10 Horrifyingly Underrated Stephen King Adaptations

8. Firestarter

Tommyknockers Stephen King
Universal

What The Critics Said:

Roger Ebert doused this one’s flames in his review at the time stating that ‘the most astonishing thing in the movie, however, is how boring it is’.

Why It’s Worth A Watch:

While by no means one of King’s best early novels, Firestarter stood alone as a pretty thrilling girl versus government tale, with the odds tipped in said girl’s favour because she had the ability to go all X-Men on her foes.

Buoyed by a strong performance from Drew Barrymore in her invincible child actor phase (innocent and scarily powerful at the same time), even the most ardent of critics couldn’t argue that the relationship between Barrymore and her on-screen dad (played with affection by David Keith) gives the film a molten core, of sorts. Plus the pyro special effects on display still lend some suspense and wonder to the film’s scenes of action.

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Shaun is a former contributor for a number of Future Publishing titles and more recently worked as a staffer at Imagine Publishing. He can now be found banking in the daytime and writing a variety of articles for What Culture, namely around his favourite topics of film, retro gaming, music, TV and, when he's feeling clever, literature.