Firestarter

Tags

1980's, Art Carney, David Keith, Drew Barrymore, Firestarter, Freddie Jones, George C. Scott, Heather Locklear, Louise Fletcher, Mark L. Lester, Martin Sheen, Moses Gunn, Science Fiction, Stephen King, Thriller

Based on the Stephen King novel, Firestarter is something of a mixed bag when it comes to it. A thriller with some science fiction leanings, it generates some suspense and has a good cast, headed by a young Drew Barrymore. It just has a few inconsistencies that stop Firestarter from rising to a level of major greatness

Andy McGee( David Keith) is on the run with his young daughter Charlie( Drew Barrymore) from a nefarious government agency known as The Shop. We learn that when Andy was younger and a student, he met Charlie’s mother Vicky(Heather Locklear) in an experiment conducted  by the mysterious agency. After being injected with a dose of a hallucinogenic compound, they developed strange powers. Andy can manipulate people through mind control to do what he wants, while Vicky is telepathic . When Charlie was born, she too had powers. In her case, she can cause fires with her mind, often brought on by stress and anger. Andy’s power also weakens him because it uses up so much of his brain function and needs to be controlled as often as possible . With the government onto them and observing them, Vicky was murdered and Charlie was briefly kidnapped . Following his retrieval of his daughter via mind control, Andy is now wanted and on the run. Andy wants to tell the papers about what they’ve been through and expose the nefarious organisation that won’t let them rest. This in turn puts him and Charlie in dangerous territory as they can never really trust anyone. The Shop wishes to use Charlie’s powers for their own ends and are headed by the slippery Hollister(Martin Sheen).  He sends crazed and extremely dangerous assassin John Rainbird ( George C. Scott) on their trail. The assassin has his own disturbing agenda for wanting them captured, in particular little Charlie . Once captured, Andy and Charlie are experiments on by Hollister and sinister Dr. Pynchot(Moses Gunn) . But it’s only a matter of time for as Charlie’s powers continue to grow,  no one is going to be safe from what she will unleash.

Mark L. Lester does a pretty decent job of adapting the Stephen King material and sprinkling memorable moments in there. Yet his control over timing and other areas is less assured. The decision to start the movie in medias res causes Firestarter to loose steam as it continues into the story. Though it is redeemed by a rather eventful and truly explosive finale , Firestarter shoots itself in the foot with its decisions and contrivances that make you scratch your head. The opening half is watchable and has tense moments , but the middle part sags because it wants to have its cake and eat it . Which brings me onto the pacing of the film. I find that Firestarter looses some steam in the middle section  because the story gets repetitive and could have been tighter. As the film goes on we are gifted to moments that do generate some considerable suspense . I’ve seen people group into the genre of horror but I’d put it more as a thriller of paranoia and in the realm of science fiction in some areas Where the movie does score high point is on the effects, which still hold up for their age and just how explosive they do get. For reference, check the climactic scene if you wish to see a lot of fire and destruction .  It’s pretty fantastic and truly memorable stuff and it’s a blast seeing practical effects too. The score by electronic band Tangerine Dream is pretty wonderful; evocatively though a pulsing soundscape evincing danger, hope and action with a lot of style. It adds to the atmosphere of the piece and raises Firestarter up a few notches on the watchability scale.

What sparks Firestarter into life is the main cast. A pint sized Drew Barrymore brings strikingly mature conviction to a role that is quite challenging for someone of such young years. Barrymore gets across the feeling of trying to control something she never wanted, while also showing just how powerful she can be when pushed to the limit. In the emotional stakes she doesn’t miss a beat and is immediately sympathetic to the audience. A lot of Firestarter hinges on Barrymore and though the film is a mixed bag, Barrymore is incredibly impressive and does the heavy lifting of conveying innocence and danger with ease. David Keith is a little  histrionic as her father,  but once he settles into the part he is great and finds a certain groove to play. Kieth has a weariness and intensity about him that shows the fatigue and his “gift has caused him but how deeply he also cares for his daughter . Barrymore and Keith work well together and you do believe in the father daughter bond they share, which I find goes a long way. George C. Scott who I find always delivers, is on sensational form as the extremely creepy assassin who tries to win Charlie over. Scott is as slippery as a reptile and cunning as a fox; you can tell he’s relishing playing a nasty piece of work and he plays it for all it’s worth. Also on slimy duty is Martin Sheen who is reliably villainous and like Scott, having fun being nasty here. Rounding out the villains is Moses Gunn, who has a level of charm and niceness that really disguises cruel and unusual intentions. Evil when it’s presented with a smily face is rather unnerving and Gunn definitely understands the assignment. Art Carney makes the most of his role of man who takes Andy and Charlie in and risks his life in the process. It’s Louise Fletcher and Heather Locklear who are shortchanged with roles that don’t often much in the way of memorability. Both women are good actresses so it would have been nice if they’d be gifted with something to work with. And the same could be said about Freddie Jones, who is only really there to show that some in The Shop have become disillusioned with the practice and to suffer a rather grisly death.   

