10 Horror Movie Remakes That Pissed Off Audiences

2022's Firestarter, helmed by Keith Thomas, somehow couldn't improve on the original, despite having all tools at its disposal, arriving on a wave of Stephen King hysteria and working in comparison to a previously flawed version of the novel.

In the film, telekinetically gifted Vicky (Sydney Lemmon) and Andy (Zac Efron) use their powers to stop their progeny, Charlie (Ryan Kiera Armstrong), from a) burning their lives down with her uncontrolled fire powers, and b) being captured by a shady organisation who want to experiment on her and put her skills to nefarious use. And for the first half, it chugs along nicely, with some neat action sequences and the kind of sudden, grim deaths we have come to expect of King’s brand. 

But after the midpoint the film slumps in a major way, and there's only one reason for it: sequels. It's clear Thomas and Blumhouse intended to make this the beginning of a franchise of films set within what could be quite a rich universe, and the ending of the film suffered terribly as a result, just kind of flopping off and failing to stand as a film in its own right. 

Fans were rightfully angered at having spent 90 minutes (plus trailers) and however much of their hard earned money on a film that serves as little more than setup - for a sequel that, given the quality of this film and its poor return at the box office, will likely never happen.