A beloved film adaptation of a Stephen King novel has received a modern makeover – though devotees of the original aren’t impressed, and it’s showing on Film4 this evening.

The 2022 reimagining of Firestarter draws from the same Stephen King source material as the 1984 classic featuring Drew Barrymore.

Yet this contemporary version has sparked considerably divided opinions amongst viewers.

The narrative centres on young Charlie McGee (Ryan Kiera Armstrong), who possesses formidable pyrokinetic abilities, as she and her parents, Andy (Zac Efron) and Vicky (Sydney Lemmon), evade a sinister government organisation known as “The Shop”, which seeks to exploit her extraordinary powers for military purposes.

As Charlie matures, her abilities – activated by emotional distress and physical suffering – grow increasingly difficult to manage, culminating in an episode that reveals their whereabouts to the agency’s ruthless operative, Rainbird (Michael Greyeyes), triggering a frantic getaway whilst Charlie attempts to master her formidable talent.

Whilst the 1984 original proved enormously popular with audiences, numerous critics have been swift to highlight the remake’s shortcomings.

One viewer said on Rotten Tomatoes: “While Zac Efron turns in a committed, grounded performance and John Carpenter’s synth-heavy soundtrack is undeniably awesome, Firestarter ultimately falls flat as a lackluster and toothless remake. It lacks the cinematic scale or tension required to make the story feel urgent, instead settling for the visual polish and pacing of a generic TV movie. It’s a functional adaptation at best.”, reports <a href=”https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/reboot-classic-thriller-so-bad-36550111″ rel=”Follow” target=”_self”>the Mirror</a>.

Another viewer echoed these sentiments, saying: “The opening sequence alone is enough to tell you the production is terrible. This is a lousy remake of a classic King movie and another disservice to the wonderful novel.

“This movie is so bad. I couldn’t even watch the whole thing. Bad acting! Never should of been remade,” declared a third.

A further critic wrote: “An absolute miss. Over as soon as it started, it made me wonder why even remake it if they’re just gonna rush through it.

“Did they even read the book. There was so much that they missed, made up and just did on the fly in this horrible rendition of Firestarter. This was a horrible movie from start to finish. and then it had Zac in it which told me from jump this movie was trash,” complained another viewer.

Nevertheless, the film hasn’t been universally panned, with some viewers finding merit in it. One defended it, saying: “Ok first things first. This is NOT a horror movie. Its an super power action fantasy movie. It wasnt bad at all. But it was slow and uninteresting at points.

“It also was very repetitive at times. I do enjoy the characters of the old man that wanted to help them out though. Over all carrie is clearly the superior girl with psychic powers movie.”

Another supporter offered: “I have no idea why this movie received such bad reviews. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I especially liked that Charlie was more dangerous and the changes with Rainbird. It just goes to show that you can’t trust other people’s opinions. Definitely not the critics here. It’s a good fun popcorn movie.”

Firestarter airs on Saturday 17 January on Film4 at 12.20am.