So overall, Firestarter is a film of good and bad.  But it can be commended for its evocative score, some standout sequences and wonderful cast, especially Drew Barrymore as the eponymous girl with Pyrokinesis

The Changeling

Tags

1980's, George C. Scott, Horror, Melvyn Douglas, Peter Medak, The Changeling, Trish Van Devere

Film Title

The Changeling

Director

Peter Medak

Starring

• George C. Scott as John Russell
• Trish Van Devere as Claire Norman
• Melvyn Douglas as Senator Joseph Carmichael

A very spooky and understated haunted house horror, The Changeling boasts a genuine suspense and mystery to it, which stand it in extremely good stead. It’s a shining example of the less is more approach that favours atmosphere and twists instead of bloody carnage.

John Russell is a music composer who is one day being helped by his wife and daughter as their car has broken down in the snows of Upstate New York. Yet tragedy strikes when they are both killed in a freak collision between a snow plow and a van. Broken by this, John gets out-of-town and takes a job teaching music to university students. Grief-stricken by his loss, he tries to find somewhere to live in the hope that it will help him get to grips with life alone. Thanks to friends, he discovers a large unoccupied house that he believes will give him peace and time to reflect as well as heal. But while coming to terms with the tragic loss of his wife and daughter, John finds himself plagued by strange things in the house. A loud, repetitive banging sound occurs at the same time for a number of days at the exact same time. This particular incident leads a suspicious John to a secret room, that has been hidden away behind large planks of wood and locked. Most creepy of all is the image he catches of what appears to be a young boy drowning in the bath. At first, John isn’t sure about what to make of these unexplained events as he has no way of piecing anything he finds in the room together( which include an old-fashioned children’s wheelchair and a music box that eerily has the same tune he has been composing) with the strange phenomena of the vision he saw. Yet they continue to occur and John is tried by what he experiences, and he can’t rely deny what is happening right before his very eyes. Bewildered and shocked by these things that he finds to be trying to get his attention in one way or another, he dives into the past of the house with the friendly support of Claire Norman, who helped sell him the house and is a member of a historically related society. Stumbling blocks in the form of missing records and misdirection only add more to the mystery and the obstacles it poses. A séance is conducted that helps reveal something about the presence and the tragic clues as to why it haunts the house. The events have a large impact on John, who slowly discovers a will inside him to bring out the truth before it is too late. It’s a matter of proving the existence of the spirit to anyone that it will impact that is going to be the problem. John takes it upon himself to uncover what lies at the bottom of the haunting and the repercussions it continues to have, with a forceful approach that stirs up trouble for those in relation to the horror of the past.

The Changeling is a film that is driven by an eeriness and a simplicity that enables the spooky goings on to gradual reveal themselves through a measured but never lagging pace. The method of getting jolts of terror from sound and doubt are effortlessly employed , but never in a way that gets overly styled or distracting. While some unusual angles are employed, the direction from Peter Medak is wisely kept to an understated a and marvellously constructed level. For me, the attention to the story and how the ghostly haunting linked where the real hooks and the work from compliments them stunningly. The Changeling is just as much a mystery as it is a ghostly horror, a significant attribute that Medak wields with flair and just the right amount of content( the séance scene is a highlight of unnerving tension and revelations) to keep it ticking over. I found the matters surrounding the haunting very entertaining and spine-chilling as it gave another sheen to the film that went places I was not anticipating it to visit. It really pulls you right into the enigma of the house and what transpired there, with a suitably gloomy visual palette to highlight both the spooky aspects and the mourning heart of John going through his own pain. Take for example the scene of John finding his daughter’s bouncing ball which he knew he got rid of, only to have it repeatedly fall down the stairs towards him on a loop. It’s a simple yet haunting indication of John’s link with the presence as it reaches out to him and how he can’t ignore what he has seen. The lugubrious and spine tingling score( complete with ghostly cries and slithering strings) aids the personal journey John goes on in battling his own grief, while bringing justice to someone from the other side who isn’t at peace.

On the acting front and definitely strong is George C. Scott in a nuanced turn. He plays the man attempting to hold his grief inside and deal with it in some way impressively, as well as showcasing the growing feeling of unease in regards to the house. Scott is a professional who makes the role look effortless and the building feeling of determination that his character attains in trying to uncover the reasons for the haunting are pretty amazing, as well as wholly believable. Trish Van Devere( who was actually married to Scott in real life) is nicely curious and helpful as the concerned Claire, the two working well together in a natural way that isn’t surprising considering their off set relationship. Rounding out the main cast is Melvyn Douglas a powerful Senator who somehow fits into the scheme of things regarding the past of the house. Douglas wonderfully makes the most of the part by displaying a worry and slowly unraveling fragility.

A smartly old school horror that knows the best way to chill the blood is by making things creepy and gradual, The Changeling is for me an underrated horror gem that deserves a hell of a lorn of credit for what it teases out.