinetic abilities (the power to control heat and fire) and can also see the near future.
Andy comes home from work one day to find Vicky murdered and Charlie abducted, with evidence suggesting Vicky was also tortured before being killed; the family had already suspected that the government agency that sponsored the experiment, the Department of Scientific Intelligence (“The Shop”), was watching them, with the government wanting to weaponize Charlie’s power. Andy finds Charlie and rescues her by blinding the agents, and for the next year they are on the run.
Farmer Irv Manders and his wife Norma take in the pair; Andy tells Irv the truth so that when The Shop arrives, he is ready to stand with them. However, Charlie quickly dispatches the agents when they arrive. They go on the run again, but Andy’s power has weakened. They go to a secluded cabin and prepare to go public with their story. Unfortunately, the head of The Shop, Captain James Hollister, sends agent and assassin John Rainbird to capture them and stop the release of information. To protect themselves, Andy writes letters to major newspapers, unintentionally revealing their location. After capture, father and daughter are kept separated. Andy is medicated and subjected to tests, and given drugs which decrease his powers. Meanwhile, Rainbird pretends to be “John”, a friendly orderly employed by The Shop to gain Charlie’s trust and encourage her to submit to the tests.
Charlie’s powers increase exponentially. She continually demands to see her father as they promised. Andy is revealed to be faking the acceptance of his drugs, so his powers have never decreased and it was all a ruse to make Hollister drop his guard. Once alone on a walk far from the house, Andy uses his power to get information from Hollister (such as “John”‘s true identity) and arranges to leave with Charlie that night. He slips Charlie a note and she immediately tells John/Rainbird about the escape. Since he has wanted to kill Charlie since first hearing about her, he hides in the barn so he can kill Andy as well. Charlie enters the barn first and Rainbird successfully convinces her to start climbing up the ladder to him.
His plan is foiled once Andy enters and Charlie instead runs to her father. She tells him that “John” is present and asks if they can take him with them. She is saddened and angered to find out the truth, yet believes Rainbird when he states that he will not kill her father if she comes to him. To save his daughter, Andy orders the still mind-controlled Hollister to shoot at Rainbird. However, Rainbird kills Hollister, after which Andy, using his powers, causes Rainbird to leap to the ground, breaking his leg. Rainbird shoots Andy in the neck, fatally wounding him. He then fires at Charlie but she detonates the bullet and engulfs Rainbird in the ensuing fire, killing him. Before Andy dies, he pleads with her to use her powers to bring the facility down. The entire security team arrives and she eliminates them one by one with her powers and makes her way off the property. Charlie hitchhikes back to the Manders’ farm and is welcomed back. Shortly after, Charlie and Irv arrive in New York City to tell her story to the media.
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